ArticleJournal of children's orthopaedics2010
No effect of osteopathic treatment on trunk morphology and spine flexibility in young women with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
Article in Journal of children's orthopaedics, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Benefits on pain and mental health of manual therapy for idiopathic scoliosis: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Manual therapy for the pediatric population: a systematic review.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Clinical Outcome Parameters of Conservative Treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Effects of High-Velocity Spinal Manipulation on Quality of Life, Pain and Spinal Curvature in Children with Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Systematic Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Article
- Nonfusion treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis by growth modulation and remodeling.Journal of pediatric orthopedicsArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionBrace treatment is the gold standard for patients with mild adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (Cobb angle 20°-40°). However, negative psychosocial impacts, physical constraints and incompliance cause many patients and parents to seek for so-called holistic and apparently less harmful approaches within the field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Osteopathy-manual interventions on the viscera and locomotor system-is widely used for scoliosis. There is, however, a complete lack of evidence regarding its efficacy. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that osteopathy alters trunk morphology, a prerequisite to unload the concave side of the scoliosis, and that it halts curve progression.
methodsThis was a prospective, controlled trial of 20 post-pubertal young women (20°-40° idiopathic scoliosis) randomly allocated to an observation (group 0) or osteopathic treatment (group 1). The latter comprised three sessions (5 weeks). Trunk morphology (clinical examination, video rasterstereography) and spine flexibility (MediMouse(®)) were assessed at a pre- and post-intervention with a 3-month interval (blinded examiner). We chose scoliometer measurement (rib hump, lumbar prominence) as the main outcome parameter.
resultsTwo patients in the treatment group refused further treatment and the final examination, as they felt no benefit after two osteopathic treatments. Regression analysis for repeat measurements (independent statistician) revealed no therapeutic effect on rib hump, lumbar prominence, plumb line, sagittal profile and global spinal flexibility.
conclusionsWe found no evidence to support osteopathy in the treatment of mild adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Therefore, we caution against abandoning the conventional standard of care for mild idiopathic scoliosis. As for other CAM therapies, the use of osteopathy as a treatment option for scoliosis still needs to be clearly defined.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.