A high incidence of spinal curvature. A study of 100 young female students.

A hundred adult female students were clinically examined for scoliosis and other spinal abnormalities. Ninety-nine per cent of them participated voluntarily in X-ray examination of the spine. Of the X-rays only 34 per cent were classified into group without spinal curvature. Mild curvature (3-10 degrees) was observed in 51 per cent and a curvature of 11 degrees or more in 15 per cent. The average angle of curvatures was 7.7 degrees. The incidence of 66 per cent of spinal curvatures exceeds what has been observed before. Rotation was observed in spinal X-ray in 86 per cent, but the average of rotation was the same both in spines with curvature or without. In grades of kyphosis and lordosis no difference was observed between the groups with spinal curvature and without. Mild scoliotic curvature and rotation of the spine must be seen as a normal phenomenon at least in females. What makes these curvatures progress during the growth period in idiopathic scoliosis remains to be clarified.