Trunk asymmetry in one thousand school children aged 7-10 years

Screening for idiopathic scoliosis is not very popular in Poland. Some Polish towns and cities have prevention programmes aimed at discovering spine dysfunctions and disorders in children and adolescents. An assessment of the angle of trunk rotation (ATR) is a reliable, effective and non-invasive action that allows use to determine trunk asymmetry. Since then the scoliometer has spread throughout the United States and other countries, where it is a popular device in the clinical practice of diagnosing scoliosis. 9,500 children aged 7-10 were examined as part of a disease prevention programme entitled “Poznan Chooses Health – Bad Posture Prophylaxis in Class I-IV Primary School Children in Poznan”. The analysis included results obtained in 2010 during initial posture assessment in 1000 children, Trunk asymmetry was measured by means of the Bunnell scoliometer. The measurement of the angle of trunk rotation was the spontaneous standing position with use the scoliometer during bending (Adams forward test) at three levels: proximal thoracic, main thoracic and lumbar. For the proximal thoracic section the 0° ATR value was found in 6 children, values of 1°-3° were recorded in 883 children, values of 4°-6° in 108 children, 7° or higher in 3 of the examined children. For the main thoracic section the 0° ATR value was found in 101 children, values of 1°-3° were recorded in 735 children, 4°-6° in 155 children, 7° or higher in 9 of the examined children. For the lumbar section ATR values of 0°, 1°-3°, 4°-6°, and 7° or higher were found, respectively, in 147, 883, 108 and 11 of the examined children.