Manual Therapy in the Treatment of Idiopathic Scoliosis. Analysis of Current Knowledge

Abstract

Background: Apart from the recommended specific physiotherapy, the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis (IS) also incorporates non-specific manual therapy (NMT). The aim of this paper is to assess the efficacy of NMT (manual therapy, chiropractic, osteopathy) used in the treatment of children and adolescents with IS.

Material and methods: The study analysed systematic reviews (Analysis 1) and other recent scientific publications (Analysis 2). Analysis 1 encompassed papers on the use of NMT in patients with IS. Works concerning specific physiotherapy (SP) or bracing (B) and other types of scoliosis were excluded from the analysis. Inclusion criteria for Analysis 2 were: treatment with NMT; subjects aged 10-18 years with IS. The following types of papers were excluded: works analysing NMT combined with SP or B, reports concerning adult pa tients, analyses of single cases and publications included in Analysis 1.

Results: Analysis 1: six systematic reviews contained 6 papers on the efficacy of NMT in the treatment of IS. The results of these studies are contradictory, ranging from Cobb angle reduction to no treatment effects whatsoever. The papers analysed are characterised by poor methodological quality: small group sizes, incomplete descriptions of the study groups, no follow-up and no control groups. Analysis 2: in total, 217 papers were found. None of them met the criteria set for the analysis.

Conclusions: 1. Few papers verifying the efficacy of manual therapy, chiropractic and osteopathy in the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis have been published to date. 2. The majority are experimental studies with poor methodology or observational case studies. 3. At present, the efficacy of non-specific manual therapy in the treatment of patients with idiopathic scoliosis cannot be reliably evaluated. 4. It is necessary to conduct further research based on appropriate methods (prospective, rando mi s ed, controlled studies) in order to reliably assess the usefulness of non-specific manual therapy in the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis.