Scoliotic patient's performance in standing and walking: A literature review

Scoliosis, is a three dimensional deformity of the spine and ribcage that can lead to changes in the relationship between body segments, spinal anatomy, trunk symmetry and cause pathological gait pattern. Scoliosis also is a structural deformity, so it can alter center of mass (COM) position and weight distribution on lower limbs. It seems that individuals with scoliosis deformity have the poorer stability comparison with normal subjects. We conducted a Medline search via PubMed, Google scholar and ISI web of knowledge to identify studies on scoliosis field and the effect of this deformity on kinetic and kinematic parameters as well as the influence of bracing on mentioned parameters. The publication dates of the full-length articles were between 1998 and 2012. Some key words such as kinetic, kinematic, gait, and walking were used in combination with scoliosis to search in database. Multiple Medline searches led to the find out fifty four papers that twenty six of which were relevant based on title and abstract. 6 more articles were retrieved according to their references. Finally, thirty two papers were considered in this literature review. A few studies performed the influence of brace on kinetic and kinematic parameters in scoliotic subject. There was no sufficient robust evidence to judge about the influence of scoliosis deformity on kinetic and kinematic parameters.