REVIEW ARTICLE
Etiological Theories of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Past and Present
Maja Fadzan1, *, Josette Bettany-Saltikov2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 11
Issue: Suppl-9, M3
First Page: 1466
Last Page: 1489
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-11-1466
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001711011466
Article History:
Received Date: 26/7/2017Revision Received Date: 1/9/2017
Acceptance Date: 11/09/2017
Electronic publication date: 29/12/2017
Collection year: 2017

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is one of the most common spinal deformities, yet its cause is unknown. Various theories look to biomechanical, neuromuscular, genetic, and environmental origins, yet our understanding of scoliosis etiology is still limited. Determining the cause of a disease is crucial to developing the most effective treatment. Associations made with scoliosis do not necessarily point to causality, and it is difficult to determine whether said associations are primary (playing a role in development) or secondary (develop as a result of scoliosis). Scoliosis is a complex condition with highly variable expression, even among family members, and likely has many causes. These causes could be similar among homogenous groups of AIS patients, or they could be individual. Here, we review the most prevalent theories of scoliosis etiology and recent trends in research.