Vibratory hypersensitivity in idiopathic scoliosis.

This study determined whether a significant difference in response to vibratory stimuli was consistently present in a large group of children with idiopathic scoliosis as compared with age-matched controls. Fifty-eight unselected adolescent females with documented progressive idiopathic scoliosis were studied along with age-matched controls. Threshold to detection of a vibratory stimulus was measured in both the right and left upper and lower extremities. Results indicated that highly significant differences existed between scoliotic children and controls at all sites tested (p less than 0.01), with scoliotic children being more sensitive than controls. The results support the presence of a central aberration in posterior column function that may be a primary etiology of idiopathic scoliosis.