The effect of physical training on exercise ability in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Twenty subjects with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, aged 11--17 years, were studied before spinal fusion. Half the patients underwent a programme of daily physical exercises for 6--10 weeks. Before and after this period all the patients carried out a range of lung function tests and a progressive exercise test. There were no significant differences in any of the results between the control group and the training group. The cardiac and respiratory complications of spinal fusion are therefore unlikely to be lessened by preoperative physical training, except in selected subjects.