Etiology of idiopathic scoliosis.

The following investigations concerning scoliosis are in progress at Tokushima University: (1) a study of the incidence of equilibrial dysfunction; (2) a study of the nature of dysequilibrium, with special reference to the origin (functional or organic); (3) a field survey of scoliosis associated with equilibrial dysfunction in school children; (4) a study of experimental and clinical metabolic disturbances in scoliosis; (5) a study of postural reflex in experimental animals; (6) a study of scoliosis in animals with experimentally produced brain stem lesions; and (7) a study of scoliosis in animals with experimentally produced lesions in the posterior part of the hypothalamus. The hypothetic assumption is that dysfunction of the postural reflex regulation induced by functional or organic disorders at the brain stem center may play an important part in the development of idiopathic scoliosis during the period of rapid growth in children.