Scoliosis and growth. An analysis of the literature.

A review of the literature discloses the buckling phenomenon as responsible for the initiation of lateral deformation and the progression of small curves in idiopathic scoliosis. From the point of view of parsimony, buckling explains how ligamentous laxity, increased interdiscal flexibility, muscular asymmetries, neurologic lesions, morphologic, anthropometric, and sexual differences would contribute to development of the deformity. Thus, a buckling theory seems to embody the fragmented character of present information about the etiology of idiopathic scoliosis.