Comparison Between a State-of-the-Art Mechanical 3D Scoliosis Correction Protocol and the Schroth Exercise on Spinal Flexibility of Patients With Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Yi Jie; Mengyao Li; Anqin Dong; Yu-Yan Luo; Chang-Liang Luo; Qian Zheng; Shixin Wang; Man-Sang Wong; Christina Zong-Hao Ma; Ming Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.arrct.2025.100428

Comparison Between a State-of-the-Art Mechanical 3D Scoliosis Correction Protocol and the Schroth Exercise on Spinal Flexibility of Patients With Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Arch Rehabil Res Clin Transl. 2025 Jan 11;7(1):100428. doi: 10.1016/j.arrct.2025.100428. eCollection 2025 Mar.

Authors

Yi Jie^{1

2}, Mengyao Li², Anqin Dong², Yu-Yan Luo¹, Chang-Liang Luo¹, Qian Zheng³, Shixin Wang², Man-Sang Wong¹, Christina Zong-Hao Ma^{1

4

5}, Ming Zhang^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Engineering, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
³ Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
⁴ Research Institute for Smart Aging, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁵ Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Objective: To compare the effects of a novel mechanical 3-dimensional (3D) scoliosis correction protocol and the Schroth exercise on the spinal flexibility of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: At the affiliated teaching hospital of a university.

Participants: Forty participants with AIS (aged 14.7±2.1y, 10 males and 30 females) received 1 intervention session.

Interventions: Participants were randomly allocated to the intervention group (IG) (n=20) receiving a single 30-minute mechanical 3D scoliosis correction session and the exercise group (EG) (n=20) receiving a single 30-minute Schroth exercise session. A newly developed scoliosis correction system that could generate spinal longitudinal traction (based on the standard mechanical spinal traction protocol for managing low back pain) and lateral forces (based on the 3-point pressure system) was applied to the participants of the IG.

Main outcome measures: Spinal flexibility and body height were evaluated before and after each intervention.

Results: Significant improvements in spinal flexibility were found in the forward bending and trunk rotation tests for both groups (P≤.028). The participants of the IG further demonstrated significantly improved spinal flexibility as assessed by the lateral bending tests and body height (P≤.012). The increase in body height in the IG was also significantly larger than that of the EG (P<.05).

Conclusions: This pilot study preliminarily demonstrated that the developed novel 30-minute mechanical 3D scoliosis correction protocol could effectively improve the side-bending spinal flexibility and body height of the participants. Such positive effects tend to be better than those generated by the Schroth best practice exercises. A long-term study with more participants should be warranted.

Keywords: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; Lateral forces; Longitudinal traction; Mechanical 3D scoliosis correction; Rehabilitation; Schroth exercises; Spinal flexibility.