Scoliosis is an abnormal curvature of the spine. It is a three dimensional curve and is the most common spinal disorder in children and adolescents. A scoliosis is characterised by a side-to-side curvature of the spine measuring more than 10°, this is usually combined with the rotation of the vertebrae (bony element of the spine). Scoliosis can happen to both boys and girls and there can be many different types of scoliosis. You can also get different types of curves: thoracic, thoracolumbar, lumbar and double curves.

Idiopathic Scoliosis has no known cause. You can get idiopathic scoliosis at any age and you may hear different terms of idiopathic scoliosis which are named depending on the age you are diagnosed.

• Infantile idiopathic scoliosis: 0-3 years old
• Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis: 4-10 years old
• Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: 11-18 years old

Some other names you may hear are early onset idiopathic scoliosis and late onset idiopathic scoliosis.

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis accounts for approximately 90% of all idiopathic cases in children and is more common if there is a family history of scoliosis.

Congenital Scoliosis is caused by malformation of vertebrae. This can present anywhere in the spine and you could have one or more vertebra effected in one or more places. Congenital scoliosis is something you are born with but it may not be picked up until you are older. There are two types of malformation that can happen:

• Defects of segmentation:this is where the vertebras do not separate properly and could present as a block vertebrae (where the bones do not split as they should) or unilateral bar (where one side doesn't form properly).
• Defects of formation:This is where the bones do not form in unison and can present as a wedge. This is known as a hemi-vertebrae or wedge vertebrae.

You can have one or both of these defects.

Neuromuscular Scoliosis is caused by a neuromuscular condition. It can be caused by insufficiency of the active muscle stabilisers of the spine. Most commonly this type of scoliosis is seen in patients with Cerebral Palsy (CP), Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Spinal Bifida, Muscular dystrophies and patients with spinal cord injuries.

Syndromic Scoliosis is caused by the insufficiency of passive stabilisers of the spine. This is most commonly seen in patients with Marfan's syndrome and Neurofibromatosis (NF), although there are many other syndromes too.