Adult patient perceptions on the effectiveness of scoliosis specific exercises

There is a paucity of research focusing on adults with scoliosis, yet many of these individuals suffer from pain and disability. Recent literature has demonstrated that for this patient population general physical therapy is no better than other non-operative treatment options.[1-3] This study assessed the perceptions of the effectiveness of Physiotherapeutic Scoliosis Specific Exercises (PSSE) on adult scoliosis. The purpose of this study is to present the results of a retrospective analysis of how adults with scoliosis perceive that physical therapy utilizing PSSE has impacted their quality of life (QoL), function, and pain. A 10 question survey was sent via a secure server (Qualtrics) to all PSSE participating patients ≥ 18 years old from one PSSE specialty clinic from the beginning of the PSSE program, 7 years. Survey responses were anonymous, collected by someone other than the primary investigator, and statistics were calculated with SPSS 24 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results: Fifty-seven adults (88.9% female) responded to the survey (55% response rate) with 67.2% being over the age of 55 years. The majority (61.9%) felt that PT had moderately or significantly positively impacted their QoL. The most common number of PT visits ranged from 5-10, after which 71.9% of participants were either somewhat or very confident in their ability to perform their PSSE program unsupervised at home. The most common frequency of home exercise program (HEP) performance was 1-2 times per week (46.0%) for a duration of 5-40 minutes. Quantitative analysis of exercise adherence using a Spearman's rho (rs) revealed positive associations between confidence in correctly performing the HEP with the perceived positive impact of the exercises (rs = .45, p < .001), the greater frequency of performing the HEP (rs = .30, p = .024) and greater time performing the HEP (rs = .33, p = .004). This retrospective analysis showed that 61.9% of adults with scoliosis felt that PT utilizing PSSE had moderately or significantly positively impacted their QoL. Adherence to a HEP is critical to the success of the program. Greater confidence in correctly performing the HEP was positively correlated with perceived impact, frequency and time spent exercising. The sample was limited to adults from one clinic that specializes in scoliosis and may not be generalizable to other clinics.