Importance of etiological factors in the development of suspected structural spine variations

Structural spine changes are the frequent musculoskeletal disorders occurring in the human body in the form of scoliosis, hypo- or hyper-kyphosis, hypo- or hyper-lordosis, or a combination of the above.

In this retrospective, observational-comparative study, we included 240 third- and fifth-grade primary school pupils of both sexes and different daily life habits from four schools in the South and North of Montenegro. Data collected included children's posture examination conducted by a qualified professional. The testing procedure included standing position inspection, elasticity test application for the iliopsoas muscle, Adam's test, and the curve rigidity test. To analyze the differences between individual groups for categorical and continuous variables, we used the chi-square test and Student's t-test for independent samples, respectively.

We did not observe a significantly higher prevalence of suspected scoliosis among male participants who did not engage in sports activities. The presence of suspected scoliosis in participants from the South is significantly higher than in their peers from the North of Montenegro. A significantly higher prevalence of suspected scoliosis was observed among female participants who did not engage in sports activities. Suspected spinal variations are significantly more frequent among participants from the South of Montenegro (p <0.001, Cramer's V= 0.319) and significantly more frequent in females with lower sports engagement (χ² =3.941, p =0.042). This fact could be attributed to the slower development of the central nervous system and motor control in girls in combination with their engagement in less physical activity.

The findings of this study impose doubt that multifactorial etiology, including gender, child's age, engagement in sports activities, and the manner of conducting daily activities, is crucial for developing spinal deformities and may facilitate future studies and support preventive and therapeutic procedures in treating postural changes. HIPPOKRATIA 2022, 26 (4):147-151.