Right-Handed Girls With Rt-Ais Measured Using Holtain Equipment Have Upper Arm Length Asymmetry (Right-Minus-Left) Which Is: 1) Relatively Longer On Scoliosis Curve Convexity; 2) Significantly Associated With Scoliosis Curve Severity (Cobb Angle And Apical Vertebral Rotation); And 3) Transient, Decreasing With Age And Years After Menarche [1,2]. The Aim Is To Test Whether The Right Upper Arm Length Relative Overgrowth And Spinal Deformity Severity Were Associated With Right Or Left Upper Arm Length Size-For-Age. 94 Right-Handed Girls With Rt-Ais, Age 11–18 Years, (Mean Cobb Angle 46 Degrees, Range 10–102 Degrees), Were Evaluated Using A Harpenden Anthropometer For Upper Arm Length Asymmetry, Plotted Against Right And Left Upper Arm Length Standard Deviation Scores (Sds), Calculated From 378 Normal Girls, Age 11–18 Years.Aim:
Method:
In patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), anomalous extra-spinal left-right skeletal length asymmetries in upper limbs, periapical ribs, and ilia beg the question as to whether these bilateral asymmetries are connected in some way with pathogenesis. The upper arm and iliac length asymmetries correlate significantly with adjacent spinal curve severity respectively in thoracic and lower (thoracolumbar and lumbar) spine. In lower limbs, skeletal length asymmetries and proximo-distal disproportion are unrelated to spinal curve severity. Overall, these observations raise questions about mechanisms that determine skeletal bilateral symmetry of vertebrates in health and disorder, and whether such mechanisms are involved in the cause of this disease. We investigated upper arm length (UAL) asymmetries in two groups of right-handed girls aged 11–18 years, with right thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (RT-AIS, n=98) from preoperative and screening referrals (mean Cobb angle 45°) and healthy controls (n=240). Right and left UAL were measured with a Harpenden anthropometer of the Holtain equipment, by one of four observers (RGB, AAC, RKP, FJP). UAL asymmetry was calculated as UAL difference, right minus left, in mm. Repeatability of the measurements was assessed by technical error of the measurement (TEM) and coefficient of reliability (R).Introduction
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