AIM: To explore the interventional effect of exercise therapy on essential S-shaped scoliosis through evaluating the changes in Cobb angle half a year after therapy. METHODS: Eighty patients with essential S-shaped scoliosis admitted in the Department of Rehabilitation, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2000 to June 2004 participated in the study voluntarily. All the participants were divided randomly to a control group and a treatment group with 40 patients in each group. Patients in the control group received electrostimulation on lateral body surface by using a therapeutic apparatus for correction of lateral curvature with the therapeutic duration lasting until eight hours every day; then underwent traction therapy, occipito-mandibular traction for obvious lateral curvature above T9 and pelvic traction for obvious lateral curvature below T9, 30 minutes once and twice a day. Meanwhile, a purposive postural training was carried out (patients should maintain their posture straight and symmetrical). Based on the above administration, patients in the treatment group underwent a gymnastic exercise for correction of essential S-shaped scoliosis in a lying position or creeping position, once a day. Cobb angle is a measurement commonly used for evaluation of curves in scoliosis. Lines are drawn across the vertebral column on the upper surface of the upper vertebra and the lower surface of the lower vertebra. The angle measured may be either that between these two lines or that between lines drawn perpendicular to them. Changes in Cobb angle at breast and lumbar segment were assessed before treatment and half a year after treatment. RESULTS: All the 80 patients without loss were involved in the result analysis. Changes of Cobb angle before and after treatment: Half a year after treatment, Cobb angle at breast and lumbar segment was smaller in the two groups than before (18 +/- 9 degrees, 16 +/- 8 degrees; 10 +/- 7 degrees, 9 +/- 5 degrees; 25 +/- 13 degrees, 23 +/- 11 degrees, 26 +/- 12 degrees, 24 +/- 10 degrees, t = 4.11 to 6.02, p < 0.01); however, Cobb angle in the treatment group was smaller than that in the control group (t = 3.01, 3.24, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Exercise therapy is dramatically effective in treatment of essential S-shaped scoliosis, and it is a comfortable and painless therapy with a higher compliance. However, the therapy should be carried out accurately and adequately, and persist for a long time.

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