Examination of inclinations of the spine at childhood and adolescence

Background: Spine is a column that consists of consecutively lined up vertebras. It includes medulla spinalis. It contributes the motions of head, neck and body. Spine is not a straight column. There is a convexity towards the front of the spine (lordosis) at cervical and lumbar areas in adults and a convexity towards the back of the spine (kyphosis) at thoracic and sacral spine areas. 

Materials and methods: In this study, lateral magnetic resonance images of 731 children between 1 and 16 years of age were examined and their cervical lordosis, thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis angles were measured with Cobb method using ImageJ programme for every age group. 

Results: The mean calculated cervical lordosis angles in 1–16-year-old children were found to be 20.51o ± 6.11o (minimum 17.96o ± 6.29o, maximum 23.50o ± ± 4.14o). It has been observed that cervical angle values decrease with age. The mean thoracic kyphosis angle measured was 28.71o ± 6.99o (minimum 24.55o ± ± 5.65o, maximum 30.44o ± 4.68o). Lumbar lordosis angle was 28.08o ± 7.39o (minimum 20.36o ± 6.59o, maximum 32.68o ± 6.03o). Thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis angle values increased with age. In our study, a statistical differ- ence was found in increasing thoracic kyphosis angle between 1-year-old group and 14-year-old group. Statistical difference was also found in decreasing cervical lordosis angle value between 1-year-old group and 16-year-old group. When we compare our study results with literature values, cervical lordosis values were similar, but lumbar lordosis values were lower. 

Conclusions: In summary, we think that knowing sagittal plane inclinations of the spine developing in childhood and adolescence will contribute to earlier de- termination of pathologies. We also hope that it will contribute to clinical stages and other studies in this field. 

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