Effect of Spinal Correction Surgery on Lower Limb Strength in Idiopathic Adolescent Scoliosis

Conrado Torres Laett; Rogério Dos Reis Visconti; Ricardo de Souza Portes Meirelles; Lenifran de Matos Santos; Victor Rodrigues Amaral Cossich; Sidnei Cavalcante da Silva

doi:10.1055/s-0043-1770980

Effect of Spinal Correction Surgery on Lower Limb Strength in Idiopathic Adolescent Scoliosis

Rev Bras Ortop (Sao Paulo). 2023 Sep 26;58(6):e912-e916. doi: 10.1055/s-0043-1770980. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Conrado Torres Laett^{1

2

3}, Rogério Dos Reis Visconti¹, Ricardo de Souza Portes Meirelles⁴, Lenifran de Matos Santos⁵, Victor Rodrigues Amaral Cossich⁶, Sidnei Cavalcante da Silva^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia (INTO), Divisão de Ensino e Pesquisa (DIENP), Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Aplicadas ao Sistema Musculoesquelético, Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.
² Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia (INTO), Laboratório de Pesquisa em Fisiologia do Exercício, Divisão de Pesquisa, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
³ Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia (INTO), Laboratório de Pesquisa Neuromuscular, Divisão de Pesquisa, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
⁴ Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia (INTO), Centro de Cirurgia da Coluna, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
⁵ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências do Exercício e do Esporte, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
⁶ Sport Technology Research Lab, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Abstract

Objectives To analyze the lower limb strength in both untreated and surgically treated adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients and examine its correlation with the distance covered in a six-minute walking test (6MWT). Methods A total of 88 participants (n = 30 pre-surgery AIS patients, n = 30 post-surgical AIS patients, and n = 28 control) underwent a 6MWT and a muscle strength assessment. The lower limb strength was measured at the knee joint using the knee extension (KE) and knee flexion (KF) peak torque (PT) measurements. Results The control group covered a greater distance in the TC6 compared to both the pre-surgical (534 ± 67 m) and post-surgical (541 ± 69 m) groups, with a distance of 612 ± 70 m (p < 0.001). No differences were observed in KE PT (pre: 2.1 ± 0.63, post: 2.1 ± 0.7, control: 2.2 ± 0.7 Nm.kg ^-1 , p = 0.67) or KF PT (pre: 1.0 ± 0.3, post: 1.1 ± 0.3, control: 1.1 ± 0.5 Nm.kg ^-1 , p = 0.46). A moderate positive correlation was observed between KE PT and 6MWT distance (r = 0.53, p < 0.001), as well as a low positive correlation for KF PT (r = 0.37, p = 0.003) with 6MWT distance. Conclusion This study highlights the importance of lower limb maximal strength in the functionality of AIS patients. Our findings suggest that exercise programs aimed at enhancing lower limb strength, especially the KE, could improve the walking capacity of AIS patients. These results provide useful information for designing purposeful exercise programs for AIS patients with walking deficits.

Keywords: adolescent; exercise test; muscle strength; scoliosis.

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