ADOLESCENT IDIOPATHIC SCOLIOSIS AND JOINT LAXITY - A STUDY WITH SOMATOSENSORY-EVOKED POTENTIALS

To assess the existence of disturbances in proprioception in adolescen t idiopathic scoliosis and an hypothetical relationship with generaliz ed joint laxity, a blind comparative study of short-latency somatosens ory evoked potentials by posterior tibial nerve stimulation was design ed. One hundred twenty-one subjects were included: fifty-tow were diag nosed as having adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. thirty-two met criter ia for generalized joint laxity, twenty-one had curvatures with Cobb a ngles less than 10, and twenty-eight were matched control subjects; tw elve subjects were initially seen with both adolescent idiopathic scol iosis and generalized joint laxity. We failed to find alterations in s omatosensory evoked potentials in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis that could suggest propioceptive disturbances as a causative factor; however, in a subgroup of thoracolumbar curvatures we were ab le to demonstrate a functional alteration in somatosensory evoked pote ntials that could represent a neurologic basis for some curves conside red as idiopathic thus far; generalized joint laxity seems to be impli cated in this situation.