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Chapter 13 - Examination of the Spine in Childhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2022

By
A. L. Rex Michael  and
Ashley Cole
Edited by
Fazal Ali  and
Nick Harris
Fazal Ali
Affiliation:
Chesterfield Royal Hospital
Nick Harris
Affiliation:
Spire Hospital, Leeds
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Summary

In this chapter. clinical examination of the spine in the child is described. The main pathology here is scoliosis and a simplified method of assessing a child with scoliosis is described. This method is similar to a lumbar spine examination, except that during the examination process a few specific points are noted: When inspecting, look for other stigmata associated with scoliosis such as café-au-lait spots. When palpating, remember to use a plumb line, which indicates whether the scoliosis is balanced. When asking the patient to move, look for the rib prominence (Adam’s test) indicating structural scoliosis. Finally, when performing a neurological assessment, remember to look at the abdominal reflexes.

This chapter also covers kyphosis and other conditions such as torticollis.

Keywords

spinechildscoliosispelvic obliquitykyphosisabdominal reflextorticollis
Type
Chapter
Information
Orthopaedic Examination Techniques
A Practical Guide
 , pp. 242 - 251
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

References

Epstein, F, Epstein, N. Intramedullary tumours of the spinal cord. In McLone, D (ed), Paediatric Neurosurgery: Surgery of the Developing Nervous System. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1982; pp. 529–540.Google Scholar
Murray, PM, Weinstein, SL, Spratt, KF. The natural history and long term follow-up of Scheuermann kyphosis. J Bone Joint Surg Am 1993;75(2):236–248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haider, R, Najjar, M, Der Boghossian, A, Tabbarah, Z. Propionibacterium acnes causing delayed post operative spine infection: review. Scand J Infect Dis 2010;42(6–7):405–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hwang, J, Louie, PK, Phillips, FM, An, HS, Samartzis, D. Low back pain in children: a rising concern. Eur Spine J 2019;28:211–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Further Reading

Akbarnia, BA, Yazici, M, Thompson, GH (eds). The Growing Spine. New York: Springer, 2011.Google Scholar
Dickson, RA, Millner, PA. The child with a painful back. Curr Orthop 2000;14:369–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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