Scoliosis Medical Association" (2003) asserted the lifelong physical health, including cardiopulmonary and neurological functions, and mental health of idiopathic scoliosis patients are comparable to those of the general population. Scoliosis that interferes with normal systemic functions is "exceptional" and "rare", and "untreated [scoliosis] patients had similar death rates and were just as functional and likely to lead productive lives 50 years after diagnosis as people with normal spines". In an earlier University of Iowa follow-up study, 91 percent of idiopathic scoliosis patients displayed normal pulmonary function, and their life expectancy was 2% longer than that of the general population. Generally, the
Neuromechanics of idiopathic scoliosis vertebral column can be deformed at the thoracic level, at the lumbar level or at both. In the lumbar region, scoliosis induces perturbations to standing balance. The thoracic region is the location that most impacts movement strategies. Scoliosis impedes on the movement of the ribs, places the respiratory muscles at a mechanical disadvantage and displaces the various organs of the thoracic cavity. In a scoliotic patient, the vertebral column experiences extension forces on the convex side and compression forces on the concave side. At the apical vertebra, average bone density for the concave cortical bone is higher than for the