Scoliosis uses the 45 to 50° threshold as a result of the well-documented, plus or minus 5° measurement error that can occur while measuring Cobb angles. Surgeons who are specialized in spine surgery perform surgery for scoliosis. To completely straighten a scoliotic spine is usually impossible, but for the most part, significant corrections are achieved. The two main types of surgery are: One or both of these surgical procedures may be needed. The surgery may be done in one or two stages and, on average, takes four to eight hours. A 50-year follow-up study published in the "Journal of the American
Scoliosis drawn perpendicular to the upper endplate of the uppermost vertebra involved and the lower endplate of the lowest vertebra involved. For people with two curves, Cobb angles are followed for both curves. In some people, lateral-bending X-rays are obtained to assess the flexibility of the curves or the primary and compensatory curves. Congenital and idiopathic scoliosis that develops before the age of 10 is referred to as early-onset scoliosis. Scoliosis that develops after 10 is referred to as adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Screening adolescents without symptoms for scoliosis is of unclear benefit. Scoliosis is defined as a three-dimensional deviation in the