Scoliosis - Causes

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Conditions That Affect the Spinal Column and Surrounding Muscles

Scoliosis may be a result of various conditions that affect bones and muscles associated with the spinal column. They include the following:

• Muscle paralysis.
• Muscle deterioration from diseases such as muscular dystrophy, polio, or cerebral palsy.
• Injury to the spinal cord.
• Tumors, growths, or other small abnormalities on the spinal column. For example, syringomyelia, a disorder in which cysts form along the spine, can cause scoliosis. These spinal abnormalities may play a larger role in causing some cases of scoliosis than previously thought.
• Familial dysautonomia, a rare disorder in Jewish children of Ashkenazi descent. (Only about 500 cases have been reported.)
• Stress fractures and hormonal abnormalities that affect bone growth in young, competitive athletes.
• Birth defects, including spina bifida (an open spinal cord) and myelomeningocele (a hernia of the central nervous system).
• Turner's syndrome, a genetic disease in females that affects physical and reproductive development.
• Other diseases that can cause scoliosis are Marfan's syndrome, Aicardi syndrome, Friedreich ataxia, Albers-Schonberg disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Cushing's syndrome, and osteogenesis imperfecta.

Causes of Nonstructural Scoliosis

Nonstructural scoliosis is usually not a serious problem, since the curve is side to side. It can develop from a number of physical problems, including the following:

• Unequal leg length. Injury, a shortened Achilles tendon, or other structural in-born problems can cause this very common condition. Unequal leg length rarely causes any problems and in most cases requires no treatment other than a lift in one of the shoes to equalize the length.
• Muscle spasms.

Review Date: 04/19/2006
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, M.D., Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).