ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Free access

European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine 2021 December;57(6):968-76

DOI: 10.23736/S1973-9087.21.06833-7

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Ultrasonographic evaluation of abdominal muscle thickness symmetry in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a case-controlled study

Muhsin DORAN ✉, Kadriye ÖNEŞ, Aynur M. TERZİBAŞIOĞLU, Çiğdem ÇINAR, İlhami ATA

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Istanbul Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital, Health Sciences University, Istanbul, Turkey

BACKGROUND: To date, there are limited studies evaluating abdominal muscle symmetry in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients and these studies in the literature do not evaluate the rectus abdominis (RA) muscle in AIS patients.
AIM: To evaluate the symmetry of the thickness of the abdominal muscles while standing and supine position in AIS patients.
DESIGN: A case control study.
POPULATION: A total of 80 people, 40 subjects with ASI and 40 healthy adolescent subjects were included in the study.
METHODS: Radiographic examination data of patients with AIS (N.=40). Radiographic examination data of patients with AIS (N.=40) were collected. An ultrasound assessment was performed of the side-to-side differences of the RA, external oblique (EO), internal oblique (IO), and transversus abdominalis (TrA) muscles in the standing and supine positions in AIS and control groups (N.=40). Three repeat measurements of the thickness of each muscle were performed and relative thicknesses were compared.
RESULTS: The mean percentage (%) difference between the right and left sides muscle measurement of the control group was between on standing position 1.54% and 3.00%, in supine 0.8% and 5.87% for different muscles; however, the meanpercentage (%) of this difference in the ASI group ranged from 6.28% to 15.13% (standing) and 7.21% to 17.24% (supine). Muscle asymmetry in the ASI group was significantly higher than in the control group for all muscles in measurements in the standing and supine position (P<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: All abdominal relative muscle thicknesses in the AIS patients were more asymmetric than healthy adolacents.
CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: Examining the correlation between the degree of rotation and abdominal muscle symmetry should be one of the topics for future studies.

KEY WORDS: Muscles; Ultrasonography; Scoliosis; Biomechanical phenomena; Abdominal muscles; Rectus abdominis