Over 5 million Chinese students, adolescents suffer from spinal deformities

Beijing [China], June 28 (ANI): Over 5 million primary and high school students in China suffer from Spinal deformities, with an annual increase in cases of about 300,000, a report said citing experts who suggested that Scoliosis has become the third most harmful disease for Chinese children and adolescents after obesity and myopia.
According to the Global Times, a report from China Central Television (CCTV) noted that as many as 9.2 per cent of the students among grade five and grade eight students in Fuyang district in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang Province, were suspected of or diagnosed with having scoliosis, and the ratio of female and male students with the students was 4 to 1, shows a spinal deformity screening conducted by Hangzhou Fuyang Traditional Chinese Medicine Orthopedics Hospital.
It was also noted from the screening that junior high school female students suffer a higher proportion of scoliosis. Apart from their incorrect sitting and sleeping postures, more than 80 percent of the patients have practiced dancing, Global times reported.
Experts attribute the problem to incorrect sitting and dancing postures. A doctor from Hangzhou Fuyang Traditional Chinese Medicine Orthopedics Hospital, He Xiaodan said that posture is considered one of the reasons for the spinal deformity, sitting for too long with improper posture can cause scoliosis.
Another doctor, Xiao Bin, from the Spinal Surgery Department of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital said that incorrect sitting postures can cause spinal deformity but this kind of scoliosis can be adjusted, Global times reported.
Structural scoliosis, which includes congenital scoliosis, acquired scoliosis and idiopathic scoliosis, especially idiopathic scoliosis with unknown causes that teenagers are prone to suffering from, requires timely treatment as the disease can develop quickly during adolescence, he added.
According to experts, scoliosis is a muscle-originated problem, unbalanced exertion of muscular strength can gradually cause progressive scoliosis.
Spinal deformity is often neglected in its early stages as there are no obvious symptoms or apparent body deformities. But the condition will get worse as the patient ages and further affect the balance between body, breathing and heart functions, and could even lead to paralysis. Global times reported.
Last year, China's National Health Commission released technical guidelines on the prevention of spinal deformity in children and adolescents, requiring the inclusion of scoliosis screening into students' routine physical examinations and for the results to be recorded. (ANI)