Idiopathic scoliosis affects millions of adolescents worldwide, yet one of the most fundamental clinical challenges remains deceptively simple: will this curve get worse?
In their landmark 1984 study, Lonstein and Carlson tackled this question head-on, analyzing 727 untreated patients to identify the key drivers of curve progression — and proposing a predictive formula that clinicians still reference four decades later.
Understanding this foundational work is essential for anyone involved in spine care, not only because of what it got right, but also because of what modern science has since built upon it.
Explore our full visual summary to see how this giant of orthopedic literature shaped the way we monitor and treat adolescent scoliosis today — and where the field is heading next.
Click on the links below for the full summary.
