Originally posted by Concerneddad
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IN THE SKELETALLY MATURE PATIENT
by
Stuart L. Weinstein, M.D.
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
This is the study with the most extensive look at curve progression after skeletal maturity that I have found. Weinstein looked at progression over a 40-year period and broke it down by curve types. Looks like less-than-30 degree curves generally did not progress except for thoracolumbar curves. Looks like no one in the study progressed much more than half a degree per year over 40 years, but the average progression was around 1 degree per year for the first 20-30 years in some categories. So, yeah, my saying up to 2 degrees/year seems to be pushing it according to this study. This study still seems to indicate somewhat of a rough "cut-off" around 30 degrees - less than 30 and no progression, over 30 and some level of progression somewhere between 1/4 degree and 1 degree on average. Of course there is a range of variable outcomes to get a average or mean, so there probably are some that did not progress at all and a few that progressed by multiple degrees per year.
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