Scoliosis and cavus foot. Is there a relationship? Study in referrals, with and without scoliosis, from school screening.

Background. The correlation of idiopathic scoliosis and cavus foot has been previously reported, (1). This has been ascribed to possible lesions related to muscular imbalance influenced by the central nervous system. The aim of this study is the assessment of this correlation. Material and Method. 3544 children were studied, (1765 boys and 1779 girls, aged from 6 to 18 years) from a school-screening program of our department. A number of measurements were assessed including the angle of trunk inclination (ATI) in standing and sitting forward bending positions using the Pruijs scoliometer and the morphology of the sole shape using the Harris & Beath footprint mat. The 6 types footprint classification was used for foot shape as it was elsewhere reported (3,4). Type 1 in this classification represents typical and type 2 light cavus foot. In a first main group, 317 children were referred, who presented with ATI≥7o, and were divided into 2 subgroups. The 1 st subgroup included n=264 children with body asymmetry but with no scoliosis and the 2 nd subgroup included n=53 scoliotic children (Cobb angle >10o). The 2 nd main group included 3227 children without asymmetry. The presence of cavus foot (footprint type 1 and 2) in these 2 groups was searched. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS package. Results. n=4 (7.54%) out of the 53 scoliotics had cavus foot (n=1 (1.88%) typical and 3 (5.66%) light cavus foot), while n=55 (20.8%) out of 264 non-scoliotic referrals showed n=9 (3.4%) typical and n=46 (17.42 %) light cavus foot. These readings prove that there is no statistical correlation between idiopathic scoliosis and cavus foot. Additionally n=3227 normal symmetric children, n=620 (19.21%), presented cavus foot, (footprints type 1 n=106 (3.28%) and type 2 n= 514 (15.92%)), which is a percentage higher than that of the scoliotic population. Conclusions. The significant correlation between idiopathic scoliosis and cavus foot as it has been elsewhere reported was not verified in this study. On the contrary it is emphasized that the percentage of cavus foot was traced higher in the general healthy population than that in the small and moderate scoliotic curves studied.