Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Basic Science

Background: Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) and Neural mobilization (NM) have beneficial effects in the treatment of many musculoskeletal disorders, both modalities have not been combined in a study for management of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) until now. Purpose: The present study investigated the effects of ESWT combined with NM on patients with AIS. Research design: Randomized Controlled experimental design. Methods: Forty-five patients with AIS were assigned randomly into three equal groups, fifteen patients in each group; their ages ranged from 10 to 18 years and Cobb degrees from 15 to 30{u00B0}. Group (A): received a physiotherapeutic scoliosis specific-exercises (PSSE), two sessions/ week for twelve consecutive weeks.Group (B): received PSSE as in group (A) in addition to ESWT that was applied one session each ten days for twelve consecutive weeks with a total number of nine sessions. Group (C): received the same treatment program as in group (B) combined with NM two sessions/ week for twelve consecutive weeks.The angle of trunk rotation (ATR), Cobb angle and functional ability level were investigated by Scoliometer device, X- ray, and the Arabic version of the scoliosis research society-22r (SRS-22r) questionnaire respectively, at the beginning and at the end of the treatment program.Results: There was a significant decrease of both ATR and cobb angles at post treatment in compare to pre-treatment in all groups (P-value <0.001). while there were non-significant changes in SRS-22r scores at post treatment in compare to pre-treatment in all groups (P-value = 0.5, 0.4 and 0.3 for group (A), group (B) and group (C) respectively)

Issued also as CD