Corrective exercise-based therapy for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, a spinal curve that develops during growth without a known cause, is often managed with bracing or observation, and there's ongoing interest in whether targeted corrective exercise can meaningfully help. This review pooled results from randomized trials comparing corrective exercise-based therapy against either no intervention or other treatments, looking at both the degree of spinal curvature and quality of life. Across seven trials involving 236 patients, corrective exercise showed a moderate benefit for reducing spinal deformity, particularly when compared with no treatment or when added alongside other therapies, though it did not clearly outperform other active interventions. A smaller set of four studies suggested improved quality of life scores, but this evidence was rated low quality.

The overall evidence base remains small, and the quality of underlying trials varies, so these findings should be read as encouraging rather than conclusive.

If you or your child has been diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, a curve in the spine that appears during growth, you may wonder whether specific corrective exercises can help beyond bracing or simply monitoring the curve. This review looked at several small studies testing exercise programs designed to correct the spinal curve and improve daily quality of life. The combined results suggest that corrective exercise-based therapy can help reduce the size of the spinal curve, especially compared with doing nothing, and it may also work well as an add-on to other treatments.

It did not clearly do better than other treatment approaches on their own. There were also hints that these exercises improve quality of life, but this part of the evidence was weaker and based on fewer studies. Because the total number of patients studied was small and the quality of the underlying research varied, these results are promising but not yet definitive.

The findings apply to people with mild to moderate scoliosis, and more robust research would help confirm how much difference this approach truly makes.

This is a summary of research, not medical advice. Talk to your own healthcare provider about anything affecting your care.

For physiotherapists weighing exercise-based approaches in the management of mild to moderate adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, this systematic review and meta-analysis asks whether corrective exercise-based therapy meaningfully affects spinal deformity and quality of life compared with no treatment or other interventions. Pooling seven randomized controlled trials (236 patients) showed a moderate effect favoring corrective exercise for reducing spinal deformity overall (SMD -0.52, 95% CI -0.96 to -0.1), a similarly moderate benefit versus no intervention (SMD -0.59, 95% CI -1.18 to -0.01) and when combined with other therapies (SMD -0.51, 95% CI -0.89 to -0.13), but no statistically significant advantage over other active interventions (SMD -0.2, 95% CI -0.67 to 0.27). Quality of life, measured via SRS-22 total score in four trials (151 patients), showed a large effect (SMD 1.16, 95% CI 0.36 to 1.95), but this evidence was rated low quality. The key takeaway is that corrective exercise appears useful as either a standalone or adjunct treatment for reducing curve severity, but the comparative advantage over other established interventions remains unclear, and the quality-of-life finding rests on fewer, lower-certainty studies.

Given the modest number of included trials and variable evidence quality, these results should inform rather than dictate clinical decision-making around exercise prescription in this population.