This is the first of a series of Instructional Course Lectures (ICL) Books of the International Society On Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT). In the contents of this book the reader can find the SOSORT STATUTES and become familiar with the aims of the creation of this society. This will hopefully be the initiation of a series of books on conservative scoliosis treatment and a valuable library for SOSORT. The philosophy of the commencement of such ICL book series is the achievements of an ultimate aim, the improvement of early detection and non operative treatment of the patient care pathway for scoliosis.

For this endeavor, a number of eminent clinicians and scientists around the world, who are devoted and high-quality “students” of scoliosis, are involved and contributing with their fabulous work.

There is no doubt that this book is not able to cover every aspect of the issue. However, the future volumes of this series of books will continuously complete the latest relevant knowledge.

In this volume there are chapters reporting on various aspects of the current state of the following topics: IS aetiology, recent trends on scoliosis research, genetics, prevention-school screening, various methods of physiotherapy, various types of braces, the inclusion criteria for conservative treatment, together with the SOSORT guidelines for conservative treatment, clinical evaluation and classification, study of the surface after brace application and outcomes for each brace.

Our belief is that doctors dealing with spinal deformities and in particular with scoliosis, ought to be efficient in treating the disease from “A–Z”, that is, to be familiar with all the existing therapeutic strategies.

We hope that the book, by its distribution to the attendees of the 5th International Conference on Conservative Management of Spinal Deformities at the Eugenidou Foundation, April 3–5 2008, Athens, Greece, will be disseminated around the world. Thus the important idea of proper conservative treatment of scoliosis will re-emerge, which in the past decades has been somewhat overlooked in favor of surgery, which is anyway necessary when indicated.

We would like to express our deep appreciation to all the authors and co-authors for spending their valuable time in order to share with us their profound knowledge on the issue. We would also like to express our gratitude to IOS Press publishers for making our dream a reality.

Dr Theodoros B. GRIVAS, MD, 23 September 2007, Athens, Greece