In our rehabilitation center scoliosis treatment consists of a daily postural education, lasting several hours. For pain therapy, we apply mainly physiotherapeutical methods with osteopathy, manual therapy, Mc Kenzie and Briigger. In addition we offer psychological help for pain relief. In case of severe chronic pain, we treat additonally with acupuncture. Pain therapy with medication is only performed in rare cases.The aim of the following study was to investigate the correlation between pain and scoliosis as well as short-term effects of pain therapy in scoliosis.In our database we have meanwhile 2.049 adult patients with scoliosis of different etiology (mainly idiopathic scolioses), who reported their pain level at the beginning and the end of a 3-6 week in-patient rehabilitation program. For this aim we used a visual analog scale (VAS), a numerical scale (NS), a standardized adjective scale (VRS) and a pain frequency scale. In addition, we correlated age and curvature angle according to Cobb with pain level and pain frequency. Patients with an average curvature angle according to Cobb of 38° and an average age of 29 years showed no correlation between pain severity and curvature angle, but there was a correlation between pain severity and the patient’s age. Before the in-patient treatment, 35% of the patients suffered no pain, after an in-patient treatment, 41% of the patients reported having no pains. AH scale values showed a highly significant decrease in the nonparametrical Wilcoxon-test.

As there seems to be no correlation between curvature angle and pain severity, our findings thus confirm the theory, that scoliosis and pain are independent parameters. An in-patient rehabilitation seems to be able to have a positive effect on pain.