It can strike in adults, children, even infants. Dr. John Churchill is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon on the medical staff at The Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida.

“Since we don’t know the cause of scoliosis, there’s no way to prevent it,” he explains. Scoliosis affects just over 2% of Americans. A spinal deformity that may not be painful, but can affect a person’s quality of life.

“About 85% of all cases of scoliosis are called adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. We don’t know what causes it. And it starts after the age of 10 and is most common in girls,” adds Dr. Churchill.

Researchers are taking a closer look at hereditary factors as they search for a cause and a cure. They are also zeroing in on a genetic test that could reveal a person’s risk. “Scoliosis does tend to run in families. So its very important that if someone in the family is known to have scoliosis, that the kids get screened,” Dr. Churchill explains.

He says schools and doctor’s offices often check for scoliosis. “Its called the Adams-Ford bent test. What happens is the child bends over, touches their toes, and you run your hand across their back and if one side of the back, particularly the upper part or the shoulder blade is higher or taller than the other side, that’s a sign of scoliosis.”

Scoliosis can be treated a variety of different ways, depending on the severity of the curviture in the spine.