Reliability of photogrammetry in the evaluation of the postural aspects of individuals with structural scoliosis

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of photogrammetry in the measurement of the postural deviations in individuals with idiopathic scoliosis. Methods: Twenty participants with scoliosis (17 women and three men), with a mean age of 23.1 +/- 9 yrs, were photographed from the posterior and lateral views. The postural aspects were measured with CorelDRAW software. Results: High inter-rater and testeretest reliability indices were found. It was observed that with more severity of scoliosis, greater were the variations between the thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis measures obtained by the same examiner from the left lateral view photographs. A greater body mass index (BMI) was associated with greater variability of the trunk rotation measures obtained by two independent examiners from the right, lateral view (r = 0.656; p = 0.002). The severity of scoliosis was also associated with greater inter-rater variability measures of trunk rotation obtained from the left, lateral view (r = 0.483; p = 0.036). Conclusions: Photogrammetry demonstrated to be a reliable method for the measurement of postural deviations from the posterior and lateral views of individuals with idiopathic scoliosis and could be complementarily employed for the assessment procedures, which could reduce the number of X-rays used for the follow-up assessments of these individuals. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.