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Detecting Scoliosis at Home with Just a Water Bottle or a Smartphone?

Torsion bottle, a very simple, reliable, and cheap tool for a basic scoliosis screening



One of the reasons that scoliosis concerns the parents so much, is its specific characteristic of being difficult to detect on its onset.
Too often, the appearance of the spinal curves are recognized when the disease is already severe.
The reason is due to the typical, slow, and insidious debut of the symptoms.
Due to its slow and insidious debut of the symptoms, being able to identify it earlier, is one of the most effective treatment keys.
One of the most important clinical signs Scoliosis is the presence  prominence, assesed with a Scoliometer®

In a domestic field, this is not available.
For this reason, a very simple tool called torsion bottle, cheap and easy to create, has been developed
The torsion bottle is composed of a plastic water bottle of 500 ml.
The perfect accuracy of the amount of water to be used is not an essential element. (It's recommended to fill approximately half of the bottle) 

On the outer surface of the bottle, it will be marked with a series of four points that will be essential for its use. 
These points will be marked only after the bottle is partially emptied.


The essential reference signs are:
  • Point 1 and 2 which should coincide with the water surface.
  • Point 3 is the limit of the 7° of the bottle’s tilt (Fig. 1).
  • Point 2 is marked at a distance of 80 mm to point 1.
  • Point 3 is marked 10 mm from the point 2 in the rectangular direction (Fig. 2) 
Fig. 1
Fig. 1

Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The distances (in mm) between the landmarks


How to use the torsion bottle

How to use it:
  • Forward bending of the patient’s trunk
  • The torsion bottle positioned crosswise on the patient’s back with the point 1 positioned over the line of bony height and the water surface corresponding  with point 1 and 2 (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3


figure3


Fig. 4
figure4
Tilt of the torsion bottle toward the concavity of the curve

Rotate the bottle until the surface of the water coincides with the position of point 1 (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5
figure5

Observe the position of the surface of the water with respect to landmarks 3 or 4 (Fig. 6).


Fig. 6
figure6

The presence of a prominence higher than 7° is considered a clinical sign very likely linked to a scoliosis that requires a medical treatment.

In conclusion the torsion bottle is useful to perform a pre-investigation of the presence of a prominence, permitting a simplified assessment of its value thus directing to a specialist for a medical assessment.


The aim of this article is to share the use of a simple tool (the torsion bottle) that has been developed with the aim to offer an instrument for home use by parents but also for screening purposes in the low-income countries.




OR
When you do not have the Scoliometer or the Torsion Bottle you may measure the angle of trunk rotation (ATR) using your smartphone. just use your smartphone and your thumbs.

or this



Many thanks for this information and the experiment
Dr. Hans-Rudolf Weiss 
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