Idiopathic scoliosis is often linked with poor balance. Vision is vital in the control of your posture as some studies have shown that static postural performance is 250% better with eyes open than when closed. Then, what influence does vision have on idiopathic Scoliosis? To find out the role of vision role in scoliosis, a study was undertaken in France[23], whereby teens with visual deficiency were screened for scoliosis and the subjects were then compared with kids with normal vision. The findings revealed that postural anomalies were 5 times more common in children with visual deficiencies (blind and really poor vision) compared with the control group of normal children.

Interestingly, all the children with structural scoliosis in the vision loss group showed a tilt and rotation of their heads. The authors finding of abnormal head position linked with scoliosis lead them to say “This clinical record comes close to confirming the theory… It implies the stabilization of the head, which is the reference for posturokinetic control over the rest of the body.”

This suggests that the head is the reference for the control of the body and therefore, it is imperative that when we examine all idiopathic scoliosis cases, we should be at looking how their heads are aligned on top of the spine and any misalignment to the spine has to be eventually corrected.

23. Catanzariti JF, Salomez E, Bruandet JM, Thevenon A. Visual deficiency and scoliosis. Spine. 2001 Jan 1;26(1):48-52.