Paper #24: Natural History of Sagittal Spinal Alignment in Children with Achondroplasia

Summary A cross sectional and longitudinal study of 315 children with achondroplasia showed that thoracolumbar kyphosis improves significantly during the first three years of age and hyperlordosis at the lumbosacral level is the compensatory mechanism. Pelvic alignment and hip positioning are directly affected by this mechanism. After three years of age, thoracolumbar kyphosis gradually improves until age ten. While pelvic incidence is stable before age ten, it increases gradually afterwards.