Unexplained scoliosis in children under the age of 3 is called, Infantile idiopathic scoliosis. While it is relatively rare and only affects only a small proportion of infants it can have a devastating consequences if left untreated. Once any serious underlying pathology is ruled out as a cause of infantile idiopathic scoliosis, it is divided up into two basic types; progressive infantile idiopathic scoliosis or resolving infantile idiopathic scoliosis [2].  Resolving infantile idiopathic scoliosis as the name suggests resolves spontaneously. This accounts for approximately 80% of infantile scoliosis cases.  Infants with a progressive infantile idiopathic scoliosis continue to worsen and often develop a severe scoliosis in a relatively short time.

So how do you tell if your child has resolving or progressive infantile idiopathic scoliosis? Initially when the curve is small it is very difficult to tell if the infantile scoliosis is going to be progressive or resolving. As a rule of thumb if the scoliosis curve measures under 20 degrees of cobb angle it is normally considered a potentially resolving case and observation is normally recommneded.  If the curve is larger that 20 degrees of Cobb then it may or may not be be progressive, however their is a way to tell if there is a chance that the scoliosis still has the potential to resolve or not.