Dual Task Performance in Adolescents With Idiopathic Scoliosis

Daily life activities commonly include many combinations of dual tasks. Although dual task ability has been studied in healthy young adults, dual task performance in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis (IS) has not been explored. Our objective in this study was to investigate dual task performance in adolescents with IS. We paired 33 adolescents diagnosed with IS and 33 healthy control participants (age range: 11-17 years) and administered to both groups the Stroop Color and Word test as a measure of cognitive ability, and both the Expanded Timed Up and Go (ETUG) test and the Tandem Gait test as measures of motor tasks. During the motor tasks, we had participants spell five-letter words in reverse and count down by seven from a randomly presented number between 50 and 100 to assess their dual task (cognitive-motor) performance. All cognitive, motor, and dual cognitive-motor test scores differed significantly between the IS and healthy control groups. The time taken to complete all these tasks was longer for participants with IS compared with controls (p < .05). These results revealed diminished performances on dual cognitive-motor tasks among adolescents with IS when compared to peers without IS. Dual task performance is a new research paradigm in the scoliosis rehabilitation field, and it should be further investigated in future studies.