Copyright
©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Mar 20, 2026; 16(1): 107307
Published online Mar 20, 2026. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v16.i1.107307
Published online Mar 20, 2026. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v16.i1.107307
Tele-scoliosis-screening and treat protocol: A hybrid in-person and online approach for scoliosis treatment in remote patients
Nikos Karavidas, Department of Physiotherapy, Schroth Scoliosis and Spine Clinic, Athens 15451, Greece
Dionysios Tzatzaliaris, Department of Orthotics, Scoliosis Spine Laser Center, Athens 18345, Greece
Author contributions: Karavidas N handled material preparation, data collection, analysis, curve pattern classification for bracing and exercises, and wrote the first draft; Karavidas N and Tzatzaliaris D made contribution to study design; Tzatzaliaris D scanned patients, designed braces using computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software, and managed their fabrication and fitting. Both authors approved the final manuscript to publish.
Institutional review board statement: Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of International Hellenic University, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Due to ethical or privacy restrictions, some access limitations may apply.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Nikos Karavidas, Department of Physiotherapy, Schroth Scoliosis and Spine Clinic, Kolokotroni 5, Athens 15451, Greece. info@skoliosi.com
Received: March 21, 2025
Revised: April 27, 2025
Accepted: June 30, 2025
Published online: March 20, 2026
Processing time: 326 Days and 17.1 Hours
Revised: April 27, 2025
Accepted: June 30, 2025
Published online: March 20, 2026
Processing time: 326 Days and 17.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the tele-scoliosis-screening and treat protocol for patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis facing geographic and financial barriers to in-person care. By integrating online evaluations and supervised exercise sessions with periodic in-person visits, the protocol significantly improved compliance, reduced loss to follow-up, and led to better overall treatment outcomes compared to traditional in-person treatment alone.