What is Scheuermann's Disease?

What is Scheuermann's Disease?

• A. A degenerative disc disease in elderly.
• B. A condition in adolescence (10-15 yrs) causing thoracic pain and excessive kyphosis due to wedge-shaped vertebrae; often adult thoracic kyphosis with lumbar lordosis.
• C. A congenital scoliosis.
• D. A lumbar spondylolysis.

Answer: (B)

Scheuermann's disease is an adolescent condition characterized by abnormal growth of the spine that produces thoracic hyperkyphosis. It usually appears in early teenagers (around 10–15 years old) and presents with back pain and a noticeably forward-curved upper back. The hallmark is wedge-shaped anterior wedging of multiple, often three or more, consecutive thoracic vertebral bodies, along with irregular endplates and sometimes Schmorl nodes. This anterior wedging leads to the excessive kyphosis and, as a compensatory change, a lumbar lordosis. It’s not a degenerative disc disease of the elderly, since this disease shows up during growth spurts in youth rather than in older adults with wear-and-tear changes. It’s not congenital scoliosis, which is due to spinal malformations present at birth. And it’s not lumbar spondylolysis, which is a stress fracture of the pars interarticularis in the lumbar region.

Scheuermann's disease is an adolescent condition characterized by abnormal growth of the spine that produces thoracic hyperkyphosis. It usually appears in early teenagers (around 10–15 years old) and presents with back pain and a noticeably forward-curved upper back. The hallmark is wedge-shaped anterior wedging of multiple, often three or more, consecutive thoracic vertebral bodies, along with irregular endplates and sometimes Schmorl nodes. This anterior wedging leads to the excessive kyphosis and, as a compensatory change, a lumbar lordosis.

It’s not a degenerative disc disease of the elderly, since this disease shows up during growth spurts in youth rather than in older adults with wear-and-tear changes. It’s not congenital scoliosis, which is due to spinal malformations present at birth. And it’s not lumbar spondylolysis, which is a stress fracture of the pars interarticularis in the lumbar region.