The Canadian Scoliosis Screening Coalition

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Media Coverage and Publications: reporting on the HEALTH CRISIS of Scoliosis care in Canada.

Added Aug 29, 2025 Revised: Sept 18, Dec 20, 2025 Jan 12, 2026.

1. Montreal Citynews, Jean-Benoit Legault, The Canadian Press, posted June 25, 2025
   ***Medical experts point to gaps in scoliosis screening for Quebec children Scoliosis screening in children in Quebec is lacking, laments a specialist, meaning that many are seen so late that only surgery is available “There’s been a rebound in the number of patients, and children are presenting too late,” summarized Dr. Jean Ouellet, an orthopedic surgeon at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.“ Scoliosis has not been screened in Quebec schools for about 40 years, partly because it was long believed that the progression of the disease was irreversible. We now know that this is false...if the problem is detected early enough and corrective measures are implemented, three out of four children will avoid the knife. Studies show that if we screen them early and are able to get them into a brace, we can minimize what we call the medical burden of scoliosis...a pan-Canadian coalition was created, which also includes Sainte-Justine Hospital, to get a screening program back on track, especially during the growth spurt in young people...the problem can worsen to the point of becoming obvious to uninitiated children like parents, teachers, or coaches. Unfortunately, it then becomes apparent very, very late. Parents are therefore encouraged to keep an eye out...even if a child appears healthy, they will very rarely be seen by a doctor. This is especially true in the current, well-known context of the healthcare system, where even those who need to see a doctor struggle to do so...About 40 per cent of the patients we see don’t have scoliosis...But for 30 per cent of those we see, it’s already too late and we can only offer them surgery. even if the child is seen by a healthcare professional, some say ‘we’ll wait until you’re done growing,’ but it’s too late,” said Dr. Ouellet...“We really need to catch this early, start braces very early, to be able to change the natural history of scoliosis”.
2. Lebel A, Kline M, Boucher J, Carberry J, Adulovic N, Dermott JA. Bracing and non-surgical management of scoliosis in Canada: Early detection, access inequities, and the need for interdisciplinary reform. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2025; Volume 8, Issue 2, No. 9. https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v8i2.46590 "Abstract: Bracing remains the cornerstone of non-surgical management for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) with an aim to minimize the risk of progression and to avoid spine surgery. In Canada however, one third to half of patients present with curve magnitudes too severe for optimal brace treatment, resulting in higher than necessary surgical volumes. High-cost spine surgeries are fully funded while non-surgical management is not. This Professional Opinion article highlights systemic barriers to early detection that limit opportunity for non-surgical management in Canada and ultimately drive up healthcare spending. In Canada, there is an urgent need for a coordinated national strategy to re-establish routine scoliosis screening, ensure equitable public funding for treatment and expand professional training in non-surgical spinal care...."
3. ***Nadler EB, Kim DJ, Lebel DE, Dermott JA,
   The True Cost of Late Presentation in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A 5-Year Follow-up Study J Pediatr Orthop. 2025 Feb 28. doi: 10.1097/BPO.0000000000002937 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40019300/ "Eliminating late presentation of AIS would save at least $2 to $3 million per year at a single institution...Significant cost savings can be found by optimizing the number of patients treated with a brace and minimizing the number of patients that present late as likely surgical candidates. This study provides financial impetus for early AIS detection, decreasing the number of avoidable surgeries. Scoliosis screening recommendations in primary care should be re-examined, alongside the development of educational tools, equipping primary care providers, and youth and their caregivers with appropriate knowledge on how to identify AIS...."
4. Jennifer A. Dermott, Liisa Jaakkimainen, Teresa To, Maryse Bouchard, Andrew Howard, David E. Lebel. Late referral of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: the impact of socioeconomic status and health care utilization CPSS-03. Abstract ID 164. The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont.; the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; ICES, Toronto, Ont.; the Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ont.; the SickKids Research Institute, Toronto, Ont, Canadian Journal of Surgery Vol. 67 (6 Suppl 1) November 13, 2024 doi: 10.1503/cjs.011424 "...Results: In total, 2732 patients with AIS (2236 [82%] female) were seen in the study period. The average age (± standard deviation) was 14.1 (± 1.7) years (range 10.0–17.9 yr), mean Cobb angle 37.6° (± 14.4°) (range 10°–95°) and mean BMI 20.4 (± 5.2) (range 12.2–54.5). The percentage of late referrals was 27% (n = 728). Late referral was associated with younger age at presentation (13.8 yr v. 14.2 yr), less mature Risser stage and fewer physician outpatient visits (16.2 v. 18.7). The probability of being referred late increased with lower income (Q1 = 0.32 v. Q5 = 0.23) and higher level of material deprivation (Q5 = 0.3 4 v. Q1 = 0.22), and decreased when a pediatrician was the primary care provider (0.13 v. 0.35) or with regular annual health examinations (0.11 v. 0.32). Conclusion: Both lower SES and health care utilization increased the probability of late AIS referral, particularly when care was not provided by a pediatrician or when annual health examinations were infrequent"
5. Jessica Romeo, Holly Livock, Kevin Smit, James Jarvis, Andrew Tice. Postoperative suicide risk is elevated in patients under going posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion.CPSS-09 Abstract ID 96, The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Ont, Canadian Journal of Surgery Vol. 67 (6 Suppl 1) November 13, 2024 doi: 10.1503/cjs.011424 "...The Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) tool is an instrument to identify at-risk youth. It has been implemented at our institu tion since 2019 in patients over age 12 years admitted for any reason. The study objective was to determine the incidence and risk factors of positive ASQ screening findings in patients undergoing posterior spinal fusion (PSF)...Methods: Partici pants were retrospectively collected from a single-centre tertiary hospital. Patients diagnosed with a spine condition who had had PSF between 2019 and 2023, were aged 12–20 years and had completed the ASQ postoperatively were included... Conclusion: Twenty one percent of patients undergoing PSF had a positive ASQ screen, indicating the high incidence of SUICIDAL risk in this patient population. Patients with a preoperative mental health diagnosis were at highest risk of screening positive. This initia tive also identified a population of at-risk adolescents who access the medical system for targeted needs outside of a mental health origin. There is an opportunity to improve preoperative mental health screening in adolescents undergoing spinal surgery to optimize their postoperative mental health..."
6. Dorothy J. Kim, Ayesha Hadi, Andrea Doria, Aya Mitani, Jennifer Dermott, Andrew Howard, David Lebel. Assessing Cobb angle agreement in community spine radiographs: clinical significance in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. CPSS-05 Abstract ID 22, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont.; the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canadian Journal of Surgery Vol. 67 (6 Suppl 1) November 13, 2024 doi: 10.1503/cjs.011424 "...Background: The study objectives were 1) to determine the agreement of Cobb angle readings between index evaluation of community spine x-ray and re-evaluation of the same image by spine specialist and pediatric radiologist, and 2) to determine if inaccura cies were associated with late adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) referrals (i.e., those presenting as likely surgical candidates at initial visit)...The proportion of patients with discrepancies in Cobb angle measurements was 45.0%. The odds of late referral increased with inaccuracies in community measurements (odds ratio 3.52, 95% CI 1.90–6.53). Conclusion: Inaccuracies in community radiology impact timely referral, contributing to missed opportunities for bracing and subsequently increasing surgical burden."
7. Global News Health, posted March 12, 2025 ‘Unacceptable’: Manitoba woman waits 8 years for scoliosis surgeryby Teagan Rasche Global News "Kim Hughes-Tardiff of Manitoba was diagnosed with a double scoliosis curve as a child. She had one surgery at 14 years of age and wore a body cast for a decade.Today, she walks with a cane to the end of her driveway. “I’m almost ready to give up,” she says, saying simple tasks have become a challenge. “I am in pain every day; that’s why I had to go off work. I can sit for certain periods. I can’t stand, I can’t walk even half a block without pain.” The hope was that her lower spinal curve wouldn’t get worse, but she says it has. She’s been off work since 2014. She was able to see a surgeon two years later, who said she would need surgery. Hughes-Tardiff has now been waiting eight years for that much-needed surgery. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Tuesday that an eight-year wait for surgery is unacceptable and their office has since reached out to Hughes-Tardiff regarding her situation.
8. Dunphy, C, Keenan, M, Hunter, D, Ouellet, J, Smit, K, El-Hawary, R, Simmonds, A,
   *** Scoliosis Screening: A Review of Current Evidence, Worldwide Practices, and Recommendations for Implementation Across Canada Backhealth Journal of Current Clinical Care Volume 14 Issue 4, 2024 https://www.healthplexus.net/article/scoliosis-screening-review-current-evidence-worldwide-practices-and-recommendations,"...With mounting concerns about long wait times across Canada for surgical correction of scoliosis, interest has grown in maximizing non-operative care. We have investigated the history of scoliosis screening and the controversies surrounding implementation of screening in a Canadian setting. We propose an optimal screening strategy....Early diagnosis provides opportunities for conservative strategies, such as scoliosis-specific physiotherapy and bracing, which may reduce the number of children requiring an operation...Many patients already have curves in the surgical range before the deformity is detected by their family and brought to the attention of healthcare providers. It is well documented that timely bracing can significantly decrease the progression of high-risk curves in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS)...Early detection through school screenings could improve access to timely interventions, reducing the need for surgery and their associated healthcare costs. Even though concerns about overdiagnosis and resource allocation remain valid, these can be mitigated with well designed protocols and proper training for screeners..."

9. Ansari K, Singh M, McDermott JR, Gregorczyk JA, Balmaceno-Criss M, Daher M, McDonald CL, Diebo BG, Daniels AH. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in adulthood. EFORT Open Rev. 2024 Jul 1;9(7):676-684. doi: 10.1530/EOR-23-0162. PMID: 38949156; PMCID: PMC11297403. "As adolescents with AIS enter adulthood, condition outcomes vary with some experiencing curve stabilization and others noting further curve progression, chronic pain, osteoporosis/fractures, declines in pulmonary and functional capacity, among others. Regular monitoring and individualized management by healthcare professionals are crucial"

10. CTV News Northern Ontario, Eric Taschner, June 10, 2024, Here is what two North Bay mothers want you to know about Scoliosis Ava was diagnosed after her parents noticed her posture...x-rays found severe scoliosis in May 2023.."We were on a waitlist for almost a year before Ava was able to receive surgery and her curvature actually increased by over 12 degrees in that time," Beattie said... "We had to see the specialist in Ottawa at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). We took a lot of trips to Ottawa and there was a lot of expensive travel bills, hotel bills and wait times that we had before surgery happened."...The two girls' mothers, Stephanie Silverthorn and Nicole Beattie, are co-chairing North Bay's first Scoliosis Awareness Day at the YMCA to highlight the need for screening detection and education about the disease and its prevalence within our communities...."

11. ***Schreiber, S, Somers, E,
    Breaking the curve: A call for comprehensive scoliosis awareness and care The Conversation Jan 11, 2024 https://theconversation.com/breaking-the-curve-a-call-for-comprehensive-scoliosis-awareness-and-care-217495 A commentary by Canadian and U.S. scoliosis researchers on the current state of scoliolis detection, care and coverage.."...Despite its widespread prevalence, scoliosis often goes undiagnosed, or has delayed diagnosis.. It also receives limited attention in clinical and public health education, leading to significant gaps in health care...This general lack of awareness has serious implications for thousands of people...Inequities abound in scoliosis care and research..."

12. ***CBC Health, The Canadian Press, Posted: Sep 25, 2023,
    Canadian kids' spinal surgery waits 'far exceed' recommendations: report"...It is calling for funding to hire more pediatric surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists...Emily Gruenwoldt, CEO of Children"s Healthcare Canada..."I think there's not great awareness of how our system is failing children and youth and the impacts of delays on their development"...Dr. Stefan Parent, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Sainte-Justine Children's Hospital in Montreal, said 200 kids are on the waitlist there. Those with AIS wait up to 18 months for surgery while three years is not uncommon for children with neuromuscular scoliosis, which is associated with other conditions, including cerebral palsy..."There are some patients that have had so much progression that we had to hospitalize them for six weeks prior to surgery, put them in traction. We place a ring around their head and then progressively add weights, up to 50 per cent of their actual weight, and stretch them prior to surgery," he said.
    "That just should never occur." (Note: this treatment is called 'Halo Gravity Traction' where pins are drilled into the child's head to attach to the ring/halo.)

13. ***The Conference Board of Canada No Child Elects to Wait, Timely Access to Pediatric Spinal Surgery, Sept 25, 2023 Conference Board of Canada SEE PAGE 8 An illustrative case: scoliosis surgery "...Scoliosis is an abnormal...curvature of the spine...that develops in infancy or early childhood. It commonly emerges between the ages of 10 and 15 Idiopathic Scoliosis (unknown cause) accounts for approximately 80 per cent of all cases, with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) being the most prevalent form...adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) surgery is the most common reason for elective (planned) pediatric orthopedic surgery...4 in 10 pediatric spinal surgeries are done after the recommended clinical time frame... causes "prolonged suffering, pain, heightened anxiety, and emotional distress experienced by both patients and families." These surgical delays have a great cost to healthcare as well "with an estimated 2,778 children who are waiting for surgery, the estimated cost of delaying pediatric scoliosis surgery to the healthcare system is $44.6 million, In addition, we estimate $1.4 million in lost productivity to the Canadian economy due to added caregiver responsibility."

14. ***CBC Health, Jennifer La Grasse, Amina Zafar, (Oct 1, 2023) CBC News
    Canada stopped checking kids' spines years ago. Why experts say screening should come back, Race against time to prevent severe spine curve"...Parents and those with lived experiences...say that if more resources were put into early detection and preventative measures, kids could avoid an invasive spinal fusion surgery... "In an email to CBC News, Jean Ouellet, president of the Canadian Pediatrics Spine Society, said that the organization is pushing to increase early detection and raise awareness of scoliosis. ...Mendoza and El-Hawary say they want to see the government bring back childhood screening, better fund braces and invest in hiring and training physiotherapists."... "Right now, Canadian kids are facing long and painful waits to get spinal surgery — putting them at risk for more complex operations" ...Andrea Lebel, a physiotherapist...says it's "unacceptable" that kids these days aren't getting a timely diagnosis and are then forced to wait months for surgery... A growing body of research shows that certain types of physiotherapy can improve symptoms...physiotherapy is often used with braces to possibly eliminate the need for surgery...But right now, there's a patch-work of funding programs across the country for braces, which can be costly and present a financial barrier for some...

15. CBC Radio White Coat Black Art Philip Drost, Feb 25, 2023
    'They don't care about me, mom': Teen's scoliosis surgery delayed five times Nathan Gilson’s wait took a mental and physical toll on the entire family. "It was kind of just messing with my everyday life. I couldn't really do many of the activities that my friends were doing. I couldn't sit down at school for an extended amount of time," said Nathan. "I just needed the surgery to get rid of the pain."
    "He said, 'Everybody else is more important than me.' And I broke down into tears that night.… That broke me as a parent. - Shelley Gilson"
16. CBC Investigates Patients wait in pain as a surgeon fights to get paid - all in a battle over health-care dollars June 25, 2023 by Lauren Pelley. "Bonnie Ho fears her 18-year-old daughter with scoliosis will also remain stuck in limbo. The young woman was told she may be getting too old to have surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto...In the meantime, Ho's daughter, who CBC News has agreed not to name to protect her privacy, is dealing with debilitating pain and has had suicidal thoughts, her mother says."
17. CBC News, Anusha Kav, Dec 30, 2022 Alberta woman expected a 6-month wait for surgery. Two painful years later, she's still waiting "MacPhail says she has stalled at number nine on the waiting list. Her symptoms— chronic headaches, back and neck pain, breathing issues, limited mobility and fatigue — have gotten worse, requiring her to take medical leave from work."

18. CBC News, Caitlin Taylor, Greg Sadler, Travis Dhanraj, Oct 21, 2022 B.C. teenager waited almost 2 years for scoliosis surgery Cael Perry from BC waited two years for surgery to correct his scoliosis, which went from a severe 58° curve (surgeons operate at 45°-50°) at age 15 yrs in Nov 2020 when his mother noticed it and took him to their GP, and two years and referrals later, had rapidly progressed to a dangerous unbelievable severely deforming 108° when he finally had corrective "ELECTIVE" surgery at BC Children's Hospital in Sept 2022 (1). "Dr. Brian Day, an orthopedic surgeon and owner of the Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver, has been arguing for over a decade that Canada's health-care system condones pain and suffering... "When you have a deformity like this that"s progressive, it's just unacceptable," said Day, when shown X-rays of Cael's spine. "This kind of picture has to be shown to the politicians and shown to the judiciary and say, 'Are you condoning this?'"
    
    

    International:

19. International News from Ireland: note, the UK stopped Scoliosis school screening in the 1980s following Canada and Scoliosis patients have been experiencing simillar dire conditions there if not worse, since. In the recent news, The Journal, Healthcare, March 19, 2025 Senators back bill to create national treatment service for scoliosis The national treatment service envisaged in the bill would provide “timely and effective” inpatient and outpatient treatment of scoliosis for children and adults, including detection, assessment and remedial treatment....“My son should have had the scoliosis surgery when he was about 12 years old but he didn’t. It was delayed for four years, and those were during the teenage years when your organs are developing,” he said...
    “His lung function was down to about 30% and also his heart was compressed. We went to the pediatric cardiologist in Temple Street for a scan prior to surgery and she couldn’t find his heart initially because it was in a part of the chest cavity where it should not normally be,” Clonan recounted.
    He said the knock-on effects for his son caused by the surgery being delayed have had “life-limiting implications”.
    Clonan said that there are “children on acute waiting lists who have become inoperable” because they have been left waiting so long for surgery."
20. Tragic international News from Ireland: Boy, 9, with Scoliosis Dies After Spending Years Waiting for Life-Saving Surgery: ‘Shameful’ People.com By Vanessa Etienne Published on August 15, 2025 05:28PM EDT (Note: this child had a more rare type of Scoliosis, EOS Early Onset-Scoliosis, that is more agressive than the common Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis AIS. But EOS is treatable and all children with severe spinal deformities should have equitable, timely, access to life-changing and saving paediatric spine surgery.)

Contact us at: CSSC@scoliosiscanada.ca