Figure 1

Growth rate (body length) as estimated for girls. This figure shows that immature individuals experience two phases of growth with higher velocity. One may be called the baby spurt with a descended characteristic (0 to approx. 6 years of age). The other is the pubertal growth spurt (approx. 10 to 13 years). Between these two phases with higher growth velocity, a flat phase of growth with little risk for progression occurs (Figure modified from Weiss and Weiss 2005). The distribution of the average patients from the studies as presented in Table 1 is demonstrated (blue spots). With kind permission of Pflaum, Munich (Weiss HR: Best practice in conservative scoliosis care. 4th edition in press).