Schooliosis

{{Short description|Misdiagnosis of scoliosis}}

Schooliosis, a pun on "school" and "scoliosis", is a term for a type of medical misdiagnosis. The word was coined by Petr Skrabanek and James McCormick.{{cite book|last=Skrabanek|first=Petr|title=Follies and Fallacies in Medicine|year=1998|publisher=Tarragon Press|location=Eastbourne (UK)|isbn=1-870781-09-0 |pages=68 |url=http://bradtaylor.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/follies-and-fallacies-in-medicine.pdf|edition=3rd|author2=James McCormick |accessdate=January 1, 2013}}

The authors asserted that there is some degree of overdiagnosis of scoliosis in school, which causes ethical, social, and economic damage to the welfare of children.[http://www.actasanitaria.com/actasanitaria/frontend/desarrollo_noticia.jsp?idCanal=23&idContenido=20810 Gérvas J. Escuoliosis. Acta Sanitaria. 2010-07-26] Such overdiagnosis is called "schooliosis" by some academics. Schooliosis is a type of disease mongering.[http://www.ploscollections.org/article/browseIssue.action?issue=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fissue.pcol.v07.i02 PLoS Medicine Disease Mongering Collection. PLoS Medicine. 2006/04/11.]

Preventive medical screening in school or college may lead to an incorrect diagnosis of scoliosis that triggers a series of unnecessary medical interventions on adolescents. There can be diagnostic and therapeutic cascades involving several specialists, which can end with iatrogenic damage to a healthy child with a normal back. The risks are unnecessary overexposure to X-rays (repeated diagnostic X-rays), rehabilitation techniques with side effects (traction), stigmatizing orthopaedic treatment (braces for back injury) and costs in time, travel, etc.{{cite journal| pmid=2312702 | volume=10 | title=The epidemiology of "schooliosis" | year=1990 |vauthors=Dvonch VM, Siegler AH, Cloppas CC, Bunch WH | journal=J Pediatr Orthop | issue=2 | pages=206–7 | doi=10.1097/01241398-199003000-00014| s2cid=30589226 }}