Schooliosis

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.[1]

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.[2] Such overdiagnosis is called "schooliosis" by some academics. Schooliosis is a type of disease mongering.[3]

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.[4]

The term has also been used in a non-medical sense for students' inability to imagine themselves as graduates.[5]

See also

References
  1. Skrabanek, Petr; James McCormick (1998). Follies and Fallacies in Medicine (PDF) (3rd ed.). Eastbourne (UK): Tarragon Press. p. 68. ISBN 1-870781-09-0. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  2. Gérvas J. Escuoliosis. Acta Sanitaria. 2010-07-26
  3. PLoS Medicine Disease Mongering Collection. PLoS Medicine. 2006/04/11.
  4. Dvonch VM, Siegler AH, Cloppas CC, Bunch WH (1990). "The epidemiology of "schooliosis"". J Pediatr Orthop. 10: 206–7. doi:10.1097/01241398-199003000-00014. PMID 2312702.
  5. Huber JR. Preventing "Schooliosis": A self-help guide for undergraduate family science majors. Family Science Review. 1989; 2(2):109-11. Archived 2011-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
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