FAQ

The app measures the Angle of Trunk Rotation, or ATR, using your phone’s motion sensors. You lay the phone across the back during the forward bend test and it reads the angle of the difference between one side of the trunk and the other, in degrees.

That difference comes from rotation of the vertebrae, which pushes the ribs and muscles on one side further back. ATR is a screening measurement. It is not a diagnosis and it is not the curve seen on an X-ray.

No. The Cobb angle is measured on a radiograph, by drawing lines along the most tilted vertebra at each end of a curve. It can only come from an X-ray.

The app measures rotation at the surface of the back. The two are related but they are not interchangeable, and an ATR reading cannot be converted into a Cobb angle. There is more detail in our guide to ATR and the Cobb angle.

No. A raised reading tells you there is trunk asymmetry worth having looked at. Confirming or ruling out scoliosis takes a clinical examination and, where indicated, imaging.

Use the app to decide whether to book an appointment, not to decide what the diagnosis is.

In most states, no. Government-run school screening was largely discontinued on cost grounds, and since the early 1990s Australia has taken a different approach through the National Scoliosis Detection Program, run by the Spine Society of Australia and endorsed by the Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Schools distribute a fact sheet, but nobody at school examines your child. Arrangements differ between states and can change, so confirm the current position with your child’s school or your state health department.

You are. The National Scoliosis Detection Program is self-detection by design. The fact sheet sent home teaches parents the forward bend test so the check happens at home rather than in a school hall.

That is a deliberate policy choice rather than an oversight, and it is the reason a home measurement carries more weight in Australia than in countries where a nurse does it at school.

It is aimed mainly at girls aged 10 to 12, around Years 5 and 7, because that is when curves most often begin to progress.

Boys develop scoliosis as well. It is less common, and curves are sometimes picked up later, so a boy with a visible asymmetry should be checked in exactly the same way.

A number and a date. The fact sheet teaches you what to look for, which leaves you comparing this month’s impression against last month’s memory.

Telling a GP that a reading has moved from 4° in February to 8° in August is a different conversation from saying the back looks worse than it did.

Have your child stand with feet together and knees straight, then bend forward from the waist with arms hanging and palms together, until the upper back is roughly level with the floor.

Look along the back from behind, lay the phone flat across the back at right angles to the spine, and work from the top down. Record the highest reading. Step-by-step instructions are in our forward bend test guide.

Flat across the back, centred on the spine and perpendicular to it. Take a reading over the upper back, then have your child bend a little further and take another over the lower back.

Record the largest number. Readings taken at a different level each time are not comparable, and that is the most common reason a series looks alarming when nothing has changed.

Small readings are common and a perfectly symmetrical back is unusual. Readings under 5° are generally treated as within normal variation.

What matters as much as any single figure is whether the number holds steady over time. Our guide to normal scoliometer readings goes through this in more detail.

It means the rotation is worth a professional opinion rather than a wait. Screening research reports that an ATR near 5° corresponds on average to a Cobb angle near 11°, but that is a group average and an individual can sit well above or below it.

Treat it as a prompt to book an appointment, not as a measurement of the curve itself.

Seven degrees is the threshold most screening programs use for referral. The same research puts an ATR near 7° at an average Cobb angle near 20°, which is around the point where curves are actively monitored rather than casually observed.

A reading at or above 7° should be seen by a doctor. What your ATR number means covers the thresholds in full.

Book an appointment if the reading is 5° or more, if it has risen by around 5° over a few months, if one shoulder blade or hip sits visibly higher, or if there is back pain, numbness or a change in how your child walks.

In Australia the GP is the entry point. A referral to a paediatric orthopaedic or spine service comes from there, so that appointment is the step that matters.

Examine the back, usually with a forward bend test of their own, and decide whether an X-ray or a specialist referral is warranted.

Bring your dated readings. A GP seeing a child once has no way of knowing whether a curve is changing. A record covering several months answers a question the appointment on its own cannot. There is more in when to see a doctor.

Every three months through the growth spurt is a reasonable rhythm for a child with no known curve. If a curve is already being monitored, follow the interval your specialist has set rather than this one.

Measuring weekly does not find change any earlier. It mostly records the noise in your own technique.

Where possible, yes. Most of the variation between readings comes from how the phone is held and where it is placed, not from the app.

One person, the same room, the same time of day and the same phone will give you a series you can actually compare.

The measurement uses the phone’s motion sensors, so anything that tilts the device changes the number. A thick or uneven case is the usual culprit and introduces the same offset into every reading.

Measure with the phone flat against the back and, where you can, without a case. Pressing the phone into the back compresses soft tissue and tends to read low. Whichever setup you choose, keep it identical between sessions.

A rising trend matters as much as any single reading. An increase of around 5° between measurements warrants professional review even if the absolute figure still looks modest.

First check that the technique was identical, because method changes alone can move a reading by several degrees. If the increase holds on a careful repeat, arrange an assessment. Mild curves can progress without pain and without being obvious to look at.

Yes. Adults use it to follow a curve they already know about, or to check trunk asymmetry alongside back pain.

Adult curves change more slowly than adolescent ones, so measure less often and expect smaller movements. A new or quickly changing asymmetry in an adult should be assessed by a doctor rather than tracked at home.

According to the app’s Data safety information on Google Play, the Scoliometer App collects no user data and shares none with third parties. Readings stay on your own device.

Because they are held on the device rather than on our servers, we cannot retrieve them for you. If you are following a curve over months, keep your own dated record — date, region measured, reading, and who took it — and bring it to appointments.

Subscriptions bought inside the app are billed by Apple or Google, and only they can refund them. We have no ability to process a refund for a store purchase.

Contact Apple or Google support directly through the account you bought it with.

Yes. Download it again using the same Apple ID or Google account you bought it with and your purchase is restored at no extra cost.