Clinical and functional examination of the spine in working communities: occurrence of alterations in the male control group.

The paper reports the results obtained by applying a clinical method for the study of spinal disease as described elsewhere' in a control group of 200 male subjects, stratified for age, who had not been exposed to classically accepted occupational risk indicators for spinal disorders. For each age class the following data are supplied: frequency of cervical thoracic and lumbar disease; frequency of scoliosis and dissymmetry of lower limbs; mean values and range of mobility parameters for the various spinal regions. The possible application are discussed.