The vertebral canal: II. Health and academic status, a clinical study.

This study was designed to test the concept that a shallow vertebral canal in the adult may act as a marker of impaired development in early life. If that same impaired development also affected the immune and central nervous systems, there could be a relationship between the vertebral canal size, health, and academic status. A retrospective analysis was made of the general practitioner records of 94 patients, some with very narrow canals and some with wide canals. There were significantly more episodes and total attendances with infections, more episodes of low-back pain, and more attendances with trauma in those with small canals. A prospective study compared the GCE examination results of 331 children whose canals had been measured by ultrasound 3 years previously. The children in the highest three deciles for canal size performed significantly better than those in the lowest decile (P less than 0.01). There is evidence that a relation may exist between the sagittal diameter of the lumbar vertebral canal and health and academic status.