First few Article Sentences
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic reduction in routine preventive health care. With fewer doctor visits, more conditions are going undiagnosed and untreated.</p> <p>According to a recent <a href="https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/11/18/pandemicimpact111820">American Academy of Pediatrics survey</a>, the pandemic has caused a dramatic reduction in pediatrician visits. Two-thirds of primary care pediatricians have reported practice visits are down.<sup>1</sup></p> <p>As a physician, I am concerned about how the reduction in preventative care today will affect the state of our public’s health tomorrow. As an orthopedic spine specialist, I am especially concerned about how the current pandemic will affect preteens who are in the early stages of developing juvenile and adolescent scoliosis.</p> <p>Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine, and affects 2-3% of the population – an estimated six to nine million people in the United States.<sup>2</sup> The most common type is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and usually appears first in children between 10 and 12 years old, during the growth spurt just before puberty. </p>