Oh, what a groundbreaking revelation we have here! After years of meticulous research, spanning from 2008 to 2018, scientists have unearthed a truly shocking discovery about idiopathic scoliosis surgery: it turns out, *drumroll please*, that younger patients tend to have better outcomes than older ones. Who would have thought, right?

In this riveting retrospective multicenter study, researchers divided participants into two groups: the Young and Agile Idiopathic Scoliosis (YAIS) group, consisting of 364 spring chickens who had surgery before hitting the ripe old age of 20, and the Old and Aching Idiopathic Scoliosis (OAIS) group, featuring 131 participants who decided to go under the knife after the age of 35. Both groups, interestingly enough, had significant deformities with a mean Cobb angle of 63°—a number that surely made the researchers’ heads spin.

As they delved into the data, the researchers found that, lo and behold, the YAIS group not only had shorter hospital stays and fewer vertebral osteotomies but also achieved a *staggering* main Cobb correction of 37±10° compared to the OAIS group’s modest 2±13°. But wait, there’s more! The younger group also reported better functional outcomes, with SF12 PCS scores that would make any geriatric green with envy: 50±7 for the YAIS versus a paltry 39±6 for the OAIS.

So, after a decade of research, the conclusion is as clear as day: surgery for idiopathic scoliosis is like a fine wine—it doesn’t necessarily get better with age. While the older folks can still consider surgery an “acceptable therapeutic option,” it comes with the added bonus of higher complication rates. Cheers to that!

In summary, if you’re contemplating scoliosis surgery, it might be wise to not wait until your golden years. Because, as this study so eloquently puts it, youth is not just wasted on the young—it’s also apparently the best time to get your spine straightened out.