It’s important for doctors and patients to know the long-term effects of different treatments. That is not always possible, at least not for many years. For example, how well do braces help children who have scoliosis, a sideways curve of the spine? Researchers in this study looked at the long-term effects of treating scoliosis in children. They wanted to know how a group of patients was doing 22 years later.
A group of adults who had worn back braces as children were compared to a group of healthy adults. Both groups got physical exams and X-rays. The two groups answered questions about health, back function, and activities. The differences between the two groups were no surprise. The brace group had more degeneration in the bones of the spine. They still had curves in the spine. In more than one-third of the brace group the curves were actually worse than they had been when the participants were children. The brace group reported more back pain. They had taken more time off work because of back pain. And they reported being fearful of back injury and not liking the way their bodies looked more often than the control group.
This may sound bad. But the results were actually quite positive. The brace group had more back pain, but it was fairly mild. These individuals used very little pain medication. Their back function scores were only slightly lower than the control group. For most people, the brace they wore 22 years ago didn’t seem to affect their daily life much.
These authors have also done follow-up studies of children who’d had surgery to correct scoliosis. They note that both bracing and surgery patients seem to have about the same pain and function 22 years down the road.