Trying to compare the effectiveness of different braces used in treating scoliosis has been difficult. The type of patients and measures of results were often inconsistent from study to study. Making any kind of meaningful comparisons was impossible. As a result, the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) put together a group of research guidelines.
All studies of bracing from now on will use these new guidelines. Age, size of scoliosis curve, and skeletal maturity are some of the specific criteria put forth in the guidelines. The amount of change measured in degrees after treatment was also broken down into groups. This will make it possible to compare results from study to study. The comparisons will be valid and reliable.
The new SRS guidelines were used in this study to test the SpineCor brace for the treatment of scoliosis. It was developed in 1992. SpineCor provides corrective movement specific for each type of curve. Studies so far show it works best for mild to moderate curves.
In this study, researchers followed patients up to two years after the brace was discontinued. In many cases, bracing helps hold the spine. It usually doesn’t improve the problem but keeps it from getting worse. It does not curescoliosis.
The SpineCor brace has been shown to improve the curve. And as this study shows, the improvements are maintained for up to two years. Almost 60 per cent of the children in this study were stabilized or improved. And the positive outcomes were still present two years later. This is very different from other braces where loss of correction is expected over time.
The authors plan to conduct future studies comparing the SpineCor with other rigid braces.