National study supports bracing for kids with scoliosis

For more than 50 years, orthopedic surgeons at Boston Children’s Hospital and elsewhere have prescribed rigid back braces for some kids with scoliosis. In theory, bracing prevents worsening of the curvature and might allow the child to avoid surgery to correct the curve. But the treatment can be challenging. Subjecting a child to a bulky back brace during the emotionally vulnerable teen years is not high on any parent’s or physician’s wish list. Plus, until last week’s study published in New England Journal of Medicine, some physicians weren’t sure if bracing was effective. “Although Boston Children’s Orthopedic Center always believed bracing worked and recommended it for appropriate patients, we wanted to have robust controlled data that prove or disprove that bracing is worth the efforts of the family and adolescent, as well as being cost efficient to the health care system,” says Daniel Hedequist, MD, orthopedic surgeon. In 2007, Hedequist and the Boston Children’s orthopedic center team joined the Bracing in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Trial (BrAIST) to help answer questions about the effectiveness of bracing. The results published September 19, 2013, provide parents, physicians and teens with scoliosis, who are typically girls, a much-welcome answer. Bracing works. Bracing treatment for scoliosis Researchers enrolled 242 children from 25 sites across the U.S. in the study. Children included in the study were considered high risk, with spinal curvatu...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Ask the Expert Diseases & Conditions Daniel Hedequist orthopedics scololiosis Source Type: news