There are thousands of rigid spinal braces prescribed annually for adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis. Its effectiveness has been controversial for decades but yet it still remains the number one non surgical treatment for scoliosis. There have been numerous medical authors questioning its relevance in the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis but brace makers rather than admitting that bracing is fundamentally flawed continue to try to make a better scoliosis brace.
The first scoliosis brace attempts date back to as early as 400 A.D. and have been applied in every conceivable manner without success since then. The first metal spinal brace was constructed by Ambrose Pare in 1575 and again, didn't work. Since then brace makers called orthotists have continued to innovate without success. Hard scoliosis brace, soft brace, night time brace, flexible brace, rotational brace, traction brace; in the end each attempt has proved to be as feeble as the last (not due to lack of effort, Application, or funding).
Application Development
The main problem with spinal bracing isn't Application, but rather process. As it turns out, treating a condition that is primarily a neurological condition like it is primarily a skeletal spine problem doesn't work too well (shocking....sarcasm). This very simple understanding of idiopathic scoliosis makes almost 3500 years of scoliosis brace treatment completely obsolete and practically worthless.
In fact, Axial Bio-Tech (developers of the Scoliscore genetic test) did a comparison study of brace treated and un-treated scoliosis patients and found absolutely no difference between the two groups long-term treatment outcomes, even when compared genetically. Spinal bracing has absolutely no effect on the natural course of the idiopathic scoliosis condition. Essentially scoliosis brace treatment and doing nothing have exactly the same effect....None.
So why do orthopedic doctors and some mis-guided chiropractors continue to prescribe a worthless and obsolete protocol like bracing. Well the long answer is "this is the way we do things around here" syndrome and the short answer is financial gain.
Thousands of academic reputations and careers are based on the faulty logic that scoliosis brace treatment works and is effective, so to do an about face and reverse one's position on the topic (even in the face of over-whelming evidence) would be career suicide for most.
The other motivation (financial gain) is a less complicated explanation, but probably more compelling.Spinal bracing treatment generates hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide every year and you know what they stay about not finding the solution, when there is good money in prolonging the problem.
So how do we break out of this never-ending cycle of scoliosis brace treatment failure? Well, the good news is that we probably don't have to; prognostic idiopathic scoliosis technology (Scoliscore genetic testing for idiopathic scoliosis, the scoliosis blood test, etc) will probably spell the death of scoliosis brace treatment all by itself.
These new technologies will provide a "heads up" to parents and patients in regards to their child's idiopathic scoliosis condition and long before scoliosis brace treatment is indicated, so the scoliosis treatment market will naturally move towards more pro-active scoliosis treatment solutions. In fact, preliminary flowcharts and treatment models that focus on Scoliscore genetic testing for idiopathic scoliosis that completely eliminate scoliosis brace treatment and scoliosis surgery have already been developed and are being tested as you read this right now.
Dr. Brian T Dovorany
Dr. Clayton J. Stitzel
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