Scoliosis & bracing

[Guest guest]

Hi Jenn,

has both kyphosis and scoliosis and wears a back brace

(actually he did up until a month ago). He was giving me a VERY hard

time about the brace, so I just gave up trying to enforce it (as you

know I have to pick and choose my battles). wore the brace

from 8/2/04 until then end of September of this year. He was really

good about wearing it at first, and I have to tell you that it looks

extremely uncomfortable. It is not that easy to get on, because you

have to wiggle your way into it, and the straps are in the back. It

is very hot, and you have to wear an undershirt under it, because it

doesn't breathe. When takes it off, he is drenched with

sweat. Also, the brace goes down pretty far, making it difficult to

go to the bathroom. It isn't that noticeable under clothing, believe

it or not, but it might be a different case for a girl who wears

tighter fitting clothes ( wears everything oversized and baggy).

We originally went to the orthopedic doctor due to his kyphosis, but

when the did X-rays, I found out he had scoliosis as well (lucky

us!). The brace he is wearing is designed to help both of these

things, but his orthopedic doctor says there are little to no studies

about the effectiveness of bracing with RSS kids (he may have been

referring primarily to the kyphosis though). Anyhow, as you may

recall, is growing very poorly even on GH. Prior to bracing

on 6/17/04, his kyphosis was 65 degrees and his scoliosis was 20

degrees. On 12/9/04, his kyphosis measured 55 degrees and his

scoliosis was at 24 degrees and it remained the same on 6/2/05. We

see him again in December, and I am worried about what we will find

since has refused to wear his brace. I think will

need surgery regardless, but it is a fairly complicated surgery, and

with 's medical history, the orthopedic surgeon is nervous. I

was told that bracing may not correct the curvatures, but it would

help them from getting worse. This is important, because the surgery

(at least for kyphosis and it may be the same for scoliosis) can only

correct the degree 50% better than it was. So, if the curvature was

70 degrees, after the surgery, the curve would be 35%. I do not know

if this is true for scoliosis, so don't panic when you read this. It

would be something to ask the doctor though.

Kim C.