The ISTC or Spinecor brace for adults

[Giddygirl]

I am a 50 year old woman. I have managed my scoliosis well with exercise and chiropractic care. However I am concerned about my curve worsening as I age and enter menopause and experience some bone loss and muscle tone. I am considering either the SpineCor Brace or the ISTC brace to not only prevent further curvature but to hopefully get some improvement in my curve. The treatment centers that use these braces both report some of their adult patients get some improvement. I understand that the ISTC brace is more rigid, so I am leaning toward the SpineCor brace so that I can continue my very active lifestyle. Are there any adults out there that have any experience with either of these braces???

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

You may get some improvement in your curve while in a brace, but if your curve is structural, it will not permanently reduce it. When the treatment is stopped, your curve will return to it's original degree. Here's why, it's believed, that will always happen:

http://www.scoliosislinks.com/AlternativesDontWork.htm

Regards,
Linda

[Giddygirl]

Linda,
Even if I can't get any permanent improvement...My feeling is that if the Spinecor brace will maintain my curve and support my back and posture and it's a brace that I can get use to wearing and continue my active lifestyle, I would rather wear it forever than to have my curve get worse and eventually need surgery or have to live with the consequences?? Do you have any experience with adults that are pleased with their decision to use the brace or adults that are not pleased????

[LindaRacine]

I've never heard of even a single adult who has made ANY brace work.

How big is your curve?

--Linda

[marmyte]

bracing can be very effective in children and adolescents but unfortunately, as linda said, will not gain permenant correction for skeletally mature adults. i don't even know if it's possible to gain correction using a brace, nevermind maintain it whilst out of the brace. one woman i know has just had a corset custom made by an orthotics department at a hospital in order to give her existing fusion more support (she has infantile scoliosis and has had several surgeries throughout her life) but she didn't get this in order to gain correction. i don't think bracing can be used as an effective treatment in adult cases, i'm sorry.

what degrees are your curvature at? it's only considered to be at risk of progressing if it is over 40 degrees (of course there are always anomalies) as you are skeletally mature

[javaboy]

Linda,
Even if I can't get any permanent improvement...My feeling is that if the Spinecor brace will maintain my curve and support my back and posture and it's a brace that I can get use to wearing and continue my active lifestyle, I would rather wear it forever than to have my curve get worse and eventually need surgery or have to live with the consequences?? Do you have any experience with adults that are pleased with their decision to use the brace or adults that are not pleased????

For me, bracing your spine would be exactly the same as always bracing your knee or ankle (in the way sports players do with knees, ankles and such that are at risk of injury).
If you roll your ankle or sprain your knee badly, and then use a brace for it every time afterwards, they don't heal as well - your knee or ankle becomes reliant on the brace for support, and the muscles are weaker than they originally were once they are healed.
I suspect that this would be no different for backs. As weak as your back muscles may be, continually relying on a brace will just give them no reason to become stronger, no matter how much PT you may do.
That's my theory, anyway. I've just seen too many people with ruined knees and ankles. Anyone who can disprove it, please do so!

Hope that helps!
Martin Hughes

[gerbo]

I disagree with previous posters, and I think you have nothing to loose by trying the spinecor (apart from money, they are not cheap).

You will not have to worry about muscleatrophy, as the spinecor should allow you to move naturally and use your muscles normally, maybe you can even use them more if you are in less pain.

If it only stops things getting worse, you already have gained some benefit from it.

Clearly nobody knows whether it could improve matters. But nobody will ever have researched this properly in a scientific study, so neither is there evidence that it is not possible to improve.

theoretically, anything what can get worse under the influence of forces exerted on it (in your case mainly gravity) should be able to improve with forces directed in the opposite direction. It must be possible for bone to refashion itself if the forces applied to it are strong enough (I suspect that this will not happen in practice in adults because the counterforce required might be to large for it to be bearable)

So, if you can afford it, go for it, and be a one-person trial to tell us in 5 years time, yes it made a lot of difference (or, no, it didn't make any difference ata all)

[Karen Ocker]

spinecore for adults

I suggest, before spending money, contact the adults who tried it on this forum.

The thing I question, as a medical professional, is how can this work for adults with stiff spines, wedge shaped vertebrae and solid rib humps when bracing does not always work in teens/juveniles who have flexible bodies. There's also the normal of loss of bone density in mature adults.

[AILEA]

My doc told me, that they are using the spinecor in adults in some countryes, and he has some adult patients trying it, but there are not results yet;

[LindaRacine]

Gerbo...

You can read lots of comments from adults who have tried the Copes brace, which presumably puts as much force on the curves as the Spinecor brace does:

http://forums.scoliosis-support.com/...splay.php?f=12

For years, I've been trying to find even one adult patient who has had a brace reduce curves permanently. Not a single person has come forward. And, realistically, I'd be shocked if any brace even kept an adult's curves from worsening if that was going to be the natural history (not all adult curves increase).

In the July/August 1999 newsletter of the Scoliosis Association, the "Ask the Doctor" question had to do with a 55 year old female who wanted to know if bracing could prevent her curve from getting larger. Seven scoliosis specialists responded, and all agreed that a brace would not stop progression. Here's a typical response:

Brace wear only prevents curve progression with patients who are still growing. This is the reason that your doctor won't prescribe this, because it can't be expected to prevent your curve from progressing.

In fact, use of a brace in adults appears to be counter-productive. It results in trunk muscle weakness as you use your trunk muscles less and rely more on the brace.

If one who is skeletally mature wants to try a brace despite all of the experts saying it won't work, I say go for it. But, I sure as hell hope that insurance doesn't pay for it, because I don't want my premiums going any higher to pay for treatment that has not been proved to work, and has no scientific basis for expecting it to work.

--Linda

--Linda

[Giddygirl]

To all who have replied

Thanks for all of the input. The doctor at the Spine center in NY that I talked to said he is seeing some improvement in some of his adult patients.
He provided me the names of two of his patients about my age that have been in the brace for 2 years. I've just recently been able to make contact with one of them. She said that she is extremely pleased with the brace. That it has improved her posture considerably and that at each 3 month check she has shown approx. a 2 degree improvement in her curve. I hope that all who replied will research the spinecor brace on the internet. My understanding is that the brace forces specific muscle groups to work harder, thus strenghtening and supporting the back. The brace has to be adjusted every 3 months to accomodate the changes in the spine and muscle groups. I would NEVER consider a stiff brace that kept my back from "working", which is why I am attracted to the Spinecor brace. I also agree (as has been stated) that if the brace simply keeps the curve from getting worse as my bones loose density and if my posture is better and I feel better I will be satisfied. Any small improvement in the curve would be icing on the cake.
I'm usually a big sceptic, but I feel good about this. Again, I would really love to hear from others who have worn or are currently wearing the spinecor brace. If I proceed it will be after the first of the year, but I would be happy to share my journal my experiences with the brace on this forum if anyone is interested.

[gerbo]

[QUOTE]

Seven scoliosis specialists responded, and all agreed that a brace would not stop progression. Here's a typical response:

Brace wear only prevents curve progression with patients who are still growing. This is the reason that your doctor won't prescribe this, because it can't be expected to prevent your curve from progressing.

In fact, use of a brace in adults appears to be counter-productive. It results in trunk muscle weakness as you use your trunk muscles less and rely more on the brace.

there was a time specialists would have told you that smoking was harmless, there was a time that specialists would have told you that thalomonide was a good sleeping medicine in pregnant ladies, there was a time that specialists would have told you that enlarged tonsils need to be removed at all times......................., the list can be as long as you want, they are not always necessarily right, you know

saying that, I am sure that the likelihood of improvement in adults is pretty minimal, if only as i couldn't see anybody having the stamina to wear a agressively correcting hardbrace for 23 hours a day, and indeed, the resulting muscle atrophy would be counterproductive

that seems to be the beauty of the spinecor, reasonable correction/ support whilst maintaining function. (didn't think it looks at all like the copes brace, whicjh to me looks more like a hard brace) and again, if it only would help things getting worse, whilst maintaining a good quality of life...., worth trying

[LindaRacine]

She said that she is extremely pleased with the brace. That it has improved her posture considerably and that at each 3 month check she has shown approx. a 2 degree improvement in her curve.

That works out to more than $2,000 per degree.

[sweetness514]

Wow..I never heard of this. If it is true than why not try it, just for a while to see if things get better and if not stop. I wonder how long one has to wear it and if it's only for people who are over at least 40 or 50 and want to avoid surgery and feel better. I would love to see a pic of the brace.

[LindaRacine]

[QUOTE=gerbo]

they are not always necessarily right, you know

Yup, that includes the chiropractors who are prescribing this brace for adults.