What is the difference? Boston/ TLSO

[from oz]

Hi, i am new to the forum and new to the world of scoliosis...my 11 yo daughter has just started wearing her TLSO brace. I googled the Boston Brace that many of you are talking about and it looks very similar. What is the actual difference? When we saw the specialist we both sat there gob smacked and asked no questions, now i am full of them...have another appt in a few weeks....will keep reading, thanks.

[gerbo]

TLSO stands for Thoraco-Lumbar-Sacral-Orthosis (I think) which is a general term for any underarm brace. A Boston-brace is on example of an underarm brace and refers to a system developped in Boston with a specific mode of action. There are others though, like the Cheneau brace, and many more (see http://milwaukee.brace.nu/Links1.html for many more examples). Many people seem to call any TLSO a Boston, but that is incorrect as the real Boston is quite a specific examples of a TLSO.