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mamamax
Please don't waste your time responding to anyone who does not like the Sharon Dun article. It would be waste of time. Continue to share with us information like you have done so far. It is extremely helpful. I do not see any need to edit your posts.
Those challenging you and the article are once again adding no value to the conversation. With that said, let me say "Thank You" for sharing Amazing Brace. I am surprised I had not come across it yet.
Sharon Dunn sounds like many moms and dads I have chatted with the past year who are all trying to manage scoliosis for their child. If she is confused then WE ARE ALL CONFUSED.
She raises many points that I have raised. Some of them are addressed in the article. I will be adding this article to my scoliosis website. Here are a few specific points from the article that I find very interesting.
#1
======
Back in "English" Canada, I contacted Dr. Ben Alman, head of the orthopaedic division, and AIS specialist, at the Hospital for Sick Children, to find out why the hospital doesn't use the Quebec brace. "The reason SpineCor isn't used here is not because it is good or bad," Alman told me. "It's a financial issue. OHIP [Ontario's health insurance plan] doesn't cover it." Hard braces are covered "at least partially," he said. Are parents really not being told about this brace because of the cost? Alman added, "Part of the problem is that the brace is too new to know for certain long-term results."
This was my expectation on why some orthopedic surgeons do not recommend it: insurance does not cover it. Our orthopedic surgeon recommended it but told us that our insurance would probably not cover it, and he said if that was an issue we may want to go with a Boston brace instead.
Here is a very recent example of a similar situation. A woman took her child to see a doctor for VBS. The child is an ideal candidate for it. He did not recommend it. She did not understand. After some prodding on why, he said it was because insurance would not cover it. It is unfortunate that medical recommendations (and bracing recommendations) are influenced by the insurance companies.
#2
=======
A $12-million grant from the Quebec government in 1992 enabled Rivard to get the brace off the ground, and to begin research on the development of new instrumentation to be used in the place of fusion. The intellectual property rights for the brace are owned by Sainte-Justine's.
Some on this forum claim (as if it was fact and misleading people) the only reason Dr. Rivard and Dr. Coillard are promoting the SpineCor brace is because they are the inventors and are making more money. I have often responded that none of us know the financial incentives, if any, exist for the inventors, so we should not make that assumption. It looks like the IP is owned by Sainte-Justine's, not the inventors. Therefore, maybe Sainte-Justine's makes money. But who knows?
#3 (not from the article)
==================
Regarding adult curve correction with the SpineCor brace here is what is stated on spinecorporation.com:
Treatment objectives for adults are postural improvement and pain reduction. Whilst postural improvements may lead to very small Cobb angle reductions, true correction of scoliotic curves in adults is not possible and should never be the treatment objective. Early results with adults are very positive, with both postural improvements and pain reduction in all patients to date.
So, at least with this statement it looks like some cobb angle reductions can be achieved from postural improvements. But, since this is so new, who knows what may be possible. Most orthopedic surgeons and brace inventors/manufacturers make very little claims on curve reduction for children. Three of the four orthopedic surgeons we met all said that bracing would NOT reduce Syd's curves, only stabilize it from progressing.
Syd's T4-T12 (and T5-T12) curve has decreased from 36 to 23 (with SpineCor brace). Many others have had similar results with SpineCor or other braces. It is cases like this that turn everything upside down on traditional thinking.
I learned the other day that VBS has been around since the 1950s but because it failed to show positive results it was abandoned. Then Dr. Betz started it up again and now it is showing great results.
It is through this level of experimentation that we progress (and sometimes have setbacks). Who knows, maybe the combination of some physical therapy (like Schroth and others) along with SpineCor may some day be the best treatment for pain reduction and curve correction for adults. We can only hope.
Thank you for sharing this article. I will make sure it is available for many others to read.
Michael
Please don't waste your time responding to anyone who does not like the Sharon Dun article. It would be waste of time. Continue to share with us information like you have done so far. It is extremely helpful. I do not see any need to edit your posts.
Those challenging you and the article are once again adding no value to the conversation. With that said, let me say "Thank You" for sharing Amazing Brace. I am surprised I had not come across it yet.
Sharon Dunn sounds like many moms and dads I have chatted with the past year who are all trying to manage scoliosis for their child. If she is confused then WE ARE ALL CONFUSED.
She raises many points that I have raised. Some of them are addressed in the article. I will be adding this article to my scoliosis website. Here are a few specific points from the article that I find very interesting.
#1
======
Back in "English" Canada, I contacted Dr. Ben Alman, head of the orthopaedic division, and AIS specialist, at the Hospital for Sick Children, to find out why the hospital doesn't use the Quebec brace. "The reason SpineCor isn't used here is not because it is good or bad," Alman told me. "It's a financial issue. OHIP [Ontario's health insurance plan] doesn't cover it." Hard braces are covered "at least partially," he said. Are parents really not being told about this brace because of the cost? Alman added, "Part of the problem is that the brace is too new to know for certain long-term results."
This was my expectation on why some orthopedic surgeons do not recommend it: insurance does not cover it. Our orthopedic surgeon recommended it but told us that our insurance would probably not cover it, and he said if that was an issue we may want to go with a Boston brace instead.
Here is a very recent example of a similar situation. A woman took her child to see a doctor for VBS. The child is an ideal candidate for it. He did not recommend it. She did not understand. After some prodding on why, he said it was because insurance would not cover it. It is unfortunate that medical recommendations (and bracing recommendations) are influenced by the insurance companies.
#2
=======
A $12-million grant from the Quebec government in 1992 enabled Rivard to get the brace off the ground, and to begin research on the development of new instrumentation to be used in the place of fusion. The intellectual property rights for the brace are owned by Sainte-Justine's.
Some on this forum claim (as if it was fact and misleading people) the only reason Dr. Rivard and Dr. Coillard are promoting the SpineCor brace is because they are the inventors and are making more money. I have often responded that none of us know the financial incentives, if any, exist for the inventors, so we should not make that assumption. It looks like the IP is owned by Sainte-Justine's, not the inventors. Therefore, maybe Sainte-Justine's makes money. But who knows?
#3 (not from the article)
==================
Regarding adult curve correction with the SpineCor brace here is what is stated on spinecorporation.com:
Treatment objectives for adults are postural improvement and pain reduction. Whilst postural improvements may lead to very small Cobb angle reductions, true correction of scoliotic curves in adults is not possible and should never be the treatment objective. Early results with adults are very positive, with both postural improvements and pain reduction in all patients to date.
So, at least with this statement it looks like some cobb angle reductions can be achieved from postural improvements. But, since this is so new, who knows what may be possible. Most orthopedic surgeons and brace inventors/manufacturers make very little claims on curve reduction for children. Three of the four orthopedic surgeons we met all said that bracing would NOT reduce Syd's curves, only stabilize it from progressing.
Syd's T4-T12 (and T5-T12) curve has decreased from 36 to 23 (with SpineCor brace). Many others have had similar results with SpineCor or other braces. It is cases like this that turn everything upside down on traditional thinking.
I learned the other day that VBS has been around since the 1950s but because it failed to show positive results it was abandoned. Then Dr. Betz started it up again and now it is showing great results.
It is through this level of experimentation that we progress (and sometimes have setbacks). Who knows, maybe the combination of some physical therapy (like Schroth and others) along with SpineCor may some day be the best treatment for pain reduction and curve correction for adults. We can only hope.
Thank you for sharing this article. I will make sure it is available for many others to read.
Michael
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