spinecor

[sasha1]

Hi all

This is my first time posting. My 13 year old daughter Rach was diagnosed with scoliosis in march of this year. We have opted to use the spinecor brace L24 with so far pleasing results. In brace xrays show her curve stable at L8.

It has been quite a risk for us as the spinecor brace is virtually unheard of in Australia. We are from Sydney and my daughter is desperate to connect with other teenagers like herself. She loves to dance and has been accepted into a full time ballet school which we are putting off at the moment as she works better when not in the brace. She is very compliant though the brace is cutting her rather badly around the waist.

We go for her next lot of xrays in 2 weeks. fingers crossed

Sasha

[Sherie]

Hi Sasha and welcome,

Your daughter might want to try "Spinekids", its a forum for kids with scoliosis, she'll find a lot of support there.

That's great that the spinecor is working for her. We tried it too, but it was too late, my dd's curves were too far along by then. Hope you have continued success with it.

[jillw]

Hi All,
We had a good appointment in Montreal recently and all remains basically stable at 2T/3L in brace (see signature below for details). My daughter just turned 10 so any time in the next couple years that spine growth spurt could begin. I feel like we are in a great position to start the growth spurt, but am nervous what the period of fast growth will bring. My hope is that if she progresses, it will not be a giant jump like some people get, but a slower progression which gives us time to figure out the game plan. For now though, things look great (fingers crossed)


I guess I've missed the posts in this thread that have been posted in the past couple months.

Pat, Congratulations to your daughter!!!! I would consider it a gigantic victory if my daughter could make it through spinal maturity with only an 8 degree increase. How old was she when she was diagnosed/started bracing?

Sasha, a 67% in brace reduction sounds promising. How long has Rach been in the brace? Let us know how her next appointment goes. Sorry my daughter's not yet old enough to be Rach's peer. Does she do her ballet both in and out of brace? My daughter dances also- though mainly tap and jazz. She does those classes in brace but does take her brace off for her ballet class. However, with Ballet school (congrats by the way!) i'd imagine they are spending many hours each day on ballet?

[Ballet Mom]

I agree jillw....slow is good (if it's going to happen). Fast is not. There is barely time to respond. It sounds like your daughter is in a great place to start her growth spurt. Good luck.

Sasha, my daughter is also in ballet and when she was twelve she was also invited to attend a full-time boarding ballet school. We chose not to do it because it was across the country and she was so young. It turned out to be a very fortunate decision because she was diagnosed with scoliosis later during that twelfth year, and we absolutely could not have managed her treatment if she was attending that school. I needed to watch what was going on and ensure she was wearing her brace as required. Maybe as she gets past the growth spurt and closer to physical maturity, it might be easier to do.

[emarismom]

Hi all,

Just an update. Emily continues to wear the Spinecor. Currently she is 31 degrees out of brace. She is almost 12 and has grown quite a bit, but as yet is pre-menarcal. Doctor says next visit he will xray her hand to see how much growth is left. While certainly I am not happy that her curve has been trending upward, we are still within the margin of error from where we started on this journey at 28 degrees almost 6 years ago.

[jillw]

Emaris mom, Thanks for the update. That's great that she has stayed within a 3 degree range over 6 years of growth. Just curious, she is still pre-menarchal but has her rate of growth increased at all over the past year or two? Or has she still been growing at a steady consistent rate?

[emarismom]

Over the last 6 months she has been growing very quickly. From late March until mid May she grew an inch and a half! I was terrified as to what curve would do. I haven't measured her for a while, so I am nit sure how much she has grown since then. Guess I'll get to that this week.

[sasha1]

HI all
its so good to hear all your stories. To answer your question Rach has been in brace for 6 months. Just started periods is growing very fast. Dances without the brace but only in two hour lots. We have been very lucky that the full time ballet school is allowing her to just attend one saturday class at the moment till she is out of brace. Other days she attends a local studio
Next workshop there will go for 4 hours so half in half out of brace.
Her next appointment is tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Hopefully they will loosen it a little as we can't seem to heal a sore that has developed on her side and its not even summer.
Cheers Sasha

[pat]

[QUOTE=jillw;107511]

Pat, Congratulations to your daughter!!!! I would consider it a gigantic victory if my daughter could make it through spinal maturity with only an 8 degree increase. How old was she when she was diagnosed/started bracing?

She started wearing her brace at 11, so about five years she's been wearing it.

[heartland]

congrats on it working for your daughter I tried it but unfortunately I was already at 50+* so It didn't work for me but I did wear it for over a year
and I also recommend spinekids.com

[jillw]

Pat, thats great news. did her 8 degree increase occur slowly over time or over the course of a shorter period of time (and at what age)? I'm just curious because i haven't seen many whose children were wearing the brace during their growth spurt and through maturity. Thank you for sharing!

Sasha, By now your daughter has had her most recent xray, right? How did it go? I'm glad that she is able to work in her dance.

Emaris mom, sounds like she really is in the midst of her quick growth spurt. My fingers are crossed for her!

Jill

[sasha1]

Hi all

Yes RAchel had her last appointment but there were no xrays this time. So that was a little disappointing. Visually she looks quite good and the brace was loosened as she has grown 2cm in three months. Also the chaffing had gotten quite bad so we are trying to heal that first.

She has her major ballet exam in three weeks and I am curious to see if her marks will improve as last year they dropped quite badly and we think its was due to the curve.

Cheers Everyone

[samsdad]

hello again

It’s been quite awhile since my last post, almost 1.5 years. My now 9.5 year old daughter Samantha has been wearing Spinecor since May 2009. I’ve updated her curve statistics in my signature below. In general Sam has been coping very well with the brace. It has certainly become a ‘normal’ part of her and all our family’s lives by now. There are times when she gets rather frustrated with her brace situation (e.g., 2hr beach/pool time limits, shirts she can’t wear because of a large collar, etc.) but for the most part she continues to impress me with her acceptance and ability to adapt. As for her curve progression, any increase is always disappointing. Our last visit to Montreal at the end of October showed a 6* increase compared to our previous visit last May. Sam also grew 4cm (about 1.5 inches) during that 6 month span, which makes me anxious about the ‘real’ growth spurts she still has to look forward to (she is still Risser 0). But it is what it is, and will be what it will be. By now my wife and I have gotten over the idea that we have a lot of control over what Sam’s curve will eventually be. All we can do is our part to ensure that Sam remains compliant, which we do religiously. She is rarely out of brace more that 2 hours at a time (and that is usually a special circumstance and not more than a few minutes over) and never more than 4 hours out a day, which is not always that easy – especially during the summer.

Sam has asked why she needs to continue to wear the brace if her back is getting worse anyway. That’s a good question. One my wife and I have asked each other. But we tell her that we know the brace won’t fix her back perfectly straight but that our hope is that it is helping to slow the curve progression. We tell her that if we are lucky it will slow it enough to avoid the kind of surgery that I had. And, even if she eventually needs surgery (or chooses to get it later), then our hope is that the brace gave her more time to finish growing and minimized what would need to be surgically corrected. She seems to understand that and accept it, at least for now. I know our ability to ensure compliance will drop significantly by the time our 9 year old becomes a teenager. Hopefully the reason why she puts up with the brace will be engrained by then and she will have the self discipline to see this through.

[michael1960]

SpineCor Brace and Boston Brace

Hi samsdad

Thanks for the update. I wanted to share with you that my 9 yr. old daughter wears the SpineCor brace too. She has been wearing it one year (since Nov 2009). She was about 36 deg thoracic at the time. She is very compliant too in wearing the brace. It is a great brace.

One of my concerns with the brace is its ability to hold an aggressive curve during a growth spurt. My daughter has also done a couple sessions with Clear Method, with a chiropractor in Manhattan that does Clear and the SpineCor brace, which is a very uncommon combination. We have had good success with him. But still, my concern is with the SpineCor brace holding an aggressive curve.

In March 2010 she visited Dr. Betz in Philadelphia (Shriners Hospital) to see whether she is a candidate for VBS. And at that time her curve was closer to 30 degrees (down from 36 degrees). At that time he suggested a Boston brace and supported my daughter wearing the SpineCor to school and to play sports and to wear the Boston brace at home and at night. She has been doing that since March.

So, with the SpineCor brace, the Boston brace, and the Clear treatment in June she was down to almost 18-20 degrees out of brace. We are due for another x-ray measurement.

And in June due to her decrease she is no longer a VBS candidate, which is good and bad news, because we felt it was the best solution for her (vertebral body stapling). So I have mixed feelings pursuing a bracing treatment. But for now, while she is only 9 we will continue bracing to see how much reduction we can get. I do feel that a lot of the reduction she is getting is from the Clear and the Boston brace. But I do feel the SpineCor brace helps too, especially it makes it much easier for her to wear a brace at school and when she is out of the house, and for playing sports. Plus I think it helps the muscles develop vs being in a hard brace all the time.

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you, and the success we are having with our treatment. Will it work when she hits a growth spurt around 11 yrs. old, I don't know. But I know at that time I will want her in the Boston brace much more than the SpineCor brace. But if we see it increasing then we will pursue the VBS option.

Thanks again for the update.

Michael

[Elisa]

I have been hanging out today on Micheal B's site today (very interesting) and just read a very interesting article on the Spine Cor brace and had no idea that it is a Canadian invention.

http://www.macleans.ca/science/healt...8_55198&page=1