spinecor

[desheah]

quick addition to everyone else's responses regarding the brace washing. i do it once a week in separate bags, cold water, no fabric softener and in the dryer for 1/2 the amount of time as normal (i have a really old dryer). one snap gave us a lot of problems and eventually broke. my husband replaced the snap from a fabric store on the pelvic base and the strap.

as far as replacing the straps, dr. rivard and coillard specifically said this time that they are seeing better results from keeping the same straps. we've had ours almost 2 years now. he would like to wait until 3 years unless something happens to them. dr. coillard does check them when she does the readjustment. so, yes, our brace is not pristine, but it's doing the job.

my best,
deshea

p.s. we'll be away in florida leaving tomorrow for a week so i won't be posting or reading for awhile. i need a little break from thinking about scoliosis! i'm sure everyone knows what i mean . . .

[jillw]

Like Laura's daughter, we experienced issues with chafing. She is fine with the leg bands now, but still can be sensitive at times where the crotch straps go. We tried to just let it go to toughen it up also - which has generally worked, but not perfect. If the skin under the crotch snap seems to be getting more tender at times. I generally just put a big bandaid on her (under where the crotch snap hits) which reduces the friction and seems to help during those times.

[HaleyMom]

as far as replacing the straps, dr. rivard and coillard specifically said this time that they are seeing better results from keeping the same straps. we've had ours almost 2 years now. he would like to wait until 3 years unless something happens to them. dr. coillard does check them when she does the readjustment. so, yes, our brace is not pristine, but it's doing the job.
.

"every 2-3 years" That's very interesting.
Our expensive chiro says he typically replaces the straps after one year (and yes we have to pay for the new ones). He feels that once they start to lose their elasticity they are no longer effective. Haley's bands had no stretch left at all by 9 months but she's very active and wears it for dance, gymnastics, PE, etc.

I was worried that too many times in the dryer was making them stiff. That's why we now wash the bottom half once a week but the top half only once a month and let it air dry.

[RugbyLaura]

Have a great holiday Desheah!

Jaymes10, I have seen your post in Val's thread & wanted to tell you how pleased I am for you! At our last appointment Immy's consultant said that some children (Immy included) are just so flexible that you'd get a different result from each each xray - even within minutes of each other.

I'm really surprised was given the summer off..........

Laura x

[MJB]

quick addition to everyone else's responses regarding the brace washing. i do it once a week in separate bags, cold water, no fabric softener and in the dryer for 1/2 the amount of time as normal (i have a really old dryer). one snap gave us a lot of problems and eventually broke. my husband replaced the snap from a fabric store on the pelvic base and the strap.

as far as replacing the straps, dr. rivard and coillard specifically said this time that they are seeing better results from keeping the same straps. we've had ours almost 2 years now. he would like to wait until 3 years unless something happens to them. dr. coillard does check them when she does the readjustment. so, yes, our brace is not pristine, but it's doing the job.

my best,
deshea

p.s. we'll be away in florida leaving tomorrow for a week so i won't be posting or reading for awhile. i need a little break from thinking about scoliosis! i'm sure everyone knows what i mean . . .

I was also told by Dr. Rivard that my daughter would have the same brace for 2-3 years, which at that time it would need to be replaced.

[MJB]

back from montreal

Well we went for our 1 month check up to see how the brace is doing and get it adjusted. Her in brace xray didn't change but that's ok, we are extremely pleased because her first in brace xrays last month were unbelievable!

Her brace was adjusted and it is sooooo tight that she is uncomfortable, she had to sit out of 1/2 of her dance classes today because it was hurting her. She looks so crooked right now in it but I've bought her a lot of babydoll tops to try and help with that.

[MJB]

hotel recommendation in Montreal

I would just like to say that with our past experiences in Montreal I am happy to say that we finally found a hotel that we were impressed with! It's near the airport, just off the highway and only a 10 minute drive to the hospital. I highly recommend the Residence Inn Marriot Montreal Airport. The room was spotless, the guest services were amazing, they have a complimentary breakfast buffet in the morning that has everything you would want on it, hot and cold. The pool is a salt water pool, it's a little chilly but within seconds of getting in you are fine and there is a hot tub also. It's also a fairly new hotel, only a few years old which is good because many things in montreal are very old and in need of renovations. We booked it through expedia because it was $30 cheaper on there.

*edited to add* it's also in walking distance to many restaurants and a mall.

[MJB]

Dr. Rivard's patients?

Does anyone know why there isn't an "out of brace" xray until treatment is completed? Does this mean that I wont see the *true* results for years from now?

[RugbyLaura]

MJB, I'm really glad your appointment went well & that Halle's measurements haven't changed. Was the xray taken before or after the brace was adjusted? Immy has hers taken before adjustment so we never see what improvement is achieved.

She is due to have an out of brace xray at her next appointment (in June). As discussed before, this will not be a true out of brace x-ray as she will only have taken it off some moments before. Mr Mills says that the important measurement is the in brace one.

I will ask him for further detail when we next see him & post his answers for everyone.

[emarismom]

Next time we have an x-ray, which will be in late June/early July (just over a year in brace), we will have it out of brace. We were told to take Emily out of the brace 24 hours before the appointment to get a real picture of where her curve is actually at.

Emily's ortho is not exactly thrilled that we haven't had an out of brace in so long. In fact, I'm going to actually do the out of brace x-ray here at home with her orthopedic doctor, and then either go to Atlanta to see the chiro for a brace adjustment, or if he thinks no adjustment is needed, maybe be able to postpone the trip until September.

At this point I am very anxious for the out of brace xray!!

[MJB]

MJB, I'm really glad your appointment went well & that Halle's measurements haven't changed. Was the xray taken before or after the brace was adjusted? Immy has hers taken before adjustment so we never see what improvement is achieved.

She is due to have an out of brace xray at her next appointment (in June). As discussed before, this will not be a true out of brace x-ray as she will only have taken it off some moments before. Mr Mills says that the important measurement is the in brace one.

I will ask him for further detail when we next see him & post his answers for everyone.

Thanks Laura! We went down to the Dr's first and they adjusted her brace and sent us for the xrays.

They also said the same thing to me about the important measurement being the in brace one.

[MJB]

Next time we have an x-ray, which will be in late June/early July (just over a year in brace), we will have it out of brace. We were told to take Emily out of the brace 24 hours before the appointment to get a real picture of where her curve is actually at.

Emily's ortho is not exactly thrilled that we haven't had an out of brace in so long. In fact, I'm going to actually do the out of brace x-ray here at home with her orthopedic doctor, and then either go to Atlanta to see the chiro for a brace adjustment, or if he thinks no adjustment is needed, maybe be able to postpone the trip until September.

At this point I am very anxious for the out of brace xray!!

Yeah see I don't know but I feel like and out of brace xray should be important, I mean it would show the true result right? It's looking like we will have to wait a few years until we get one.

[mariaf]

Yeah see I don't know but I feel like and out of brace xray should be important, I mean it would show the true result right? It's looking like we will have to wait a few years until we get one.

MJB,

I agree about out of brace x-rays. My son never wore a spinecor but I did ask Dr. Betz once why he requires patients to be out of ANY brace for at least 24 hours before x-raying them. He said that it takes that long for the muscles to return to their normal positions and it's the only way to get a true and accurate x-ray reading. He said that if you x-ray someone right after they take their brace off you could get a reading that is significantly less that what the actual curve is.

Hope this helps.

[MJB]

Thank you for the response Maria! I think at some point I will probably get the family Dr. to get my daughter an xray done and have her out of her brace for 24 hours prior to it. Not for a while though because she has only been in it for a month but I just want to make sure that this brace is helping.

[mariaf]

Hi MJB,

I think that's a good idea to get an occasional out-of-brace x-ray. Just be sure to have a pediatric ortho read it and do the measurements.

Good luck - you sound like you have all your bases covered!