y do u wear the brace for a long time?

[lil cutie]

hi! i'm new and i just got my brace a couple of weeks ago. i have been reading you'r comments and alot of u have been saying that you've been wearing you'r braces for lots of years! my parents told me that i would probably have to wear my brace untill i'm done growing! y do u have to wear the brace for so long? also y do u have to keep changing braces and getting new ones all the time? how do u know when to get a new brace? one more question. i know this is a little off topic but how do u guys get that thing at the bottom of you'r comments that tell people about them? like when people have my name is _ and i've had a brace for so many years and stuff like that? i hope u can answer my questions! thanx!

[VincySweety]

Hi,

Your parents are right, you normally have to wear the brace until you finish growing. This is because your curves have a much higher likelihood of getting worse while you are growing. Once you are finished growing and your curves are kept under about 50 degrees they should not progress any more and you won't need any further treatment, so the brace helps to keep it below that.

You have to keep getting new braces because as your curves change and you grow you need a different size brace and also one that puts pressure in different places to do the best to stop/slow your curve.

To get the signature below your post, you need to go up to the top of the screen and click "UserCP", once you do that, the first link on the left hand side says "Edit Signature". If you click on that and type what you want to show below your post there and save it, it will come up below all your posts!

Hope this helped!

[drummergrl]

Hi! I've worn a brace of some kind or another for 8 years. The amount of bracing depends on how young or skeletally mature you are when you get your first brace. Because I got mine as an 8 year old, I had about 8 years until I reached skeletal maturity. But if you get it as a 13 year old, you'll be wearing it for a few years at the most. And about the getting different braces, it all depends on the doctor. I started out in a Milwaukee to treat a high thoracic curve, and then I switched to a Providence to address my low lumbar curve, and now I'm in a Boston until the effects of my Chiari surgery kick in lol. So it really depends on your curves and what is/isn't working on your body. And as you grow, your curves sometimes change from being more thoracic to lumbar and vice versa. So your dr. has to make whatever changes that are necessary to try and stop the curve. And getting new ones made is just because we get taller and develop. It's like getting new shoes when you outgrow the old ones!

[lil cutie]

thank you guys! i have another quesion though. one of my doctors took an xray with me in my back brace and in my brace my curve shifted to the other side so it was almost the opposite except a smaller curve. but my doctor said that that was good! how can that be good if it's almost the same?

[cherylplinder]

The more correction one gets in the brace, the more likely the brace is to hold the curve. Overcorrection(a curve in the opposite direction), theoretically, might achieve even better results. A very few patients even get some permanent correction. Sounds like you had an excellent orthotists to make your brace.

[Balletgirl77]

Hi,
Your right many people wear your brace until your finished growing, This is because when you stop growing your spine usually doesn't get worse, but thats if you get it when your not done growing. If you get your brace when your are already finished growing you have to wear it until you back gets better, which can take a long time. As for the question about getting new braces, think of it like clothes you out-grow them and you need to get a new one. You know you need to get a new one when you go to the doctor and he says you do.