Dr. Jean Dubousset is Pro-Bracing

[Ballet Mom]

Here is a bio of Dr. Jean Dubousset...a very esteemed person in the scoliosis world.....perhaps people recognize his name from the instrumentation used in surgery.

http://www.cotrelspinalresearchfound...0Dubusset.html

Here is a link to a presentation he did in April (2009) for POSNA the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America.

http://posna.gmetonline.com/ViewPres...onpackageid=31

I wish I could just post if for you, but at the 7:57 minute mark, he has a slide that says: Lesson: Don't throw away Cast and Brace treatment


And the next slide at the 8:12 minute mark shows a picture of a girl at nine years old and then again at 25 years old with a remarkable improvement from brace wear, showing the cosmetic change. Yes, cosmetic change and thank God for it. The slide states: Lesson: Non-Operative Treatment Works.

Those pictures are what has happened to my daughter (that is not my daughter, in case anyone is wondering). Tell me that the Braist study isn't unethical. I guess as long as it is someone else's kid being sacrificed, it's okay.

[Ballet Mom]

I guess that link doesn't work to POSNA, here's a better link. Just click on the first link entitled: One Day Course - Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Understanding the Deformity and Current Treatment (April 29, 2009)

http://posna.gmetonline.com/Presenta...onpackageid=31

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

I have to preface what I'm going to say with the fact that I also believe that bracing can work. It may be proved not to work in the future, but until then, I would try to keep my kid in a brace in the hope they'd avoid surgery.

With that said, infantile and juvenile scoliosis is very unpredictable, so it's entirely possible that the 9 year old's curve would have improved without the brace. On Friday, I met a child who was born with a lumbar curve and no trace of thoracic curve. Four years later, he has a right thoracic curve, and his lumbar spine is completely straight.

So, braces may or may not work, but for the time being, I think we should at least pretend that they do.

Regards,
Linda

[Ballet Mom]

Linda,

The thing I would point out is that her x-rays all look very similar...the result was cosmetic, not that the curve improved significantly. I believe spontaneous improvements actually decrease the size of the Cobb angle from what I understand. If anyone knows anything in more depth, please let me know. Thanks. And of course, my daughter is definitely an adolescent case, not a juvenile case and her cosmetic change has been as drastic as the photos.