In the previous SpineCor 59 Year old thread my name was mentioned several times, and false and misleading remarks were inappropriately made against me. ClickHere!.
I'd like to clarify a few points for the record;
1. Three of my five children have scoliosis. Two of them were braced. In both cases the progression of the curve was halted. One child wore a modified Boston Brace and the other wore SpineCor. I also have a brother who was successfully braced with the Milwaukee brace in the 70’s, and a niece who was successfully braced more recently with a Providence nighttime brace (27o pre-brace: 17o in-brace and 21o two years post-brace as per her x-ray last week). In total there are 12 people in our family with scoliosis.
2. I am fused from T4-L5 after four surgeries. The first was in 1966 and the most recent was in 1997. My journey was documented publically in a poster I prepared for the SOSORT Boston meeting we hosted in 2007. The abstract for that poster was published in the SCOLIOSIS journal at http://www.scoliosisjournal.com/content/2/S1/P9
3. The primary mission of the National Scoliosis Foundation is the early detection and treatment of scoliosis. I have been on the Board since 1978 and became the President in 1993. I have had extensive collaboration with the research and medical community on a global basis for the conservative management and acute health care for chronic spinal deformities with a special focus on trying to find the cause, prevention and cure of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. In 1996 I was recognized in the U.S. Congressional Record for biking across the country to raise national awareness about scoliosis and the need for etiology research. This campaign helped to establish a new directive in the field of scoliosis and led to seed funding, NIH funding, and private investment supporting potentially new genetic screening and biochemical methods to detect and treat progressive scoliosis.
For more than a dozen years I have provided scoliosis education and screening training to school nurses, physical education teachers and other healthcare professionals. I have given oral presentations and poster displays at numerous medical conferences throughout the world. I have also consulted, edited or co-produced a dozen books and videos on scoliosis and co-authored six papers published in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, Disability & Rehabilitation, and the Scoliosis Journal. I am also a Board member and Treasurer for the Society On Scoliosis Orthopedic and Rehabilitative Treatment (SOSORT) and was elected as an Honorary Fellow by the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) in 2006. I currently serve on four SRS committees.
4. I met Dr. Charles Rivard in 1996 at a meeting of the International Research Society for Spinal Deformity (IRSSD) and learned about his work. In 1998 he presented his first clinical results at the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) meeting in New York and we wrote an article about it in our Spinal Connection newsletter to inform the patient community. http://www.scoliosis.org/resources/m...s/spinecor.php
5. In 1999 I became the President of Biorthex USA and along with two physical therapist colleagues introduced the SpineCor brace into this country. During a 1 ½ year period we worked with Dr. Rivard and Dr. Christine Coillard to open 25 clinics with orthotists and orthopedic surgeons who were primarily SRS members. In total, 325 patients wore the brace during this time. In 2001Biorthex decided to concentrate their financial resources into a surgical product with a much larger market potential and sold SpineCor to the current owner in the UK who is a certified orthotist and experienced SpineCor clinician. I have no financial interests in this company or any SpineCor product or related clinic.
6. My thoughts about SpineCor are publically documented in the 1999 video now viewed by many people on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TBtDSHp_Ko .
7. I joined Biorthex because I shared Dr. Rivard’s belief that we needed improved methods to treat children with scoliosis. He is a respected Orthopedic Surgeon who has made tremendous personal and professional sacrifice to find better ways to care for his patients whether it was dynamic bracing, or non fusion surgical instrumentation. Millions of dollars were invested and almost ten years of multicenter research and development occurred before this brace was commercialized. This is the type of rigorous standards all non operative and surgical methods should live up to. Unfortunately, too many practitioners today think that website proselytizing, internet marketing, and anecdotal youtube testimonials suffice as scientific evidence to support their device or method. You and your children deserve, and need, more than that.
8. The SpineCor brace was designed and developed for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. The indications and contra-indications are clearly defined on the SpineCorporation website, and the FAQ’s http://www.spinecorporation.com/Engl...mation/faq.htm contain very straightforward answers to many of the questions about the brace including pricing, vestibular testing, chiropractic treatment, and use by adults.
9. The use of this brace for adults is experimental at this stage, until such time as appropriate studies are published to evidence the benefits and harms. But that is no reason to be upset about studying the use of this brace for that purpose. And it is certainly no justification for anyone to prevent, or gang up on, someone who is part of the study to share their experience with the community. If we adopted that same attitude towards surgery we would be still be having patients spend a year in bed in plaster body casts.
10. As stated in the Welcome page, this Forum is intended to be a community center to give all patients and families an opportunity to give and receive vital information and support. While we may have common unity in the characteristics of our spinal deformity, our individual situation and experiences are unique and we need open communication for all in an environment that shows courtesy and respect for, and by, everyone.
11. Anyone unwilling or unable to abide by the spirit of item #10 is kindly asked to leave the Forum and find another venue to satisfy your needs.
I'd like to clarify a few points for the record;
1. Three of my five children have scoliosis. Two of them were braced. In both cases the progression of the curve was halted. One child wore a modified Boston Brace and the other wore SpineCor. I also have a brother who was successfully braced with the Milwaukee brace in the 70’s, and a niece who was successfully braced more recently with a Providence nighttime brace (27o pre-brace: 17o in-brace and 21o two years post-brace as per her x-ray last week). In total there are 12 people in our family with scoliosis.
2. I am fused from T4-L5 after four surgeries. The first was in 1966 and the most recent was in 1997. My journey was documented publically in a poster I prepared for the SOSORT Boston meeting we hosted in 2007. The abstract for that poster was published in the SCOLIOSIS journal at http://www.scoliosisjournal.com/content/2/S1/P9
3. The primary mission of the National Scoliosis Foundation is the early detection and treatment of scoliosis. I have been on the Board since 1978 and became the President in 1993. I have had extensive collaboration with the research and medical community on a global basis for the conservative management and acute health care for chronic spinal deformities with a special focus on trying to find the cause, prevention and cure of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. In 1996 I was recognized in the U.S. Congressional Record for biking across the country to raise national awareness about scoliosis and the need for etiology research. This campaign helped to establish a new directive in the field of scoliosis and led to seed funding, NIH funding, and private investment supporting potentially new genetic screening and biochemical methods to detect and treat progressive scoliosis.
For more than a dozen years I have provided scoliosis education and screening training to school nurses, physical education teachers and other healthcare professionals. I have given oral presentations and poster displays at numerous medical conferences throughout the world. I have also consulted, edited or co-produced a dozen books and videos on scoliosis and co-authored six papers published in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, Disability & Rehabilitation, and the Scoliosis Journal. I am also a Board member and Treasurer for the Society On Scoliosis Orthopedic and Rehabilitative Treatment (SOSORT) and was elected as an Honorary Fellow by the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) in 2006. I currently serve on four SRS committees.
4. I met Dr. Charles Rivard in 1996 at a meeting of the International Research Society for Spinal Deformity (IRSSD) and learned about his work. In 1998 he presented his first clinical results at the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) meeting in New York and we wrote an article about it in our Spinal Connection newsletter to inform the patient community. http://www.scoliosis.org/resources/m...s/spinecor.php
5. In 1999 I became the President of Biorthex USA and along with two physical therapist colleagues introduced the SpineCor brace into this country. During a 1 ½ year period we worked with Dr. Rivard and Dr. Christine Coillard to open 25 clinics with orthotists and orthopedic surgeons who were primarily SRS members. In total, 325 patients wore the brace during this time. In 2001Biorthex decided to concentrate their financial resources into a surgical product with a much larger market potential and sold SpineCor to the current owner in the UK who is a certified orthotist and experienced SpineCor clinician. I have no financial interests in this company or any SpineCor product or related clinic.
6. My thoughts about SpineCor are publically documented in the 1999 video now viewed by many people on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TBtDSHp_Ko .
7. I joined Biorthex because I shared Dr. Rivard’s belief that we needed improved methods to treat children with scoliosis. He is a respected Orthopedic Surgeon who has made tremendous personal and professional sacrifice to find better ways to care for his patients whether it was dynamic bracing, or non fusion surgical instrumentation. Millions of dollars were invested and almost ten years of multicenter research and development occurred before this brace was commercialized. This is the type of rigorous standards all non operative and surgical methods should live up to. Unfortunately, too many practitioners today think that website proselytizing, internet marketing, and anecdotal youtube testimonials suffice as scientific evidence to support their device or method. You and your children deserve, and need, more than that.
8. The SpineCor brace was designed and developed for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. The indications and contra-indications are clearly defined on the SpineCorporation website, and the FAQ’s http://www.spinecorporation.com/Engl...mation/faq.htm contain very straightforward answers to many of the questions about the brace including pricing, vestibular testing, chiropractic treatment, and use by adults.
9. The use of this brace for adults is experimental at this stage, until such time as appropriate studies are published to evidence the benefits and harms. But that is no reason to be upset about studying the use of this brace for that purpose. And it is certainly no justification for anyone to prevent, or gang up on, someone who is part of the study to share their experience with the community. If we adopted that same attitude towards surgery we would be still be having patients spend a year in bed in plaster body casts.
10. As stated in the Welcome page, this Forum is intended to be a community center to give all patients and families an opportunity to give and receive vital information and support. While we may have common unity in the characteristics of our spinal deformity, our individual situation and experiences are unique and we need open communication for all in an environment that shows courtesy and respect for, and by, everyone.
11. Anyone unwilling or unable to abide by the spirit of item #10 is kindly asked to leave the Forum and find another venue to satisfy your needs.
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