spinecor

[gerbo]

It sounds a little bit French and a little bit of other dialects mixed in. Hey, whatever helps you get through this, right?

[Celia]

Melissa,

I'm laughing my butt off ! Actually....I find French accents very sexy.

[gerbo]

Lisanna had 3 month review with mr mills yesterday, I wasn't there, having booked an evening in the theatre with my son ages ago (bloodbrothers, fantastic musical set in Liverpool, won't mean anything to non british I suppose, lead woman was played by now elderly lady who in the 60's was leadsinger of the "New seekers" singing "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony", quite a famous tune at the time, and amazing how 30-40 years onwards her voice stil sounded exactly the same, anyway, i am digressing)

this was just spinecor adjustment, no x-rays, but reports were that mr mills was very happy, thought she looked good and measured her at 5 degree with scolimeter, (nothing to do with Cobb angle of course) lower than last time and according to him a level where you would consider not to treat yet if you would present first time.

As I have said myself before, scolimeter is a rather inprecise instrument and one must not get to obsessed with numbers, but still, it was a bit of a relief knowing that nothing appeared worse, considering she is growing a fair bit (25 mm in 3 months) and over the summer we had been rather easy going on the wearing of the brace

Encouraging, is what you call it, and most importantly, she is such a happy girl in the spinecor, compared to when she was in her hard-brace........

[Celia]

Gerbo,

I've noticed within the past year or so that Lisanna only had x-rays at initial fitting, have you requested no x-rays or something ?? If so, how did you get away with it ?

Congrats on the level 5 scoliometer reading !!!!!! Deirdre' was a 4.5 so I'm quite pleased too. There was a study in pubmed and the authors were dr. Rivard and Coillard and it dealt with monitoring scoliosis with scoliometers vs x-rays and I'm wondering why Deirdre had both ????? I would prefer less exposure to x-rays. The study is here:

1: Eur Spine J. 2000 Dec;9(6):516-22. Links

Relationship between gibbosity and Cobb angle during treatment of idiopathic scoliosis with the SpineCor brace.Griffet J, Leroux MA, Badeaux J, Coillard C, Zabjek KF, Rivard CH.

Department of Child Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, H pital de l'Archet, France. griffet.j@chu-nice.fr

The objective of this study was to quantify the relationship between gibbosity and spinal deformation expressed by the angle of Cobb before and during treatment with a brace for different classes of idiopathic scoliosis patients. As part of the standard treatment with the Dynamic Corrective Brace (SpineCor), 89 idiopathic scoliosis patients underwent an initial radiological examination and gibbosity measurement with a scoliometer wearing and not wearing the brace. The 89 patients were classified in relation to the apex of the scoliosis curves: thoracic (n = 29); thoracolumbar (n = 40); lumbar (n = 7) and double (n = 13). With the dynamic corrective brace, the patients showed a mean decrease of 8.3 degrees for the major Cobb angle, and a mean decrease of 2.3 degrees for their gibbosity. There was a significant positive relationship between gibbosity and Cobb angle with and without the brace for the thoracic and thoracolumbar curves. A linear regression analysis identified a small mean estimation error for the thoracic curves (7.4 degrees no-brace; 2.7 degrees with brace) and thoracolumbar curves (5.2 degrees no-brace; 5.3 degrees with brace), indicating a predictive potential of the scoliometer. The measure of gibbosity with the scoliometer provides a fairly reliable estimation of Cobb angle at the initial clinical examination of a scoliosis patient. However, when initial Cobb angle and gibbosity are considered, the measure of gibbosity when wearing a brace provides the clinician with a highly reliable estimation of the Cobb angle while in a brace. This relationship also exists for the follow-up with a brace, permitting a judgement of the patient's evolution under the treatment with SpineCor.

PMID: 11189920 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[gerbo]

I've noticed within the past year or so that Lisanna only had x-rays at initial fitting, have you requested no x-rays or something ?? If so, how did you get away with it ?

she actually did have an in and out of brace PA on assesment and in brace PA at 3 and 6 months, this was the 9 months visit where xray was not needed, all according to protocol. Next review, the 12 months one, apparantly includes in and out of brace x rays, although i would be inclined to ask for an inbrace one only as I cannot see the relevance of an additional out of brace one, it won't change the management as far as i can see.

we actually have been having three different methods being applied at the same visit at 6 months; xray, scolimeter and q-scan. Somehow the non-radiation methods only make sense if they reduce the dependence on x-rays.

still, lisanna was such a happy girl yesterday, i think she'd sensed our worry and now also felt the relief that we are still on track......

[cherylplinder]

Congrats Gerbo!
I'm so happy for you. I assume the 5 degree scoliometer reading was out of brace?
That's fantastic!!!!!!
Hugs,
Cheryl

[gerbo]

mmhhhh, no, it was in brace, and only 1 or 2 degrees lower as on previoius readings (so hardly statistically significant). Still ,currently i am mostly interested in in-brace inprovement, (as that gives a good indication of eventual out of brace outcome, I think)

feel quite confident at the moment, so thanks for being happy with me

[cherylplinder]

Well, I was just hoping for the 5 out of brace for you. Rachel is 10 to 11 out of brace and 6 in brace, so really, it makes me feel more comfortable with where she is. I was anxious that her rotation at her first fitting out of brace was 6, and in brace was 0. The next visit, it was about 3 in brace. The next visit it was 6 in brace. That progression was bothersome, but her x-rays were undeniably better, so I felt hopeful. Dr. Rivard and Dr. Coillard have been unconcerned with the change.
Rachel's rotation looks so much better in brace than out of brace; it's amazing. You can really see what her brace is doing. That is how I check every week to see if her scoliosis might be progressing. As long as her rotation seems to be staying the same in brace, I feel like she is alright.
Happy days for you! Me too!
Hugs!
Cheryl

[Christina_in_NC]

Cheryl,
Thanks.
We are going to see Dr. Sponsellor Thanksgiving week. It feels like a long way off. The orthotist said she'd like to see better than a 10 deg. in brace correction to suggest that the Spinecor might work. Dr. Sponsellor has been wonderful about returning e-mails and his staff has been very helpful.
In the meantime we are going to start torsion/rotation exercises and continue PT.
Christina

[MATJESNIC]

Gerbo,
It sounds like your daughter is doing well with Spinecor. I am sharing in your happiness. Even though we are supposed to go to Montreal in Dec., I will see if we can go in Nov. We haven't been there since July.

Melissa

[cherylplinder]

Christina,
We did not get 10 degrees at the first fitting, only 7, but by her follow-up adjustment, we achieved 15 degrees of correction. At her last visit she had 18 degrees of correction. Just looking at her, I think she has achieved more in the last couple of months. She has been much more aligned with every month! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dr. Sponseller and his staff are wonderful. I have heard great things on this forum about him. He also has one of the best surgical records. He achieves amazing correction. One of the parents that went to like 5 orhopedic surgeons comparing correction, etc for surgery, posted. They chose him and were thrilled.
Yes, I agree, Thanksgiving does seem like a long way off.
Have you considered Montreal? I flew Air Canada for about 250 a person the first time. Dr. Rivard gave me an appointment for about 2 weeks after I first contacted him. They are so caring and wonderful. Several from the US have gotten their insurance to cover them there, you could check. No harm.
I understand how you feel. Between the time our ortho decided to brace, the 3 weeks we waited to get the brace, and the 3 weeks we had to wait for an x-ray, 6 weeks passed. Rachel's curve progressed 5 degrees in the 6 weeks.It feels like an emergency even though most curves don't progress that rapidly many obviously do.

Best of luck!!! Let us know what happens.

[Celia]

I never realized there was such a huge difference between the in/out brace scoliometer readings. Deirdre had the reading without the brace so I should be relieved !!!! *phew* One less thing to worry about The assistant "SueAnne"? is such a sweetie pie, she actually showed me how to measure with the scoliometer and I was looking over her shoulder when she got the reading. Cheryl, do you have your own scoliometer ?

[gerbo]

so I should be relieved !!!! *phew

told you so

what i do wonder, can you see or feel any evidence of a lateral curve when she is out of brace?? She hasn't had a recent out of brace xray, has she?

when i feel lisanna's spine, you can just about feel a tiny bit of a curve, and it is so hard to imagine how big a curve this represents on an x-ray, although I do understand that this is due to the rotation keeping the spinous processes towards the middle.

when i massage her back she is always quite tender on the convex side of the apex, on the side of the spinous processes. Been wondering why. Chhronic excessive stretch on the ligaments there?? Anybody noticed this??

[Christina_in_NC]

Cheryl,
Your daughter sounds like she has done great with Spinecor - and similar curves to mine. Maybe if they come close to a 10 deg correction in brace I'll push for it.

Gerbo,
as to the tenderness - my daughter is definitely more tight and tender on the convex side of the lower curve. I asked the PT why it would not be on the other side, but her whole back is more tender/tight on that side and that is the concave side of the worse curve (upper curve).
Christina

[Celia]

what i do wonder, can you see or feel any evidence of a lateral curve when she is out of brace??

Out of brace she looks really good! I'd love to be able to massage her back - I did when she was still in casts and a lot younger but now she's six years old and very aware of her body and refuses to even let me touch her spine for more than a few minutes.


I was wondering if everyone takes the 2 hour breaks in the morning and afternoon ??? Was anyone told that it's absolutely necessary to take the breaks and if so what was the reason given because we've been doing 23 hours/day since Deirdre doesn't like to have the brace off for very long.