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[Natesmom]

Approximately 4 weeks ago we were told my 15 year old son has a reverse S curve (largest curve is 41.5). We initially took him to the Dr's due to back pain and were sent to a specialist the next week. We had no experience or knowledge about scoliosis. He received his brace last week and absolutely hates it. My son has always been very quiet and I think he's afraid of wearing it to school. So far he has opted to wear it to bed rather than to class. He should be up to 14 hours a day but has only made it to 8. He will need to wear it 21 hours a day eventually. He has expressed concern as to why go through the bracing if he will just go back to the same curve once it's removed. I spoke with the Dr's office and the assistant advised that they would not operate while he is going through a growth spurt but the brace would keep his curves from becoming worse. I explained all this to my son but it hasn't seemed to help. The specialist did warn me that my son might have a hard time with the brace due to his age, gender and because he is slightly overweight.

I feel really overwhelmed between the specialist, PT, and prosthetic Dr all in the course of less than a month so I can imagine how my son feels. Hopefully the upcoming appointment this Wednesday might answer some questions. I have tried to get my son to open up and discuss his feelings about the whole thing but no luck as yet.

I have read a lot of your posts on this site and really like the support found here. I think it helps just to know others others have come through all this.

[LindaRacine]

Hi mom...

Welcome, and sorry you have to be here.

The initial adjustment to a scoliosis brace is usually pretty brutal. If at all possible, I'd try to do as much as possible to get my child to wear the brace. With that said, there's really no absolute proof that bracing works. And, even if it does work in some cases, it doesn't work in all cases. In other words, I would not let the brace issue come between myself and my child. If a kid isn't going to wear a brace, there's little a parent can do to make it happen.

One thing that is pretty clear is that braces that don't result in a 50% initial in brace reduction of curves, probably won't work.

Good luck.

Regards,
Linda

[hdugger]

You may have read some of the bracing threads already, but the short answer is that there's some disagreement about how helpful bracing is. The current guess is that around 30% of kids benefit. Actually, I think the estimate is that in 30% of the cases it keeps them from having surgery. In a larger percentage of kids it slows down the curve progression and they end us with a smaller curve.

One important thing to find out is a good estimate of how much growing he has left. From the discussion on this site, I think the consensus is that you should get a hand x-ray to determine whether or not he has a big growth spurt in front of him.

If he's past his growth spurt, the chance of bracing helping goes down. If he still has a growth spurt ahead of him, there's a greater chance that bracing will help, but it's in no way a sure thing.

[Natesmom]

Thanks for all of the information. They did x-ray his hand and found out that he has a lot of growing left. He is actually in a major growth spurt now. I think that's why they steered towards the brace rather than surgery at this point. I believe my son knows why he should be wearing the brace, but maybe he needs to hear it from the Dr rather than mom. I've discussed with him the importance of telling the Dr how he feels about the whole thing rather than just saying nothing and being unhappy and left with a lot of questions. We'll see come Wednesday.

[laurieg6]

When my son had to wear a brace, he was much younger (8 yrs old) and he didn't resist it at all. But as he got older, it became more uncomfortable. I remember seeing a teenage boy at the doctor's office and he was carrying his brace. The Dr.'s assistant told me that older boys have the most difficulty with being compliant about wearing the brace.

I don't really have any advice, esp. since much of what I read shows questionable effects from brace wearing.

I wish you all the best.

[Natesmom]

We had another Dr's visit yesterday. Nate chose to carry his brace into the office rather than wear it. He admitted the reason he isn't wearing it is because it makes his back hurt worse. (Nate has complained of back pain in the past and was sent to PT) The Dr has set him up for an MRI next week. Hopefully we'll find out what's making his back hurt so much. We were told that as long as he wears the brace nights, the Dr will be happy. Some wear is better than none I suppose. His largest curve was still at 38 with the brace on (down from 41.5). He's also beginning with a chiropractor next week too on recommendation from Dr. Anson. It won't change what he has but it may lessen some of the pain.

I love his orthopedist (Dr. Anson out of Falmouth, Maine) He speaks to Nate first and asks his opinions first. I think that's really important and it allows Nate to know that he helps in the decisions. Maybe it takes away some of the feelings of helplessness he might (probably) is feeling. I'm really glad we were directed to Dr. Anson's office.

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Natesmom,

Welcome to the site! I am sorry your son is having difficulty adjusting to his brace. It is not easy for many kids (including my own young daughter).

You mention that your son's curve only reduced 3 degrees in brace--typically a curve must reduce by 50% in brace if it's a typical TLSO (aka Boston) if there is any possibility of the brace being effective. So I would feel very concerned about my child wearing a brace knowing that the brace is doing no good. Especially since he is so unhappy with the brace. Curious, what did your orthopedist say about the poor (basically non-existent) in-brace correction? And your orthotist should know this as well and try to adjust the brace in some way to make it effective. I don't mean to be blunt, but I would be very angry to find out later that my child suffered unnecessarily through wearing a brace they hated AND that it had no hope of helping from the get-go.

Have you considered a night brace (Charleston or Providence)? It might be worth asking about, as your son might be able to tolerate it better.

Best of luck,

[LindaRacine]

Mom...

I totally agree with Gayle. I can't imagine a specialist keeping a kid in a brace when they don't get anywhere near a 50% correction. I think it's time to either find a new specialist or tell the old one that s/he needs to try something else.

Regards,
Linda