Orthotic treatment is the most commonly used non-surgical treatment method for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). This study determined whether treatment outcome correlates with how often and how well children with AIS wear their orthoses. Eighteen (18) subjects (3M, 15F) who were diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis and had wom their orthoses from 6 months up to 1 year participated in this study. All subjects were prescribed Boston braces to be wom full time (23hrs/day). Twelve (12) subjects who completed their brace treatment were included in the data analysis. Three (3) treatment outcomes were classified as improvement, no change and deterioration. The quality of the brace wear was assessed by how often the brace was wom with zero force, below 80%, between 80 to 120%, and above 120% of the load level prescribed in the clinic. The quantity of brace wear was determined by how many hours per day they wore their brace. Subjects who wear their braces tighter and for more hours per day seem to have better outcomes.
Comprehensively understanding the mechanics of loads applied by orthopaedic surgeons and distributed to the spine during scoliosis corrective surgery may improve surgical outcome and patient safety. Instruments to measure forces applied by orthopaedic surgeons have been reported. This paper presents instrumented hooks and screws with a real time wireless data acquisition system to measure loads and moments distributed to the spine during scoliosis surgery. From laboratory tests, the maximum error of posterior/anterior forces and moments were 2-3% of the maximum loads during surgery. This study improves the understanding of mechanics during surgical correction.
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