Consistent and regular daily wearing improve bracing results: a case-control study

Abstract

BackgroundIn respect to the prescribed regimen and the regular daily pattern, investigate how short-term results are affected by wear time adherence in terms of hours per day.MethodsThis is a case-control study. The setting is outpatient clinic. There were 168 subjects, all of whom met the inclusion criteria: adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and Sforzesco brace prescription of 18 to 23 h/day. The minimum period of follow-up was 4 months, and the maximum was 6 months, which is the average time passing between the Thermobrace (TB) adoption and out-of-brace X-ray before treatment. The brace wear adherence rate, calculated from the ratio of brace wear time with the prescription, was considered in combination with the daily pattern compliance, classified as consistent (104 patients) or inconsistent according to the abnormal distribution of Thermobrace data. The short-term results were finally explored.ResultsConsistent brace wear is associated with a higher probability of improvement in curve magnitude (OR 1.96 CI 95% 1.22–3.14 chi-square 7.78 p = 0.0053). Inconsistent brace wear is more likely to progress (OR 0.14 CI 95% 0.30–0.75 chi-square 10.13 p = 0.0015). Results from the logistic regression show that the most influencing factor for improvement is Cobb degrees at the start.ConclusionsIn clinical everyday activity, patients must be encouraged to consistently follow their brace wear prescription, because this attitude is clearly associated with a higher probability of improvement.

A compliance real-time monitoring system for the management of the brace usage in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients: a pilot study

“…Patients and their parents’ attitudes towards electronic monitors are significant to the application and popularization of these monitors. Donzelli et al [ 14 ] investigated the attitudes of 364 parents and patients with regards to the use of temperature sensors. They also found that the mean rate of parents stating a completely or at least partially positive attitude was 94.0% while it was 85.6% among patients.…”

“…The most common of such devices were temperature and pressure/force sensors. The temperature sensors were proved to be effective to monitor wearing time [2,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], but they could not measure the level of wearing tightness. Nicholson et al [10] reported that the mean temperature at the skinbrace interface was 32.8 ± 1.6°C.…”

“…Therefore, electronic devices were developed to measure medication compliance objectively. The electronic solution can be divided into three categories: temperature-based systems [2,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], forcebased systems [19][20][21][22][23][24], and force and temperaturecombined systems [9]. A temperature-based system, with its temperature sensors, can record the brace wearing time (quantity) of the patients accurately, but cannot measure the wearing tightness (quality).…”

“…Some scholars have already applied compliance temperature/force monitors to the brace treatment of AIS patients in clinical practice [2,9,10,[13][14][15][16][17][18][20][21][22]. The monitored data was firstly stored in the electronic device and then downloaded at the patients' routine clinical visits (range 3~6 months).…”

Adults With Idiopathic Scoliosis Diagnosed at Youth Experience Similar Physical Activity and Fracture Rate as Controls

“…Treatment with the TLSO brace has shown to halt rate of progression in idiopathic scoliosis (42,43). The dose-response relation has received much attention recently and it is now generally agreed that the desired effect is better achieved with increased in-brace time (4,43,44).…”