CONSERVATIVE TREATMENT OF THE SCOLIOTIC AND KYPHOTIC PATIENT - BRACE TREATMENT AND OTHER MODALITIES

Although various forms of nonoperative treatment have been applied to spinal deformities over the centuries, it was the development of the o riginal Milwaukee brace, a cervicothoracic-lumbosacral orthosis (CTLSO ), by Blount and Schmidt in the middle 1940s that heralded a new era o f nonoperative treatment and that has led to much of the success we en joy with nonoperative treatment today. Furthermore, as our understandi ng of the natural history of scoliosis has grown and our recognition o f the specific genetic, curvature-related, or neurophysiological facto rs that predispose patients to curvature progression has improved, so has our ability to successfully treat patients by nonoperative means.