The reducibility of idiopathic scoliosis during non-operative treatment

Non-operative treatment of idiopathic scoliosis is long and difficult. For the patient and the therapist it is particularly important to define early the therapeutic prognosis. The goal of this study is to verify if the initi al reducibility at the beginning of treatment with the dynamic corrective b race (Spinecor) would be valid as a prognostic factor, allowing a more effe ctive prognostic judgement of the final outcome treatment. This is a prospe ctive study which includes 99 scoliosis patients (88 female, 11 male), with a mean age of new 12.6 years, treated by the dynamic corrective brace for progressive idiopathic scoliosis curves (29 degrees mean Cobb angle). The i nitial Cobb angle was compared to the pre-therapeutic Cobb angle. The resul ts demonstrate that the reducibility of the scoliotic curves with the brace at the beginning of treatment provides a significant global prognostic ind ex but is difficult to apply individually. Other factors should be consider ed, such as the impact of growth velocity on the spinal deformity at the on set of the adolescent growth spent as well as vertebral deformities diagnos ed around the apex.