Types of ScoliBrace in Victoria and Vancouver
At our clinic, our current “go-to” solution for Scoliosis treatment is the ScoliBrace. ScoliBrace is, in our opinion, currently the best scoliosis bracing solution available – we’re always open to adding alternative braces, but for the time being we feel that ScoliBrace is an excellent solution for nearly every case requiring bracing. We’re able to say this is because ScoliBrace design itself, is unique & flexible and is available in many different variants. This week, we’re taking a look at a few of the options.
Standard ScoliBrace
The “standard” model of ScoliBrace is optimised for treating “classic” adolescent scoliosis. Of course, each scoliosis case is totally unique – however, the standard ScoliBrace design covers the majority of those “typical” curve profiles.
This brace is ideal for Major thoracic curves, Thoraco-lumbar curves, and Lumbar curves – although it has the significant advantage of also being suitable for treating Double curvatures with a major thoracic and lumbar component, as well as complex triple curves with a high thoracic component (i.e. apex at T2-T6)
High Thoracic ScoliBrace
The High Thoracic scolibrace is designed to target Thoracic curves for more rapid treatment. This version of the ScoliBrace uses a high thoracic closure, which helps maintain stability of the correction in larger degree curvatures and helps in the treatment of high thoracic curves. This kind of brace is unsurprisingly suitable for curves which are located in the thoracic spine.
Lumbar ScoliBrace
The Lumbar Scolibrace is focused on the correction of curves in the lower spine – this is often an area associated with degenerative Scoliosis, making this brace an excellent supportive option for those suffering with “de-novo” scoliosis. This brace specifically targets single lumbar or thoracolumbar curvatures, but without any thoracic compensation, making it unsuitable for patients with any thoracic curvature.
As an additional advantage, this brace is incredibly low profile, especially under clothing and maintaining excellent in brace correction of lumbar and thoracolumbar curves.
ScoliNight
ScoliNight is a version of the ScoliBrce which is designed primarily for night time wear – this kind of brace is therefore best for those needing a smaller brace wear time, and therefore tends more towards the treatment of smaller curves. ScoliNight is considered an option for patients with smaller, less complex curves – such as single thoracic, lumbar or thoracolumbar curves less than 25 degrees.
On average a ScoliNight brace will only be worn for roughly 8 hours at night, which may be more convenient for some patients – however, it’s also possible that a scoliosis case which would be viable for a ScoliNight brace could be treated more quickly with a standard brace – an important point to consider.
KyphoBrace
The KyphoBrace is a sister product to the ScoliBrace, which, as you may imagine is designed primarily to treat Hyperkyphosis, rather than Scoliosis. Unlike Scoliosis, the majority of Kyphosis cases do not get significant enough to require treatment, hence the KyphoBrace is recommended for curves from 50-80 degrees (Kyphosis) and is suitable for thoracic and thoracolumbar hyper-kyphosis, as well as Scheuermann’s hyper-kyphosis.
KyphoBrace uses a pair of pivoting shoulder paddles to hyperextend the upper thoracic spine. This keeps the brace essentially invisible under clothing while still maintaining an excellent in brace correction of the kyphosis.
Hybrid Kypho-ScoliBrace
To address the needs of patients with mid scoliosis alongside Kyphosis, there is also a hybrid Kypho-Scolibrace, designed to counteract both conditions at once. This kind of brace is suitable only for milder instances of both conditions, however.