Effect of the Boston thoracic brace on the frontal and sagittal curves of the spine

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to compare the sagittal and lateral curves in progressive idiopathic scoliosis treated conservatively with the Boston thoracic brace. The importance of the delordosation was confirmed. The correlation was, however, seen only between correction of the lumbar lordosis and correction of the lumbar scoliosis. The correction of the proximal thoracic scoliosis with the brace was equally good, without a similar correlation between correction of the proximal scoliosis and correction of the sagittal curves being observed. A coupling between the correction of the two scolioses may therefore be suspected. Further, the correcting forces of the Boston thoracic brace seemed to be approximately the same, independent of the range of the scoliosis, at least between 10° and 40°.