Does Schroth Support Bracing?

Written By: Caroline Joy, PT, DPT Certified SSOL Schroth Specialist

Scoliosis and Bracing

If you or your child has been recommended for a brace, it is important to educate yourself on why! Bracing can be an effective tool to decrease the progression of a high-risk scoliotic curve to a point of requiring surgical intervention. A brace will likely be recommended for an adolescent with a 25-40 degree curve AND is still growing. In these adolescents, a brace should be worn for 21 hours a day into skeletal maturity. For an adult, a brace may be recommended with cases of significant hyper kyphosis and lack of core stability. The goals of these braces are to increase muscle activation and improve function.These braces are recommended to wear 2-3 hours a day. 

Image courtesy of: Hospital for Special Surgery

Brace Considerations

There are several major considerations to keep in mind when being recommended for bracing. A scoliosis brace should first and foremost be custom made for its wearer. I must also consider the 3-Dimensional aspect of a scoliotic spine while making the maximal frontal plan correction.  It is essential for the brace wearer and family to be educated on brace fitting as well as a wearing schedule. Lastly, there should be follow up meetings made to assess brace fit and function(1). 

Bracing and Schroth

The gold standard for treating adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (reducing curve progression) is the combination of Schroth Therapy and bracing.  Research has shown that Schroth exercise combined with bracing is superior to bracing alone at improving Cobb angles, trunk rotation, and quality of life(2). A Schroth therapist will likely want to see your brace and have access to an X-ray with you in the brace. The most common brace to consider the Schroth principles of correction is the Rigo Cheneau brace(3). To learn more about Schroth Physical Therapy refer to my previous blog post.

1. https://www.schrothnyc.com/scoliosis-bracing.html

2. Kwan et al. Scoliosis and Spinal Disorders (2017) 12:32 DOI 10.1186/s13013-017-0139-6

3. Minsk er al. Scoliosis and SpinalDisorders (2017) 12:7 DOI 10.1186/s13013-017-0117-z

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