Spinecor Brace

Click here to view the PDF of Scoliosis Feature – Review of the Literature: Non-operative Scoliosis Treatment from The American Chiropractor.

Click here to view the PDF of News To The Profession – The Scoliosis Care Foundation Calls on the Chiropractic Profession for Help from The American Chiropractor.

On April 17 2009, the Spinecor Adult Brace for Scoliosis was made available by Dr. Marc Lamantia and Dr. Gary Deutchman in all 14 offices throughout the United States. The new brace design is more comfortable and hides even better under the clothes.  Although Dr. Lamantia and Dr. Deutchman did the original research on adults and spinecor, and have been fitting adults since 2004, the Spinecorporation just released the Adult Spinecor Brace this month. For more information, call 1-800-281-5010 for a free phone consultation.

Although originally developed for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis treatment, its clinical uses for adults, kyphosis and non-idiopathic scoliosis are encouraging. Adults are routinely referred for treatment to our New York, Chicago, Atlanta, North Carolina, Denver, Buffalo, St. Louis, Tampa, Ft Lauderdale, Roswell (GA), Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Inland Empire (CA) offices. Since the first adult fitting, Drs. Deutchman and Lamantia has fitted over 1000 adult patients with all types of curvatures. Adults often experience pain relief immediately when the brace if fitted appropriately. Due to the nature of the adult spine, different brace configurations were developed to successfully manage adult patients. Dr. Deutchman is unmatched in his expertise in this area.

Studies show adult scoliosis to be potentially progressive in nature and to be a major contributor to chronic pain, radiculopathy and neurogenic claudication. Due to the abnormal posture and muscle recruitment patterns associated with adult scoliosis, adult programs are often supported with specialized physiotherapy programs.

Unlike a rigid brace, Spinecor uses a rotational 3D “Corrective Movement” which has been shown to be effective in reducing scoliosis curvatures in adolescents. Spinecor is a dynamic system of elastic bands which uses gentle forces to change posture and movement patterns over time. It can easily be worn under the clothes, during exercise and at work.

Adult scoliosis management differs from adolescent treatments due to the long standing dysfunction of the motion segments of the spine and associated ligament degeneration. This may lead to subluxation (misalignment of the vertebra) and further degenerative change to both bone and soft tissues. Often, adult scoliosis treatment can be successful if the patient can tolerate the brace. Careful evaluation and fitting procedures are necessary to ensure adults do not experience exacerbations of pain and nerve irritation. Adults can achieve curvature reduction despite reaching maximal bone maturity. Due to the fact that spinal deformities associated with scoliosis are not entirely from bone deformity, but include influences from ligament, disc and muscle function. Our adult patients routinely respond in our program which may include postural retraining, muscle integration therapy, myofascial release techniques, Whole Body Vibration and vestibular rehabilitation.

Results vary between individuals. Chiropractic management is recommended when subluxations are detected. For more information contact one of our doctors.

Natural history of the aging spine., Benoist M, Eur Spine J. 2003 Oct;12 Suppl 2:S86-9. Epub 2003 Sep 05. Orthopaedic Surgery Unit, Department of Rheumatology, Hopital Beaujon, 100 Bd du Gal Leclerc, 92110, Clichy, France. deuxmice@aol.com

Spinal mobility and EMG activity in idiopathic scoliosis through dynamic lateral bending tests. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2002;91:130-4.,Ciolofan OC, Aubin CE, Mathieu PA, Beausejour M, Feipel V, Labelle H. Sainte-Justine Hospital, 3175 Cote Ste-Catherine Rd, Montreal, H3T 1C5, Canada.

Biomechanical factors affecting progression of structural scoliotic curves of the spine. Lupparelli S, Pola E, Pitta L, Mazza O, De Santis V, Aulisa L. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2002;91:81-5
Clin. Orthop. Pol. A. Gemelli – University Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, ITALY.

Degeneration of the human lumbar spine ligaments. An ultrastructural study. Yahia H, Drouin G, Maurais G, Garzon S, Rivard CH.Biomedical Engineering Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Montreal, Canada. Pathol Res Pract. 1989 Apr; 184(4): 369-75.

Natural history of the aging spine., Benoist M, Eur Spine J. 2003 Oct;12 Suppl 2:S86-9. Epub 2003 Sep 05. Orthopaedic Surgery Unit, Department of Rheumatology, Hopital Beaujon, 100 Bd du Gal Leclerc, 92110, Clichy, France. deuxmice@aol.com

Vestibular mechanisms involved in idiopathic scoliosis, Arch Ital Biol. 2002 Jan;140(1):67-80.
Manzoni D, Miele F.Dipartimento di Fisiologia e Biochimica, Universita di Pisa, Via S. Zeno 31, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.

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Click here to download the Raster Stereography Case Studies PDF.

Review of the Literature: Non-operative Scoliosis Treatment by Marc Lamantia
In The April issue of the American Chiropractor

from 4th International Conference on Conservative Management of Spinal Deformities
Boston, MA, USA. 13–16 May 2007

The electronic version of this abstract is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.scoliosisjournal.com/content/2/S1/S23

Objective

To determine if non-surgical treatment using the Spinecor brace can effectively reduce adult scoliosis curvature magnitude.

Study design

Twenty-three adults between the ages eighteen and sixty-five years, seeking treatment for adolescent onset idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) were fitted with the Spinecor Orthosis [1] after being exposed to an anterior-posterior (AP) full spine and lateral full spine radiograph, with a minimum of three months between exposures and a maximum of one year. Measurements of the radiographs were performed using a digital inclinometer in order to reduce error and all projections were exposed without the orthosis.

Results

Patients were separated into three groups based on curvature location: Thoracic (T), Thoracolumbar (TL) and Lumbar (L). T-tests were performed using the initial and follow-up Cobb measurements of AP radiographs for each of the three groups. The maximum (T) reduced from 94 degrees to 77 degrees (-12.2%) following a minimum of three months of treatment. The maximum (TL) measurement reduced from 31 degrees to 23 degrees (-13.4%), and the (L) minimum reduced from 17 degrees to 11.1 degrees (-15.3%). The patients in the “Thoracic” group (n = 20) had a mean average change of -5.27 degrees. The “Thoracolumbar” group (n = 3) had a mean average change of -6.0 degrees. The Lumbar group (n = 15) had a mean average change of -4.40 degrees.

Conclusion

These findings suggest the use of a flexible strapping orthosis (Spinecor) is an effective tool in the management of adult scoliosis. Long term studies are necessary to determine the sustainability of these early positive results.

References

Coillard C, Leroux MA, Badeaux J, Rivard CH: SPINECOR: a new therapeutic approach for idiopathic scoliosis.

Stud Health Technol Inform 2002, 88:215-217. PubMed Abstract

38° Initial                 32° Post 2 yr treatment

21° Initial                  0° Out of Brace