Having to wear a body brace for the treatment of
scoliosis (curved spine) causes stress for teen patients and their
parents, a new study finds.
But parents worry most of all. While teen
dislike wearing a hard plastic brace around their torso, parents are
more worried than their children about scoliosis itself, said the
researchers at Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland.
The study, published June 15 in the journal Spine, included 63
teens with scoliosis who wore a brace to prevent the spinal curve from
worsening. Their average age was 14. In such cases, patients generally
must wear the brace at least 12 hours a day until they finish growing.
The teens in this study wore their braces an average of nearly 16
hours a day. After about 14 months of brace treatment, the patients and
their parents were asked to rate their levels of emotional stress
associated with the brace treatment and with scoliosis itself.
Both the patients and their parents found the brace treatment moderately stressful. But while the teens reported low levels of stress related to the scoliosis itself, their parents rated this form of stress as moderate.
Stress levels
in both patients and parents were unrelated to the severity of the
spinal curve or how long the patient had worn her body brace, according
to a journal news release.
The findings suggest that both patients and parents should be evaluated for emotional stress related to scoliosis and treatment with a body brace, the researchers said in the news release.
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