The "Chêneau light" brace in patients with scoliosis – in-brace corrections

Objective

The "Chêneau light" brace promises a lesser impairment of quality of life in the brace. However material reduction should not result in reduced effectiveness. Therefore the primary correction effect in the "Chêneau light" brace has been evaluated.

Study design

The correction effects of the first eighty-one consecutive patients, treated according to the principles of the "Chêneau light" brace [1], were evaluated after an average treatment time of six weeks. Outcome was based on comparison of a full-spine radiograph before and after bracing. At the start of treatment, the average Cobb angle was 35.6 degrees, the average age 12.9 ± 1.9 years, average Risser sign 1.3 ± 1.5, and average Tanner rating 2.75 ± 0.7.

Results

The Cobb angle was reduced by 16.4 degrees, which corresponds to a correction effect of fifty-one percent. The correction effect exhibited a slight negative correlation with age (r = -0.24; p = 0.014), Risser stage (-0.29; p = 0.0096) and the Cobb angle measured before treatment (r = -0.43; p < 0.0001).

Conclusion

The use of the "Chêneau light" brace leads to correction effects above average when compared to the correction effects of other braces described in literature. The reduction of material seems to affect the desired correction in a positive way.