Does bracing change the sport habits of patients? A controlled study

Objective

In our Institute for many years we have asked patients to perform sport activities freely while in treatment, wearing braces or not, because of the physical and psychological advantages. Our aim was to verify whether patients complied with this approach.

Study design

We evaluated 270 patients at the start of treatment, considering how their sport activities habits changed after the first six months of treatment.

Different groups considered included (see Table 1):

Table 1 Groups considered.

Results

We did not find differences in the number of patients who practiced sport in the different groups. There were slight changes in number of hours of sport per week according to hours and type of bracing, but they were not statistically significant. Patients did not behave differently if they were required to perform sport in-brace or out-brace.

Conclusion

It is possible to undergo brace treatment and continue normally practicing sport, if this is explained to patients and parents and if braces are designed in a way to allow it.