Table 2.
Studies comparing different braces
| Study | Type of brace | Comparison | Number of patients | Average initial curve | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nachemson and Peterson, 1995 [32] | TLSO | Total | 286 | 25°–35° | Brace prevented progression of curve |
| Observation | 129 | ||||
| Brace | 111 | ||||
| Allington and Bowen, 1996 [1] | Wilmington | Total | 188 | < 30° | The difference in progression between full-time and part-time bracing was not significant |
| Full-time | 36 | ||||
| Part-time | 32 | 30°–40° | |||
| Full-time | 62 | ||||
| Part-time | 17 | ||||
| Katz et al., 1997 [25] | Total | 319 | — | Boston brace more effective than Charleston in preventing curve progression | |
| Charleston | 166 | 32.9° | |||
| Boston | 153 | 33.9° | |||
| Howard et al., 1998 [18] | Total | 170 | TLSO superior in preventing curve progression | ||
| TLSO | 45 | ||||
| Charleston | 95 | ||||
| Milwaukee | 30 | ||||
| Karol, 2001 [22] | Total | 117 | Boston, Charleston no difference Insufficient numbers for Milwaukee comparison |
||
| Milwaukee | 10 | ||||
| Charleston | 53 | 33.1° | |||
| Boston | 54 | ||||
| Gepstein et al., 2002 [13] | Total | 122 | Both braces are equally effective; no significant difference was found between them | ||
| Charleston | 85 | 20°–39° | |||
| TLSO | 37 | ||||
| Danielsson et al., 2007 [8] (SRS +) | Total | 106 | — | Bracing more effective than observation | |
| Boston | 41 | 31.9° | |||
| Observation | 65 | 39.4° | |||
| Janicki et al., 2007 [19] (SRS +) | Total | 83 | — | Providence brace is superior in preventing progression | |
| TLSO | 48 | 33.6° | |||
| Providence | 35 | 33.7° |
TLSO = thoracic-lumbar-sacral orthosis; SRS = Scoliosis Research Society.