Non-specific chronic low back pain in patients with scoliosis-an overview of the literature on patients undergoing brace treatment.
Hans-Rudolf Weiss, Deborah Turnbull
PMID 31871385WHAT IT FOUND
For chronic low back pain in scoliosis, brace evidence is weak and mostly low-quality.
The review suggests bracing only after exercise fails, and testing first whether pain is postural or instability-related.
Key findings
01The review identified 10 relevant papers from PubMed searches on scoliosis, chronic non-specific low back pain, and brace treatment.
02The included evidence consisted of two pilot studies, six case reports or case series, one mid-term study, and one classification proposal.
03The review found little overall evidence and no high-quality studies for bracing in relation to pain in patients with scoliosis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The search used PubMed only, so relevant studies indexed in other databases may be missing. The included evidence was mostly pilot studies and case reports or case series, which cannot show whether bracing works. No high-quality studies were found, and only one study had follow-up beyond one year, so long-term effects are unclear. The paper does not provide total patient numbers or outcome magnitudes for the included studies. The authors have financial ties to brace-related products, including royalties from a company held by a spouse and a patent on a sagittal realignment brace, which may influence the recommendations.
Declared interests
HRW receives financial support for attending symposia and has received royalties from Koob GmbH & Co KG. The company is held by the spouse of HR Weiss. HRW holds a patent on a sagittal realignment brace. DT declares no conflicting interests. The authors received no financial support for this research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that braces relieve chronic low back pain in scoliosis. The review found little overall evidence and no high-quality studies, and most included papers were pilot studies or case reports.