The Improvement of Trunk Muscle Endurance in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis Treated with ScoliBrace® and the ScoliBalance® Exercise Approach

Abstract

The impact of scoliosis bracing combined with physiotherapeutic scoliosis-specific exercises (PSSE) on trunk muscle endurance in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis is unknown. ScoliBrace®, a rigid, three-dimensional, over-corrective thoraco-lumbar-sacral orthosis (TLSO), and ScoliBalance®, a PSSE program, were used to treat adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. A retrospective study of the trunk muscle endurance of 33 AIS patients who received ScoliBrace® and ScoliBalance® was conducted. The patients were treated with ScoliBrace® and an individualized ScoliBalance® program. Trunk extensor muscle endurance (TE) and abdominal muscle endurance (AE) tests were performed at initial assessment and then at averages of 6.6 and 24.4 weeks of treatment. The data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Stata version 15.1. The participants were aged 13.24 years (SD = 1.64) with a mean Cobb angle of 38.97° (SD = 9.49°). TE improved significantly (p < 0.001) at both short- and medium-term intervals using ScoliBalance® and ScoliBrace® in the AIS patients. AE also showed significant improvement between baseline and short-term follow-up, with non-significant improvement at medium-term follow-up. Overall, trunk muscle endurance showed improvement in the AIS patients using ScoliBrace® and ScoliBalance®. Future research is required to determine the individual and combined effects of each treatment. However, it seems likely that trunk muscle endurance will not deteriorate in AIS patients with this combined treatment.