Tiger BufordYour Orthopedic Industry Expert (free today)

The Whisper brace is a complete game changer for kids with scoliosis - BoneChat #37 short

4 Aug 2024 · 1 min

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Kids with scoliosis get diagnosed at 10 degrees of spinal curvature and braced around 20-25 degrees, but the rigid plastic clamshell brace is so uncomfortable that only one-third of children wear it consistently. Poor compliance drives roughly 18,000 surgeries and $3 billion in annual U.S. healthcare costs.

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And as soon as you start helping kids, the hook gets set. So if a kid has over a 10-degree curve, they have what's considered a diagnosis of scoliosis. They're monitored until about 20 to 25 degrees, and then they receive a prescription for a brace, plastic sham clamshell brace. They're pretty uncomfortable and it leads to low compliance. About a third of the kids are compliant, about a third are partially compliant, and a third are not compliant at all. This leads to about 18,000 surgeries and it burns the healthcare system by about $3 billion a year.