Determination of the influence of the Chêneau brace on quality of life for adolescent with idiopathic scoliosis

Abstract Objective The main objective is to determine the influence of treatment by Cheneau brace on the quality of life (QoL) of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis. Material and method We used the QoL scale of Climent et al. “the Quality of Life Profile for Spine Deformities” (QLPSD, in which a higher score means a worse QoL) and visual analogue scales (VAS) for pain and for QoL ranging from 0 to 100 mm. The study includes 108 subjects divided in three groups, a control group of 32 patients without brace, a full-time treated group (wearing a Cheneau brace 23/24 hours) of 41 patients, and a part-time treated group (wearing the brace during the night only) of 35 patients. Results The QoL is significantly worse in the full-time treated group than in the group with night treatment and in the group without brace for the psychosocial functioning, the sleep disturbances, the back flexibility ( P P P P P Conclusion The wearing of the Cheneau brace involves a significant reduction in the QoL whatever instruments of evaluations of QoL, QLPSD or VAS. The QoL of the full-time treated patients was the lowest followed part-time treated patients while the QoL of the patients without brace was the highest. However, the brace does not influence the back pain in idiopathic scoliosis at teenage.