Scoliosis metal rods attached to a plastic or leather girdle, designed to straighten the spine. As a result of the constant pressure the brace inflicted on a patients' spine, it was particularly painful and inconvenient to wear due to physical limits it imposed. Wearing the brace was known to cause jaw pain, skin irritation, muscle pain and low self-esteem among patients. The 'Harrington rod' technique was the second major treatment for scoliosis to emerge and became the first significant surgical procedure to manipulate spinal positioning. This treatment was initially developed to treat paralytic scoliosis that resulted from the polio epidemic of
Virtual body the disembodied essence of a person's mind in cyberspace and the consequent representation of a person's identity as a virtual body in cyberspace. The 'disembodiment' discourse focuses around allowing the mind to wander without the physical inhibitions of the body. This discourse is regarded as an expansion of classic theories such as astral projection or 'out-of-body experiences'. Subsequently, the virtual body is regarded as psychologically created essence that is virtually floating between information. This information in turn, according to theories, affects the mind and the virtual body but has no interaction with the physical body, which has deployed a "technological