Scoliosis the 1950s. The Milwaukee brace was the only nonoperative and noninvasive alternative to surgery at the time to provide postoperative correction to polio patients. A curve exceeding sixty degrees required the Harrington rod technique, otherwise the Milwaukee brace was recommended. However, Canadian physician, Elizabeth Wyne, observed that fifty percent of patients wearing the Milwaukee brace still required surgery later in life. Surgery may straighten the spine however it does not necessarily eradicate a patient of all the pain they suffer from due to scoliosis. Individuals who undergo surgery are left with scars and often have a lack of feeling in
Neuromechanics of idiopathic scoliosis vertebral column can be deformed at the thoracic level, at the lumbar level or at both. In the lumbar region, scoliosis induces perturbations to standing balance. The thoracic region is the location that most impacts movement strategies. Scoliosis impedes on the movement of the ribs, places the respiratory muscles at a mechanical disadvantage and displaces the various organs of the thoracic cavity. In a scoliotic patient, the vertebral column experiences extension forces on the convex side and compression forces on the concave side. At the apical vertebra, average bone density for the concave cortical bone is higher than for the