Scoliosis Medical Association" (2003) asserted the lifelong physical health, including cardiopulmonary and neurological functions, and mental health of idiopathic scoliosis patients are comparable to those of the general population. Scoliosis that interferes with normal systemic functions is "exceptional" and "rare", and "untreated [scoliosis] patients had similar death rates and were just as functional and likely to lead productive lives 50 years after diagnosis as people with normal spines". In an earlier University of Iowa follow-up study, 91 percent of idiopathic scoliosis patients displayed normal pulmonary function, and their life expectancy was 2% longer than that of the general population. Generally, the
Management of scoliosis 45 degrees. SOSORT uses the 45-degree to 50-degree threshold as a result of the well-documented, plus or minus five degrees measurement error that can occur while measuring Cobb angles. Scoliosis braces are usually comfortable for the patient, especially when it is well designed and fit; also after the 7- to 10-day break-in period. A well fit and functioning scoliosis brace provides comfort when it is supporting the deformity and redirecting the body into a more corrected and normal physiological position. The Scoliosis Research Society's recommendations for bracing include curves progressing to larger than 25°, curves presenting between 30 and 45°,