Relationship between gibbosity and Cobb angle during treatment of idiopathic scoliosis with the SpineCor brace

The objective of this study was to quantify the relationship between gibbosity and spinal deformation expressed by the angle of Cobb before and during treatment with a brace for different classes of idiopathic scoliosis patients. As part of the standard treatment with the Dynamic Corrective Brace (SpineCor), 89 idiopathic scoliosis patients underwent an initial radiological examination and gibbosity measurement with a scoliometer wearing and not wearing the brace. The 89 patients were classified in relation to the apex of the scoliosis curves: thoracic (n = 29); thoracolumbar (n = 40); lumbar (n = 7) and double (n = 13). With the dynamic corrective brace, the patients showed a mean decrease of 8.3° for the major Cobb angle, and a mean decrease of 2.3° for their gibbosity. There was a significant positive relationship between gibbosity and Cobb angle with and without the brace for the thoracic and thoracolumbar curves. A linear regression analysis identified a small mean estimation error for the thoracic curves (7.4° no-brace; 2.7° with brace) and thoracolumbar curves (5.2° no-brace; 5.3° with brace), indicating a predictive potential of the scoliometer. The measure of gibbosity with the scoliometer provides a fairly reliable estimation of Cobb angle at the initial clinical examination of a scoliosis patient. However, when initial Cobb angle and gibbosity are considered, the measure of gibbosity when wearing a brace provides the clinician with a highly reliable estimation of the Cobb angle while in a brace. This relationship also exists for the follow-up with a brace, permitting a judgement of the patient’s evolution under the treatment with SpineCor. Received: 23 September 1999 Revised: 9 March 2000 Accepted: 2 May 2000