SPD and Scoliosis Brace

by Lori
(Oklahoma)

My verbally gifted son, age 12, has sensory issues, low muscle tone and dyspraxia. He used to have trouble with clothing tags and socks. Now he has trouble tuning out pain from the scoliosis brace he has to wear.




Since he is close to my size, I decided to try on his old brace and wear it for an hour. It is very uncomfortable, made of hard plastic with straps in the back that have to be tightened to the point that he can't breathe easily. It is hard to bend over to pick something up off the floor, it is hard to sit, it is hot, it is hard to do anything with the brace on. I couldn't even tolerate it for an hour and I don't have SPD.

Somehow he needs to learn to tune out the pain and discomfort so he can concentrate on things like math. Before the brace we took lots of breaks to exercise and play catch in the house when he needed a break from homeschooling. This worked really well for him. That all stopped nine months ago when he started wearing the brace. He has to wear it all day, every day, until he stops growing, so at least 4 more years.

Any ideas on how we can get through this?



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Oct 12, 2021
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starstarstarstarstar 		Understand your journey
by: Anonymous

We had the same issues but with a gensingen brace, but has worked for others, less hot and light then Boston brace. We also utilised scoliosis specific physio, which had some positive impact, but sensory issues heightened into shutdown for many many months. Working on sensory integration may help some and would certainly aid posture remediation. We are currently considering a DM suit, as our child and us really want to avoid surgery, but already severe.
Aug 26, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		Same boat
by: Anonymous

We've encounted much of the same problems. My daughter is only 10 and is targetted to spend 16 hrs a day in her brace.

Our clinician is a lot more supportive than the ortho surgeon. She says if my girl is having a bad day, she can have a bad day (where the target time is not met.)

Each time an adjustment is made, we roll back to 2-3 days @ 1-2 hrs then add 30 minutes every couple days. Being her dextro scoliosis is in her upper back the ortho clinician isn't so worried about having the lowest strap to the max and has suggested slowly tightening the straps periodically throughout the wear time; as well as breaks during the wear time if needed.

It's such an emotional roll coaster. I feel for you and your son! *hugs*

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