Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: treatment with the Wilmington brace. A comparison of full-time and part-time use.

We reviewed the clinical records and the radiographs of 188 patients who had adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Our purpose was to determine whether part-time and full-time bracing had been equally effective in preventing progression of the curve. Full-time bracing had been used for ninety-eight patients; part-time bracing, for forty-nine; and electrical stimulation, for forty-one. Eighty-eight patients had had a curve of less than 30 degrees and 100 patients, a curve of 30 to 40 degrees. The treatment was considered a failure if the curve had increased 5 degrees or more. The curve progressed 5 degrees or more in thirteen (36 per cent) of the thirty-six patients who had had full-time bracing for a curve of less than 30 degrees, in thirteen (41 per cent) of the thirty-two who had had part-time bracing for such a curve, and in fourteen (70 per cent) of the twenty who had had electrical stimulation for such a curve. Compared with electrical stimulation, both full-time and part-time bracing prevented progression significantly more effectively (p < 0.02 and p < 0.04, respectively). With the numbers available, the difference in progression between the groups that had had full-time and parttime bracing was not significant (p < 0.18). The curve progressed 5 degrees or more in thirty-six (58 per cent) of the sixty-two patients who had had full-time bracing for a curve of 30 to 40 degrees, in ten of the seventeen who had had part-time bracing for such a curve, and in eighteen (86 per cent) of the twenty-one who had had electrical stimulation for such a curve. The difference in progression between each bracing program and electrical stimulation was significant (p < 0.03 for the full-time program and p < 0.05 for the part-time program). With the numbers available, the difference in progression between full-time and part-time bracing was not significant (p < 1.14).