Why Use Bay Ortho for Scoliosis?
We get dozens of calls each week from parents from all over the country as to why our scoliosis brace program works. The simple answer is our brace is corrective in nature as opposed to static TLSO designs that were created to try and stop the progression of the scoliotic curves.
We have been treating Scoliosis at Bay Orthopedic for over thirty years and our staff has been trained in every popular brace design utilized in the United States. We have found that the results that we have gotten with WCR Braces were substantially superior in our estimation simply because we could provide a corrective designed brace rather than the static TLSO and nocturnal braces that we were very familiar with. Using a WCR brace we have been able to treat many curves larger than 40 degrees and those with an apex higher up on the thoracic spine then we were able to treat with convention TLSO brace.
Here is our story
Approximately ten years ago I was introduced to the Wood Cheneau Rigo Corrective design Scoliosis Brace. The practitioner that introduced me to this European style of Scoliosis Bracing was another Board Certified Orthotist named Grant Wood. Grant has been making these braces since 1996 and he was personally trained by DR. M. Rigo himself while Grant lived in Spain. Grant worked side by side with Dr. Rigo for eight years perfecting his knowledge of the Rigo classification techniques and then moved to California after he was married.
While we in the United States always knew that Scoliosis was a rotational spinal deformity, we had never developed the bracing technique to start to reverse the process. Our existing brace designs at the time were satisfied with halting the progression. Long term studies proved that we had several brace designs that were effective to prevent the need for surgery in about 70% of the cases.
It appears that while we were trying to create a superior brace design to reduce surgical intervention in the United States, that the Europeans had figured out a technique with much better outcomes. They did so by viewing the patient in the transverse plane and treating Scoliosis in a multidisciplinary approach in such a way that they were able to start to reverse the rotational component of Idiopathic Scoliosis, thereby reducing the cobb angle in the traditional frontal plane in which Scoliosis is commonly viewed. When accomplished properly studies have proven that Scoliosis in young patients that have not attained bone maturity can be reversed with a compliant patient. While the permanent out of brace reduction of the Scoliotic curve factor is about 40% of the patient population the more impressive figure is the reduction of the surgical intervention factor by 90% which is considerably greater than the existing braces, that we have been utilizing in the United States for the last 40 years.
While the results are impressive the issue was that in order to get these results the Board- Certified Orthotist would have to commit to an additional two years of formal training to master the technique of utilizing multidimensional (4D) WCR bracing as opposed to the 1-5 day training courses many Orthotists have attended here in the U.S. and in Europe We at Bay Orthopedic were able to commit to this WCR training program and we have several Orthotists that have been able to complete the two-year training and to provide these exceptional outcomes. Of course, no facility can guarantee the outcome because the most important factor is the comfort and compliance of the patient and their family.
Here is where Bay Orthopedic was able to distinguish itself in becoming a Center for Excellence in Scoliosis Brace treatment. We created a program to drive compliance and to eliminate a patient from falling through the cracks and being overlooked during the critical years from being first diagnosed right through to bone maturity and discharged from the program. Our program is almost ten years in the making and it includes a pleasant measuring and evaluation system with active involvement of the patient regardless of age. It includes components to help the patient achieve the maximum results by comfortably addressing social issues, comfort, psychological and physical appearance concerns as well as addressing insurance and economic concerns of the parents.
Simply put our patients never feel like victims of scoliosis. They realize that while they had the misfortune of acquiring the condition that it has a beginning and an end, and that likely they will have a good outcome. It’s an outcome that we can almost guarantee if they follow the program that we have individually designed for them. Each patient is different with different needs and goals and each program is unique to that patient and their family.
Our program is special because of all the added value components that we incorporate to insure and assure our success. We have learned from Dr. Rigo’s teachings that we have nine basic classifications of Scoliosis and roughly an additional 5-6 hybrids of those classifications that are commonly seen. This means that we will make as many as fifteen different brace patterns to attempt to correct the patient’s deformity. Choosing the correct classification for that patient is where the excellence of our program starts. After the patient is evaluated by a WCR Certified Orthotist it is reviewed by no less than four WCR Certified Orthotists to agree that the brace classification will be best suited to correct the scoliotic curvatures. In all likelihood, the classification will be approved by one or two additional Schroth trained therapists before the brace is made. This is done in addition to and in conjunction with the patients prescribing Orthopedist and Scoliosis Therapist, if one has been assigned to the patient. So, the team approach in Bay Orthopedic’s WCR Brace program is second to none.
Bay Orthopedic has agreed to have Grant Wood, C.P.O. fabricate every brace that we provide in the seven states that we have Scoliosis Brace Clinics. We do this for two very important reasons. The first being that there is no one in North America that has more WCR Brace experience than Grant Wood. The second reason is that when our research projects get published there is a consistency of our braces that adds to the credibility of our outcomes. It is this type of research and on-going brace studies that allow us to document that the WCR brace is corrective in design.
Bay Orthopedic in conjunction with Align Clinic of California participate in regular ongoing internal continuing education seminars sharing our unique cases and experiences with the other WCR trained Orthotists throughout the United States and Europe. These seminars regularly expand upon recent techniques that Dr. Rigo has firsthand shared with Grant Wood and members of Grant’s team that reside in Spain not far from Dr. Rigo’s practice.
To round out the Bay Orthopedic Scoliosis Brace experience we are proud to include patient- based Scoliosis Support Groups like the Curvy Girls as well as other Scoliosis Support Programs throughout the country. Here our patients and their parents can find the grass root answers to their concerns about the day to day living and thriving with Scoliosis. In Conclusion
If you are a parent or a patient trying to figure out what the best way is to evaluate the best Rigo Cheneau brace or program for the treatment of Scoliosis you should ask the proposed questions. If you are comfortable with the answers to the following questions, then you probably have picked a good Orthotic facility to work with.
We have been treating Scoliosis at Bay Orthopedic for over thirty years and our staff has been trained in every popular brace design utilized in the United States. We have found that the results that we have gotten with WCR Braces were substantially superior in our estimation simply because we could provide a corrective designed brace rather than the static TLSO and nocturnal braces that we were very familiar with. Using a WCR brace we have been able to treat many curves larger than 40 degrees and those with an apex higher up on the thoracic spine then we were able to treat with convention TLSO brace.
Here is our story
Approximately ten years ago I was introduced to the Wood Cheneau Rigo Corrective design Scoliosis Brace. The practitioner that introduced me to this European style of Scoliosis Bracing was another Board Certified Orthotist named Grant Wood. Grant has been making these braces since 1996 and he was personally trained by DR. M. Rigo himself while Grant lived in Spain. Grant worked side by side with Dr. Rigo for eight years perfecting his knowledge of the Rigo classification techniques and then moved to California after he was married.
While we in the United States always knew that Scoliosis was a rotational spinal deformity, we had never developed the bracing technique to start to reverse the process. Our existing brace designs at the time were satisfied with halting the progression. Long term studies proved that we had several brace designs that were effective to prevent the need for surgery in about 70% of the cases.
It appears that while we were trying to create a superior brace design to reduce surgical intervention in the United States, that the Europeans had figured out a technique with much better outcomes. They did so by viewing the patient in the transverse plane and treating Scoliosis in a multidisciplinary approach in such a way that they were able to start to reverse the rotational component of Idiopathic Scoliosis, thereby reducing the cobb angle in the traditional frontal plane in which Scoliosis is commonly viewed. When accomplished properly studies have proven that Scoliosis in young patients that have not attained bone maturity can be reversed with a compliant patient. While the permanent out of brace reduction of the Scoliotic curve factor is about 40% of the patient population the more impressive figure is the reduction of the surgical intervention factor by 90% which is considerably greater than the existing braces, that we have been utilizing in the United States for the last 40 years.
While the results are impressive the issue was that in order to get these results the Board- Certified Orthotist would have to commit to an additional two years of formal training to master the technique of utilizing multidimensional (4D) WCR bracing as opposed to the 1-5 day training courses many Orthotists have attended here in the U.S. and in Europe We at Bay Orthopedic were able to commit to this WCR training program and we have several Orthotists that have been able to complete the two-year training and to provide these exceptional outcomes. Of course, no facility can guarantee the outcome because the most important factor is the comfort and compliance of the patient and their family.
Here is where Bay Orthopedic was able to distinguish itself in becoming a Center for Excellence in Scoliosis Brace treatment. We created a program to drive compliance and to eliminate a patient from falling through the cracks and being overlooked during the critical years from being first diagnosed right through to bone maturity and discharged from the program. Our program is almost ten years in the making and it includes a pleasant measuring and evaluation system with active involvement of the patient regardless of age. It includes components to help the patient achieve the maximum results by comfortably addressing social issues, comfort, psychological and physical appearance concerns as well as addressing insurance and economic concerns of the parents.
Simply put our patients never feel like victims of scoliosis. They realize that while they had the misfortune of acquiring the condition that it has a beginning and an end, and that likely they will have a good outcome. It’s an outcome that we can almost guarantee if they follow the program that we have individually designed for them. Each patient is different with different needs and goals and each program is unique to that patient and their family.
Our program is special because of all the added value components that we incorporate to insure and assure our success. We have learned from Dr. Rigo’s teachings that we have nine basic classifications of Scoliosis and roughly an additional 5-6 hybrids of those classifications that are commonly seen. This means that we will make as many as fifteen different brace patterns to attempt to correct the patient’s deformity. Choosing the correct classification for that patient is where the excellence of our program starts. After the patient is evaluated by a WCR Certified Orthotist it is reviewed by no less than four WCR Certified Orthotists to agree that the brace classification will be best suited to correct the scoliotic curvatures. In all likelihood, the classification will be approved by one or two additional Schroth trained therapists before the brace is made. This is done in addition to and in conjunction with the patients prescribing Orthopedist and Scoliosis Therapist, if one has been assigned to the patient. So, the team approach in Bay Orthopedic’s WCR Brace program is second to none.
Bay Orthopedic has agreed to have Grant Wood, C.P.O. fabricate every brace that we provide in the seven states that we have Scoliosis Brace Clinics. We do this for two very important reasons. The first being that there is no one in North America that has more WCR Brace experience than Grant Wood. The second reason is that when our research projects get published there is a consistency of our braces that adds to the credibility of our outcomes. It is this type of research and on-going brace studies that allow us to document that the WCR brace is corrective in design.
Bay Orthopedic in conjunction with Align Clinic of California participate in regular ongoing internal continuing education seminars sharing our unique cases and experiences with the other WCR trained Orthotists throughout the United States and Europe. These seminars regularly expand upon recent techniques that Dr. Rigo has firsthand shared with Grant Wood and members of Grant’s team that reside in Spain not far from Dr. Rigo’s practice.
To round out the Bay Orthopedic Scoliosis Brace experience we are proud to include patient- based Scoliosis Support Groups like the Curvy Girls as well as other Scoliosis Support Programs throughout the country. Here our patients and their parents can find the grass root answers to their concerns about the day to day living and thriving with Scoliosis. In Conclusion
If you are a parent or a patient trying to figure out what the best way is to evaluate the best Rigo Cheneau brace or program for the treatment of Scoliosis you should ask the proposed questions. If you are comfortable with the answers to the following questions, then you probably have picked a good Orthotic facility to work with.
- How long was the program of formal training in Rigo Cheneau Bracing not how many years of Scoliosis experience do you have? If the formal training is a week or less, then that should figure into the experience that you are looking for since you only have a small window of opportunity to reverse the scoliosis process.
- Is the brace proven to be 4D corrective or just 3D?
- Is the brace made in the United States and is it guaranteed to be corrective in design?
- Does the Orthotist work by Rigo Classification or Blue Print?
- How does the brace get improved and how does it keep up with the patient’s growth?
- What is the experience of the Orthotic Facility in getting the brace approved by the insurance carrier?
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OUR STAFF:
Michael Mangino C.P.O., L.P.O., C.Ped.- Owner Carol Mangino C.O., L.O. - Owner Vincent Beauman, C.O. LO. Ken Radner C.P.O, Robert D’Arpino C.O Michael Eastwood, C.O., CPOA, C. PED. Ross Mittaga, C.P.O. Will Perdue, C.O., C. Ped Lou McCabe, C.P.O. Glenn Paul C. P. O. Mark Stoddart, C.O.F., ATC Paul Brandt, C.O., C.Ped. Mark A Frank D.O.O. |