A Happy Accident: Pandemic-Related Delays Lead Family to an Alternative to Casting for Infantile Scoliosis

When Monica and Stefan McDaniel’s daughter Jeanne was 8 months old and starting to walk, Monica noticed something wasn’t right.
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When Monica and Stefan McDaniel’s daughter Jeanne was 8 months old and starting to walk, Monica noticed something wasn’t right.
When you or a loved one has been diagnosed with scoliosis and your doctor has recommended bracing, you want the best scoliosis brace available. The Boston Brace, a custom-made brace for scoliosis, has been the gold standard for the non-surgical treatment of scoliosis since it was developed more than 50 years ago. Of course, as the top scoliosis brace, the Boston Brace has its share of imitators—braces that are often called “Boston-style” braces, but that aren’t authentic Boston Brace products.
When your child has been diagnosed with scoliosis and is wearing a brace as part of the treatment process, they should be able to continue to participate in most of their regular school and extracurricular activities.
When a diagnosis of scoliosis is made, a doctor may prescribe wearing a brace to prevent a spinal curve from getting worse. Bracing has been shown to be an effective treatment for idiopathic scoliosis, but there are several different types of scoliosis braces to choose from.
Artie Kitchen is a certified orthotist who specializes in pediatric lower limb orthotics among other things at the Boston O&P clinic in Manhattan. In this Q&A, Artie shares how his brother introduced him to the field of orthotics and his personal philosophy of care.
If you know a child or teen with idiopathic scoliosis, you may have heard that wearing a brace does not correct a spinal curve, it merely stops the curve from getting worse.
In fact, many Boston Orthotics & Prosthetics patients have seen an in-brace reduction of the curve in pediatric scoliosis through bracing with the Boston Brace Original, and those results have improved with the Boston Brace 3D®.
Caiden Portz’s smile says it all. “He’s a very kind, calm, sweet-natured kid,” says his mom, Laura. “And, he’s very resilient.”
Resiliency has been key when it comes to Caiden’s journey with a complex form of congenital scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine that occurs when the vertebrae do not form normally before a baby is born.
Twelve-year-old brothers, Caden and Ryan Kim, share many similar characteristics and common interests — they both love to ski, read, build models out of wood and cardboard, and both play the violin. But one thing these identical twins don’t share is a condition known as idiopathic scoliosis, a curvature of the spine with no known cause.