Putting on a brace properly

What’s the best way of fastening a rigid brace (Cheneau or Sforzesco type) by yourself? Is it best to do it standing up, or lying down? And, most important, is it even possible?!

Let’s start by making one thing clear. When a person with scoliosis is standing up, their curve will be more marked than when they are lying down, because in the recumbent position the spine will be straighter as an effect of the absence of the compressive force of gravity.

And this is a good reason to fasten your brace lying down: it means your spine will be   blocked in a straighter position, and held in that position for all the time you keep the brace on .

If, on the other hand, you do up your brace standing up, then you will be blocking your spine in a less corrected position. 

Another good reason for doing up your brace lying down is that you will be able to position it better on your pelvis; basically, before fastening it, you will need to bend your legs, raise your pelvis slightly and slide your body down a bit: this will allow you to position the brace perfectly; furthermore, in this way, you will often find that you eliminate the minor discomfort you can get when your brace doesn’t sit perfectly at certain points of your body.
To begin with it can seem tricky doing up a brace lying down, but in actual fact, if you do it properly, it is the easiest way.

First of all, don’t look at what you’re doing!

This may sound like strange advice, but, if you think about it, in order to look at what your hands are doing you obviously have to raise your head, and this is probably why you are having trouble doing up your brace: after all, in this position, your abdominal muscles will be contracted, and this has the effect of increasing the volume of your tummy, making it impossible to close the fastenings; what’s more, the more you struggle, the more you will raise your head, making the task even more difficult for yourself!

So, it’s important to relax and try doing it the following way: 

Lie down, bend your legs, keeping your feet flat on the floor. Pressing down with your feet, slide your trunk downwards. Now straighten your legs. Remember, you don’t need to look at your hands, or at the straps, as you can easily feel these with your fingers without needing to raise your head. Start by closing the middle one, then, still feeling with your fingers, find and close the bottom one. Feel to see whether these first 2 already need to be tightened, and when you have checked that all 3 are tightly closed, without raising your head, close and secure the sternal fastening, using either the Velco or the screw provided. At this point, if you lift your head and raise yourself up you will find, like magic, that the brace is perfectly closed and that all the black markers are in the right place, confirming that the brace is correctly closed: perfect!

Why not try it? After all, if you can learn to do this by yourself, you can be freer to come and go as you please without needing to ask for help. Lying down really is the way to get the better of your scoliosis!