Bracing: Tips and Tricks

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"It's the end of the world"
The majority of people think that when they first get their brace, but that’s very far from the truth. What IS the truth?The brace is there to help you like a cast on a broken leg. You’re the same person with the brace as you were without it, so there’s no reason anything should have to change. You’ll still have the same old life, just with a brace along for the ride! The only things that will be different are the way you shop for clothes, a little bit of the way you move, and some other minor lifestyle changes. Words can’t describe how much a positive attitude helps. People will take your lead on how to act about the brace. What lead are you going to give them: it’s the end of the world or hey, no big deal?

Hundreds of SpineKIDS live normal, happy lives with braces and they’re on the message boards to help you through.

What will my brace look like?

If you haven’t gotten it yet, you may be wondering. It depends on what type it is, and there are small variations of each type.

Boston Brace

Image (c) www.bostonbrace.com

Milwaukee Brace

Providence Brace

Charleston Bending Brace

Why wear a brace?
Wearing a brace isn't to make your spine better, as many may think when they first hear they're getting a brace. The purpose of the brace is to stabilize your spine so it won’t get any worse.

The Scoliosis Research Society says it's hard to determine the true success rate of braces because compliance - how many hours you really end up wearing your brace - is an issue. Most braces are successful in stabilization 60-75% of the time, depending on whether the patient wears the brace the prescribed number of hours. Some people ask why doctors even bother with a brace since it might not even work. The answer is something like this: even if progression occurs, that progression may be slowed enough so that the curves never reach surgery level. If curves do end up being at surgery level, chances are that surgery was delayed as long as possible so that your spine was able to grow as much as it could before it was fused. And there are even some cases where curves decrease!

Will I be able to move in the same way?
You’ll have to make some adjustments in the way you move. You won’t be able to bend any part of your body that’s encased in the brace, so you need to bend at the knees. Some people have trouble tying shoes and picking up pencils, but you can get your friends and family to help you out with that. A lot of people are able to participate in gym with a brace on. Although breathing is more difficult during activity, it is possible to run, ride a bike, play some sports, and just be a normal person with the brace on.

The big question…what can I wear with my brace?
Shirts: Sweatshirts/ hoodies are ideal, as is anything baggy. Polo shirts work, and anything stretchy is good too. The brace might start ‘eating your clothes’ and leaving holes in your shirts. To help this, you can stick moleskin (a soft fabric that has a sticky back) to the places that are tearing holes. Moleskin is made by various companies such as Dr. Scholl’s and can be found at groceries and general stores, sometimes where they sell insoles for shoes.

Pants/Skirts: Corduroy and cargo work really for pants. Some people prefer to buy their pants a size or two larger and wear them over the brace, but others wear their regular pants under it (the buttons and zippers that you usually find on jeans bother some people though). Sweatpants are obviously great to wear with the brace, and if you can find some really cute ones, more power to you!

Flowing and swishy skirts also do a fabulous job of hiding the brace, since they’re essentially baggy pants with style.

As for jeans, well, the weird thing is that maternity jeans can really work! If you’re up for something new in the jeans department, check them out. As mentioned some wear their pants over and some under the brace, so that affects what jeans will work. Some people prefer just to forget jeans, but the ones who really love to wear them find ways to get great ones that fit and look good.

Where to Shop: The stores that are most recommended are the Gap, Aeropostale, Old Navy, and Hollister. If you’re looking for great sweats (the best brace clothes!), Walmart has a good selection as does Gap. If you have money to spend, Juicy Couture has really great things, but Juicy sweats can get quite expensive! In department stores (Macy*s, Bloomingdales) ‘Activewear’ sections are the best.

A Note of Encouragement: Shopping for brace clothes isn’t going to be easy. You may have to change your style a little, but you can still incorporate the colors and brands you love into a great ‘brace outfit’. You have to be diligent when you shop for brace clothes. You can go to a zillion stores and only find a couple things, but sometimes you’ll strike gold and find a bunch of outfits. Remember: the fact that you have a brace doesn’t mean you can never wear an awesome outfit again and look cute in it. With persistence, the right combination of clothes, and any clever tricks you discover along the way, you’ll look fabulous.

One Last Word About Clothes: If something makes you feel ugly or fat, don’t buy it, even if it covers the brace. You need to feel great in your clothes.

How do I deal with people in my brace?
A lot of people are afraid kids will make fun of them, think they’re weird, be too sympathetic, or just generally treat them differently when they find out that they wear a brace.

Think about this: what if your best friend told you she/he had to wear a brace? Or if you tapped a random kid in your math class on the back to hand them a paper and they explained to you that plastic thing you hit was their brace? You might be curious and ask questions, but eventually you’d probably forget about it until you were reminded again.

It may seem like the most obvious thing to you, but many kids who wear braces say sometimes people will come up to them and ask whether or not they have their brace on when they’re wearing it!

Friends: Your friends will usually pleasantly surprise you. After all, they’re your friends for a reason, most likely because they’re nice, funny, and caring people. If they act protective of you (only because they care), it’s your job to be honest and say, “You guys, I don’t need any special treatment,” and move on.

Some people don’t want to even tell their friends they have a brace. Probably a bad idea. You need your friends for support, and you need to let them in on this part of your life. What’s there to gain by keeping it a secret? How will they feel if they find out you've been keeping it from them? No matter what horrible reactions you picture in your imagination, things will be better in reality.

Teasing: Unfortunately, one of the facts of life is that people are going to make fun of you. They’ll always find something – your height, weight, hair, skin, grades, and on and on and on. And if they can’t find anything, they’ll tease you for being so perfect. So, in all logic, someone will probably tease you for wearing a brace. The best thing to do is treat it like any other thing they’d tease you for. The tried and true “just ignore it” advice applies here as well. Teasing always hurts, but it will also subside. If not, talk to a teacher or any adult to make sure it stops. Like with anything else, it’ll only be a few jerks who feel the need to make any comments.

A big part of how people react will be your attitude. If you treat the brace like it’s normal and make a few jokes about it (like telling people to punch you as hard as they can in the stomach) people will treat it that way too. If you act like the brace is something to be ashamed of, sometimes they’ll be uncomfortable, won’t know how to act, etc. If you have a good attitude it will make things 1,000 times easier, as any Spinekid will tell you.

But once again, most people will surprise you! A lot of kids and teachers handle everything really well. Life will go on just the way it always has.

What can I do? I can't get comfortable in my brace!
The first few days, or even weeks, of wearing a brace are uncomfortable. You can:

1. Tough it out: Your body needs time to adjust to its new position. You probably aren’t entirely thrilled with your brace, and your body’s not too excited about being pushed around by it either. Nighttime braces are usually somewhat worse than others because they’re over corrective. If you really can’t handle it, you need to make a call to the ortho, because your brace shouldn’t be unbearable.
2. Follow the Schedule: This is an obvious one to most people. It’s very important to follow the rules your doctor set down when you got your brace. Usually it’s something along the lines of increasing your time a couple of hours every day or so. Don’t try too much too soon. Sometimes you may need a day without increase, and that’s okay too.
3. Adjust for eating: For people who wear their brace at mealtime, eating can be a problem. There are two ways to deal with this: one is to loosen the brace while you eat, the other is to eat tiny meals throughout the day.

• Loosen the brace. Sometimes you need to loosen it a LOT, even to the point where you just slap the Velcro in its place without tightening it. Have a marker handy at your bedside and put a dot or a line to show how far you pulled the straps and increase that a tiny bit every night until you’re up to wear you should be.
• Pillows are your friends. Some people say memory foam mattresses or mattress toppers make a world of difference. You can go crazy with pillows – sleep with some under you, more for your head, some people even like them under their arms or legs! Just find the position you feel most comfortable in and go for it. After a while, you won’t need the pillows.
• Tylenol PM or something similar may help out for the first night or two, but don’t overuse sleeping pills.

Attitude…Again!
Attitude is mentioned a few times here, and there’s a reason for that: it’s extremely important! Bracing really is what you make it. If you decide the bracing part of your life is going to be terrible, guess what? It probably will be. ‘Put on a happy face’ speeches sometimes aren’t what you want to hear when you first get a brace, but they’re what you really need to hear.

Continued: 101 Reasons to Love Your Brace!