Developing scoliosis braces
The RSC® Brace as improvement of the Cheneau Brace
The RSC® Brace – The Chêneau brace evolution
The Rigo System Cheneau Brace – short RSC® Brace – is the further development of the original Chêneau brace.
The braces developed by French doctor Jacques Chêneau in 1978 succeeded in correcting the radiographic image, but regularly led to formation of a flat back. The RSC® Brace takes different curvature patterns into consideration. Thus braces can be produced which are specifically adapted to the individual scoliosis pattern and the patient’s body structure.
Scoliosis braces must work in three dimensions
If a brace is well fitted it can prevent the trunk from being further deformed and even achieve considerable cosmetic improvements. However, such improvements are only possible if the three-dimensional trunk deformation with a scoliosis is taken into account.
Most treatment concepts with regard to trunk orthoses provide only slight to moderate success. Usually treatment teams attempted to achieve an optimal corrective effect in the radiographic image with their braces and at the same time to train their patients so that they can wear the brace all day long during the main growth phase.
However, what looked quite good on the X-ray screen did not always render the desired results. Though the curvature was considerably corrected in the radiographic image after the conclusion of treatment, a rib hump was still often recognizable among patients. With some braces even a cosmetic disturbing and ramrod flat back appeared.
That’s because the radiographic image merely depicts the scoliosis in one plane, whereas it is actually three dimensional. Making the radiographic image such a priority in the evaluation of different treatment strategies in fact regularly contributed to the formation of a flat back. This is true for the so-called “Boston brace”, but also for treatment concepts which have been derived from the provision of braces according to Chêneau.
Three-dimensional thinking is the key: The biomechanical mechanisms to correct a scoliosis have to be three-dimensional
The proper correction of a scoliosis is achieved by the three-dimensional mirror effect of the brace: like the deformity but the opposite.
Rethinking braces: Dr Rigo and the RSC® Brace by Ortholutions
The straightening of the radiographic image cannot be objective of a scoliosis treatment, if the patients are nevertheless discharged back home with a stiffened back. At this point Dr Manuel Rigo from Barcelona considered what could be done. He took the Chêneau brace system and improved it.
What emerged was the RSC® (Rigo System Chêneau) Brace. It takes fifteen different curvature patterns into consideration, which allows it to derotate the body much better around the longitudinal axis than the forerunner models.
Furthermore Dr Rigo improved the biomechanical design of the orthoses. In contrast to Chêneau who based his corrections on anatomical principles, Rigo included biomechanical principles based on the therapy in the form of corsets according to Katharina Schroth.
Alongside Ortholutions developed its unique patented CAD CAM technique which enables the reproduction of standardized forms of corsets. Thus braces can be individualized for scoliosis patients based on the type of their scoliosis. The hand-modelled brace models by Rigo are to this day permanently inserted in the reproduction system for scoliosis patients worldwide.
The RSC® Scoliosis Brace is manufactured after the patented CAD CAM method by Ortholutions
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