Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2006 , Vol 52 , Num 2

Use of Orthoses in Spinal Cord Injury

Nafiz Bilsel 1
1 İstanbul Üniversitesi Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, Ortapedi ve Travmatoloji Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul

Surgical treatment and stable internal fixation is the best treatment of spinal cord injured patients due to thoracolumbar spine fractures. Thus, rehabilitation can be started earlier and some complications (pressure ulcers, vascular and respiratory problems) are prevented. In surgically treated and stabilized patients, spinal orthoses are not necessary after operation. If spinal deformities developed after spinal muscles  weakness in paraplegia, deformities may be corrected by spinal orthoses but most of the patients reject this treatment because it is uncomfortable. Surgical corrections of deformities and internal fixations are the best choice of the treatment especially in pediatric paraplegic patients.  

Keywords : Spinal cord injury, orthoses, spinal orthoses, spinal fractures, stabilizatio