The effects of orthosis on thoracolumbar fracture healing: A review of the literature

BackgroundVarious methods have been used as a conservative treatment of stable thoracolumbar fracture. Presently, it is controversial, whether the use of spinal orthoses reduces pain and deformity associated with vertebral fracture or not. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of orthoses on vertebral fractures healing in thoracolumbar area.Materials and methodsA search was carried out on Medline, ISI web of knowledge, Google Scholar and Embasco. The keywords used included thoracolumbar fracture; brace, orthosis, and conservative treatment.ResultsTwenty-one papers were selected for final analysis. The quality of the most of the papers was poor, as most of them were retrospective studies with various follow-up periods.DiscussionBased on the results of these studies, it can be concluded that subjects with a fracture of thoracolumbar achieved a high ability to return to their jobs. The use of orthosis did not influence the kyphosis angulation in subjects with stable fracture in thoracolumbar spine. The effects of orthoses would be mostly immobilization, protection and remaining.