Stress level in adolescents wearing corrective brace for idiopathic scoliosis: study with BSSQ questionnaires

Material and methods The study involved 80 adolescents (71 girls and 9 boys), fulfilling the inclusion criteria: age range between 11.0 and 16.0 years, Cobb angle range between 20 and 45 degrees, wearing Chêneau orthosis for more than 3 months, at least 12 hours per day. The group was analyzed in subgroups according to (1) age: 11.0-13.0 years (n=40) versus 14.016.0 years (n=40), (2) brace wearing time: less than 20h (n=45) versus more than 20h per day (n=35), (3) place of residence: village (n= 34), town (n= 20) or city (n= 26). Maximal angle of trunk rotation (ATR max) was measured using Bunnell scoliometer. Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaires (BSSQ), both the Brace and the Deformity versions were used, the former estimates the stress the patients have whilst wearing brace, the latter estimates the stress induced with body deformation.