Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of the Milwaukee brace and its psychological impact and to define whether its use is still acceptable today by a review of literature.
Method. A bibliographic search on PubMed and Medline database using keywords, ‘scoliosis and brace’ was performed.
Results. Milwaukee brace 23-hours wearing protocol was most effective for the treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. However, 23-hours wearing protocol has some drawbacks, and even the patients using thoraco-lumbo-sacral orthosis wore their brace only for around 60% of the time prescribed as their wearing protocol. Our Milwaukee brace part-time wearing treatment was effective, and by its use combined with physical therapy, better results than the natural history were obtained.
Conclusion. With part-time wearing protocol, the Milwaukee brace can survive today as a treatment option for idiopathic scoliosis with thoracic curve or double curve.