Scoliosis is a condition that causes a sideways curvature of the spine. It can affect anyone, but it is noticeable in children and adolescents because this is the time to correct it. While scoliosis is not life-threatening when treated properly and at a young age, it can be a detriment to a child’s everyday life.
The most common way to treat scoliosis is through bracing. Bracing, which as the name suggests, is a fitted brace that goes around the torso to help align their spine correctly. Children are not always the most receptive to wearing something like this, so you as parents must find ways to get them to understand it is for their best interest. Here are some creative or useful ways to help them adjust to their scoliosis brace.
Teach the Family About It
Helping your child adjust to bracing means making it all about a collective process for the family. Getting everyone educated and involved helps your child feel more understood and more likely to wear their brace. When the whole family is committed to supporting the child work through this time in their life, they feel motivated and more confident, so it is vital to foster this in their most intimate connections.
Get Involved Involved in Scoliosis Events
Scoliosis events are a good place to see that they are not alone and that there are plenty of children just like them. The scoliosis experts at align-clinic.com show that many resources are available to help find events or similar activities where children who have scoliosis can meet along with their families. It can be a marathon, a bike event, or just a meet and greet type event, but the point is that when they see and meet others like them, they feel more obliged to wear their brace.
Have Them Wear It Around the House
It might seem like it is not a creative way to help them adjust, but the problem with kids is getting them to follow a routine. If you know how hard it is to get them to brush their teeth every night, then you know how difficult it can be to get them to wear their brace around the house. When they are studying, listening to music, playing video games, or just hanging out, you should get them to wear it to become more accustomed to having it on than not, which will help their progress tremendously.
Show Them Positive Examples of Wearing a Brace
Events and other activities with children who have scoliosis are a good start, but there are plenty of other ways if you are unable to attend for whatever reasons. There are plenty of children and adolescents online who use social media and other platforms to talk about their progress with bracing, and this could be a very positive influence on your child. Seeing others like them that are so open and encouraging about this treatment will make them think twice about its importance and how it can be an empowering thing, not something to be embarrassed about in the slightest.
Make It Fashionable
Medical equipment is often not very stylish, which is a big turn-off to wearing it. When you imagine wearing a brace, you imagine some sterile piece of equipment that a child will hate, but you can help make it a lot cooler than just the stock option the specialist gives you. There are custom plates you can get to help outfit the brace to make it look flashier and cooler, or do it by hand if you have the artistic talent. While your child might not initially want to wear a boring brace to school, once the other kids see it customized, they will think it is pretty cool.
Give Them a Flexible Schedule
Your child must wear the brace as prescribed to recover and improve their spine fully. The amount of time they have to wear the brace can vary from a few hours a day to up to 20 hours, depending on the grade of their curvature. You have to make sure they wear it as long as they need to, but also understand that if they play sports or have extracurriculars, you can make some exceptions to help them continue living a normal life.
While scoliosis in childhood is easily treatable, the notion of wearing a brace may seem off-putting to the kids. It can be hard to make them understand how useful it is and how it will help them fix their condition, so these creative ways to help them adjust to bracing can make it easier.
