The Gensingen Brace

The GBW brace actively reduces the curvature by off-loading the vertebrae three dimensionally to change their shape and alignment. This will reduce the Cobb angle or stop progression of the curves whilst growth completes. Bracing can also help with pain management, improve cosmetic appearance and can also reduce the likelihood of surgery.

Your Schroth Best Practice program, if completed during brace treatment will help to change the length and strength of muscles, this is important for when you wean out of bracing so that your out-of-brace posture is central and balanced and without muscle distortion and you are more likely to keep the improvements made.

Who Can Have the Gensingen Brace?

The Gensingen brace is designed for early onset and adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. Whilst it is still a rigid plastic brace, its design allows it to be highly corrective without excessive bulk to improve the compliance of the patient, thus improving results. It is highly effective in reducing the curvature, improving cosmesis and balance, and reducing the likelihood of surgery.

When growth has finished and the individual is a fully matured adult, the aim of the treatment is to improve posture and to balance the curves, so that the risk of progression is reduced, and to reduce any pain which may be present. At this stage it is not possible to affect the Cobb angle, merely maintain the bony shape.

Why Choose the Gensingen Brace?

Adaptable

Brace treatment can be adapted for mild, moderate and severe Scoliosis.

High Efficacy

Successful evidence-based treatment for early onset and adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis.

De-Rotation

Asymmetric design for optimum correction in all planes, including re-rotation.

Correction

Excellent in-brace corrections which is an indicator for good treatment outcomes.

Improves Posture

Helps improve posture for a more balanced appearance.

Neat Appearance

Excess plastic is trimmed away to ensure the brace is as neat as possible whilst providing good correction.

Doesn’t Impact Independence

Front closing straps allow for independence.

Compatible with Schroth Therapy

Voids allow for Schroth breathing and expansion rather than compression.

Suitable for Adults

Can also be used in adults for postural support and pain relief.

Driven by Cutting Edge Technology

Advanced CAD/CAM technology allows for standardisation and eliminates manufacturing variances and human error.

Comfort

The brace has been designed to be comfortable and tolerated for long periods utilising the Schroth principles to guide movement within the brace.

Evidence for the use of Corrective Bracing or Cheneau Style Bracing

The below links include various studies and papers detailing evidence for the use of Corrective or Cheneau Style Bracing, including the Gensingen Brace.

Rehabilitation of adolescent patients with scoliosis–what do we know? A review of the literature Hans-Rudolf Weiss 1 PMID: 14713584 DOI: 0.1080/13638490310001636790. 2003.

[Conservative treatment of idiopathic scoliosis with physical therapy and orthoses] [Article in German] H-R Weiss 1 PMID: 12607080 DOI: 10.1007/s00132-002-0430-x. 2003.

Discrepancy in clinical versus radiological parameters describing deformity due to brace treatment for moderate idiopathic scoliosis Tomasz Kotwicki 1, Edyta Kinel, Wanda Stryla, Andrzej Szulc Affiliations expand PMID: 18053172 PMCID: PMC2222598 DOI: 10.1186/1748-7161-2-18. 2007.

Biomechanical action of a corrective brace on thoracic idiopathic scoliosis: Cheneau 2000 orthosis Tomasz Kotwicki 1, Jacques Cheneau PMID: 18465398 DOI: 10.1080/17483100801905744. 2008.

Weiss HR, Kleban A. Development of CAD/CAM Based Brace Models for the Treatment of Patients with Scoliosis-Classification Based Approach versus Finite Element Modelling. Asian Spine J. 2015;9(5):661-667. 2015

Braces for idiopathic scoliosis in adolescents Stefano Negrini 1, Silvia Minozzi, Josette Bettany-Saltikov, Nachiappan Chockalingam, Theodoros B Grivas, Tomasz Kotwicki, Toru Maruyama, Michele Romano, Fabio Zaina PMID: 26086959 PMCID: PMC10616811 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006850.pub3. 2015.

A Prospective Cohort Study of AIS Patients with 40° and More Treated with a Gensingen Brace (GBW): Preliminary Results Hans-Rudolf Weiss 1, Nicos Tournavitis 2, Sarah Seibel 1, Alexander Kleban 3 Affiliations expand PMID: 29399229 PMCID: PMC5759097 DOI: 10.2174/1874325001711011558. 2017

Weiss HR, Seibel S, Kleban, Tournavatis N, A Prospective Cohort Study of AIS Patients with 40° and More Treated with a Gensingen Brace (GBW): Preliminary Results. Open Orthopaedic Journal 2017 Volume: 11: Suppl-9, M8: 1558 -1567 DOI: 10.2174/1874325001711011558 Weiss HR. Bracing can lead to a persistent correction in the treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A case report. Hard Tissue 2014 Apr 18;3(1):8. 2017

Effect of the Chêneau Brace in the Natural History of Moderate Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis in Girls: Cohort Analysis of a Selected Homogenous Population of 100 Consecutive Skeletally Immature Patients Panagiotis Korovessis 1, Vasileios Syrimpeis 1, Vasileios Tsekouras 2, Konstantinos Vardakastanis 1, Peter Fennema 3 Affiliations expand PMID: 30122386 DOI: 10.1016/j.jspd.2018.01.006. 2018

Screening for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Systematic Evidence Review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force [Internet] John Dunn 1, Nora B Henrikson 1, Caitlin C Morrison 1, Matt Nguyen 1, Paula R Blasi 1, Jennifer S Lin 1 Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2018 Jan. Report No.: 17-05230-EF-1. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Evidence Syntheses, formerly Systematic Evidence Reviews. Affiliations expand PMID: 29638297 Bookshelf ID: NBK493367. 2018

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Bracing Success Is Influenced by Time in Brace: Comparative Effectiveness Analysis of BrAIST and ISICO Cohorts Lori A Dolan 1, Sabrina Donzelli 2, Fabio Zaina 2, Stuart L Weinstein 1, Stefano Negrini 2 3 4 Affiliations expand PMID: 32205704 DOI: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000003506. 2020.

Tournavitis N, Çolak TK, Voutsas C. Effect of Cheneau style braces on vertebral wedging amongst individuals with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. S Afr J Physiother. 2021 Dec 17;77(2):1617. doi: 10.4102/sajp.v77i2.1617. PMID: 34966856; PMCID: PMC8689379. 2021

Lorenz Wanke-Jellinek, MD, Alexander Krenauer, MD, Christoph Wuertinger, MD,
Bastian Storzer, Florian Haasters, MD, and Christoph Mehren, MD. Predictive Parameters for Cheneau Brace ˆ Efficacy in Patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. 2022

Stefano Negrini, Francesca Di Felice, Francesco Negrini, Giulia Rebagliati, Fabio Zaina, Sabrina Donzelli. Predicting fnal results of brace treatment of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis: frst out‑of‑brace radiograph is better than in‑brace radiograph—SOSORT 2020 award winner. 2022