Eliminating some of the drawbacks of conventional bracing.
Several patients who’ve already been fitted with a TornadoSuit™ tell us that it is easily the most comfortable brace they’ve worn.
Conventional bracing for mild to moderate curvatures has several drawbacks. The TornadoSuit™ introduces a scoliosis activity suit rather than bracing.
First, rigid bracing can severely limit the patient’s torso mobility, which can then compromise recreational and other athletic activity. Secondly, although it normalizes after rigid bracing is completed, breathing function can be diminished due to the decreased ability to fully expand the lungs against the brace. Finally, because rigid bracing is often uncomfortable, compliance is generally low, and has been estimated to be as low as 15%.
Unfortunately, bracing is a very necessary component of exercise-based treatments for scoliosis, since gravitational stress can cause the spinal curvature to collapse over the course of a day as spinal muscle endurance declines. Bracing helps complement exercise-based therapies, such as ARC3D, and extends the neuromusculoskeletal effects of the treatment longer into the day.
Therefore, in order to retain the benefits of rigid bracing, while also eliminating some of the drawbacks of conventional bracing, Dr. Morningstar developed the TornadoSuit™ (patent pending) to specifically accomplish this. The TornadoSuit™ is a flexible torso wrap that uses the leg as its foundation. The TornadoSuit™ is made of perforated neoprene, which is far more comfortable than conventional rigid braces. Several patients who’ve already been fitted with a TornadoSuit™ tell us that it is easily the most comfortable brace they’ve worn. Also, because it is a flexible activity suit, it does not prohibit torso mobility like conventional rigid bracing.
The TornadoSuit™ can be fully customized to individual patients. It comes in three main parts that may be specifically configured to varying curvature patterns; therefore becoming a suit, not a brace.
