Does your back bother you a lot?
Are you a medical professional who needs to help your patient obtain a personalized TLSO for support?
1.) The True Purpose of a TLSO
A TLSO is a back brace that helps support a patient’s spine. “TLSO” is an acronym that stands for thoraco-lumbar-sacral orthosis (orthosis is a professional word for brace).
Why is the support of a back brace, such as a custom TLSO, important? – The support that a TLSO can provide is significant because when someone has a fracture or any number of problems with the spine, sometimes improper movement can make things worse. A TLSO can help prevent inappropriate motion by limiting motion in the coronal, sagittal, or transverse motion planes. When improper bending, twisting, or lateral bending is minimized, the patient has a better chance of accelerating the healing process.
A custom TLSO is a brace that can also help reduce a patient’s back pain. Pain reduction alone may be a reason to get quality orthotic support. Patients will routinely tell us that they feel an increased sense of security and reduced pain with their TLSO or other back brace. Reduced pain and increased back support can mean a lot when you have instability and/or pain issues that can drain your time and energy.
2.) Can’t you just use an out-of-the-box TLSO instead?
There are many different types of back braces, but the gold standard for a TLSO would be one that is custom made for the patient. Pre-made braces/supports available on the market were designed to help people and often they do, but there is nothing better than a custom-made brace.
Torsion movements (rotation in the transverse plane) can unfortunately compromise an already injured back. This is a very dangerous type of movement for an injured spine! – A custom TLSO will help minimize this movement and can arguably do better than any type of standard orthosis. – In addition, a commercial spinal orthosis may also provide excessive shear force. (The shear force is basically a push in the horizontal plane on the spinal vertebrae.) This can be problematic when the anterior longitudinal ligament is compromised and the vertebra now has the opportunity to move without adequate resistance from this ligament.
3.) Find a Brace Provider Near You – Chicago Example
If you live in Chicago, for example, you can go to Google and type in “custom TLSO” and “Chicago” (or whatever zip code you’re in, like 60611, for example). This will help you find a brace provider in this area who can help you. – You can also repeat this process for any suburb, whether it is in Chicago or not. This general example will help you whether you live in the United States or abroad.