title: Lateral electrical surface stimulation (LESS) compliance in adolescent female scoliosis patients.
abstract: This retrospective study of lateral electrical surface stimulation (LESS) treatment for patients with progressive idiopathic scoliosis was performed to document patient compliance in the standard electrical stimulation program and to gain objective data to perform a relative comparison of electrical stimulation and bracing compliance. Forty mothers of adolescent female patients participating in the electrical stimulation program of one of the authors (NK) were interviewed confidentially by an independent observer (SW). Patients whose compliance was rated good or total were thought to have acceptable compliance rates. Overall, 50% showed good or total compliance, 10% fair, 5% poor, and 35% failures. It appeared that the failures tended to exaggerate their symptoms and use "skin irritation" as an excuse to discontinue treatment. The longer patients used the LESS (scolitron) device, the more compliant they became (P less than 0.0). This is opposite to the findings about brace compliance. Confidence of the mother in the device showed a positive correlation (P less than 0.008) with compliance, and a mother's concern of how others would react to her child's scoliosis had a negative correlation (P less than 0.003). From the results of this study, overall compliance appears to be somewhat better for electrical stimulation programs than for bracing programs. However, the high failure rate was both disappointing and surprising.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012600:Scoliosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D013997:Time Factors