title: The effects of orthosis on thoracolumbar fracture healing: A review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Various methods have been used as a conservative treatment of stable thoracolumbar fracture. Presently, it is controversial, whether the use of spinal orthoses reduces pain and deformity associated with vertebral fracture or not. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of orthoses on vertebral fractures healing in thoracolumbar area.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search was carried out on Medline, ISI web of knowledge, Google Scholar and Embasco. The keywords used included thoracolumbar fracture; brace, orthosis, and conservative treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one papers were selected for final analysis. The quality of the most of the papers was poor, as most of them were retrospective studies with various follow-up periods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the results of these studies, it can be concluded that subjects with a fracture of thoracolumbar achieved a high ability to return to their jobs. The use of orthosis did not influence the kyphosis angulation in subjects with stable fracture in thoracolumbar spine. The effects of orthoses would be mostly immobilization, protection and remaining.
authors.affiliation: Musculoskeletal Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan 123456, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karimi
keywords: Fracture; Kyphosis; Orthosis; Pain; Thoracolumbar spine