Green Sun Medical, Fort Collins, Colorado, has won a $50,000 grant during a Food and Drug Administration-sponsored Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium for its tech‐enabled spinal brace used to treat patients who have adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
The funds will go toward a pilot study in early 2018, where 30 patients will be monitored using the brace. The study will determine the brace’s effectiveness as a substitute for rigid braces, and evaluate its effectiveness in correcting spinal curvatures. Future goals include establishing if the time spent wearing the brace can be reduced.
Green Sun’s scoliosis brace has modular rings connected by soft fabric that apply continuous pressure on the spine. The device is flexible enough that patients wearing it can move easily and bend over. The brace is also Bluetooth enabled, so physicians and practitioners can get real-time data about how and when the brace is worn, and how effective it is.