Brace Management
We are unable to recommend for or against treatment with a brace for patients who present with an osteoporotic spinal compression fracture on imaging with correlating clinical signs and symptoms and who are neurologically intact.
Rationale
There was only one Level II article studying the effect of bracing.67 This recommendation was downgraded to inconclusive because neither the age nor the level of the fracture being treated was reported. Additionally, this study investigated only a single specific type of brace for all fractures which call into question the generalizability of these results to all braces. While the results were statistically significant, we do not know if they were clinically important (MCII unknown). Based on this single study, there is insufficient evidence to recommend for or against the use of bracing.