Patent ID: 6840916

Claim:
A spinal orthosis comprising, in combination; a) a pair of at least semi-rigid, arcuate side panels configured to fit opposing one another in close-fitting relationship around a wearer's torso, each of said side panels having an anterior edge disposed in overlapping releasably fixed relationship to the anterior edge of the opposing side panel to cover a major portion of the front of a wearer's torso, a posterior edge disposed near the spinal column of the wearer, and at least a vertically spaced pair of horizontally extending slots having a selected length and disposed near, but spaced from the posterior edge; b) a discrete, at least semi-rigid posterior panel disposed beneath a portion of each of said side panels and including a plurality of vertically spaced openings aligned to mate with the horizontally extending slots formed in each of said side panels, said posterior panel having a length including a longitudinal curve selected to conform to the lumbar curve of the wearer; c) at least two fasteners, a respective one extended through one of said horizontal slots in said side panels and an aligned opening in said posterior panel to fix said side panels to said posterior panel.