Spine
-
Systematic review of interventions. ⋯ SMT is no more effective for acute low back pain than inert interventions, sham SMT or as adjunct therapy. SMT also seems to be no better than other recommended therapies. Our evaluation is limited by the few numbers of studies; therefore, future research is likely to have an important impact on these estimates. Future RCTs should examine specific subgroups and include an economic evaluation.
-
Prospective, blinded reliability study of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures in patients with cervical myelopathy. ⋯ All 4 measurement techniques demonstrated a good to moderately high degree of intra- and interobserver reliability. Highest reliability was noted in the assessment of T2-weighted sequences and axial MRI. Our results show that the measurements of MCC, MSCC, and CR are sufficiently reliable and correlate well with clinical severity of cervical myelopathy.
-
Prospective cohort study. ⋯ Self-assessed low physical capacity is a strong predictor for developing nonchronic and persistent LBP among pain-free female health care workers. Future intervention studies should investigate whether increased physical capacity, for example, through exercise training prevents development of LBP among female health care workers.
-
Immunohistochemical and biochemical analyses of the rat intervertebral disc (IVD) tissue renin-angiotensin system (tRAS). ⋯ Our results demonstrate for the first time that the tRAS components necessary to activate tRAS have been found in the normal rat IVD at both mRNA and protein levels. To elucidate the association between tRAS and the process of IVD degeneration, the expression and function of tRAS in the human degenerated IVD should be examined in a future study.
-
Operative technique. ⋯ The reported technique allows wide margins with preservation of roots, and reduction in blood loss and operative time. Indications for posterior-only approach can be extended to resection proximal to S3, when there is minimal pelvic invasion and none or partial involvement of sacroiliac joints. However, the long-term benefits of this technique need to be evaluated.