Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA
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Kyphoplasty has been shown to restore vertebral height and sagittal alignment. Proponents of vertebroplasty have recently demonstrated that many vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) are mobile and positional correction can lead to clinically significant height restoration. The current investigation tested the hypothesis that positional maneuvers do not achieve the same degree of vertebral height correction as kyphoplasty balloon tamps for the reduction of low-energy VCFs. ⋯ Although this study supports the concept that many VCFs can be moved with positioning, balloon kyphoplasty enhanced the height reduction >4.5-fold over the positioning maneuver alone and accounted for over 80% of the ultimate reduction. If height restoration is the goal, kyphoplasty is clearly superior in most cases to the positioning maneuver alone.