European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society
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Comparative Study
Electromyographic analysis of trunk-muscle activity during stable, unstable and unilateral bridging exercises in healthy individuals.
Spinal pain can result in unilateral atrophy of spinal muscles. Understanding side-to-side muscle activity during exercises can help clinicians address these deficits. This study determined if variations of bridging exercises specifically activated side-to-side trunk-muscle activity. ⋯ The results suggest that specific exercises (unilateral/unstable) can target specific sides of trunk muscles.
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Review Case Reports
Less invasive approaches for the treatment of cervical schwannomas: our experience.
The purpose of our paper is to illustrate our experience with minimally invasive approaches for the treatment of cervical schwannomas. Moreover, a brief review of the literature was conducted. ⋯ Minimal access procedures are increasingly gaining popularity but their use is poorly described in the treatment of cervical tumors. Less invasive approaches may effectively be used instead of traditional laminectomy in the treatment of cervical tumors, especially schwannomas, providing less iatrogenic traumatism and preventing postsurgical spinal instability. Modern neuroimaging allows adequate preoperative planning and microsurgical techniques provide adequate execution of the surgical act. The procedure has to be tailored case by case considering the specific lesional features and the individual anatomical situation.
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Comparative Study
Improving successful rate of transcranial electrical motor-evoked potentials monitoring during spinal surgery in young children.
This prospective study was to investigate the successful rate of intraoperative motor evoked potentials (MEP) monitoring for children (<12 years old) with congenital scoliosis. ⋯ Low dose anesthesia by either TIVA with propofol or sevoflurane-based mixture anesthesia protocol can help the intraoperative spinal cord monitoring to successfully elicit MEP and perform reliable monitoring for patients below 12 years of age.
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Self-rated activity limitations in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain (cLBP) do not correlate well with performance in traditional tests of impairment (e.g. back strength, ROM, etc.). Tests using more "functional activities" have therefore been recommended as alternative "objective" outcome measures. We examined the relationship between a battery of such tests and self-reported activity limitations, before and in response to physiotherapy, and the influence of psychological factors on the relationship. ⋯ Moderately high correlations (for both absolute and change scores) were observed between the subjective and observed measures of activity limitation. This indicates that to some extent they are assessing the same underlying construct, but it also suggests that each is delivering a certain amount of unique information. Psychological factors explained some of the discrepancy between the two types of measure. Both were responsive to therapy, and their change scores reflected well the patients' global outcome ratings. The two methods of assessing activity limitations should serve to complement one another in the assessment of treatment outcome.
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To present in a single source the relevant information needed to assess spinopelvic balance and alignment, and to estimate the amount of correction needed in a patient during surgical treatment. ⋯ Relevant parameters of sagittal imbalance have been identified and correlated with clinical outcomes. Methods for calculation of surgical correction of imbalance have been proposed, but not validated in patients with mid-term follow-up.