Electromyography and clinical neurophysiology
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Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol · Nov 2006
Randomized Controlled TrialA randomized, single blind placebo controlled clinical trial on the effect of continuous ultrasound on low back pain.
Low back pain (LBP) is a very common problem in primary care and a major cause of disability. There is no evidence for the efficacy of therapeutic modalities such as ultrasound in LBP In a randomized, single blind placebo controlled clinical trial, we aimed to evaluate the effect of continuous ultrasound (US) in patients with non specific LBP Of the fifty eight patients recruited, 10 patients (8 women and 2 men) randomly allocated to ultrasound (n=5) or placebo controlled (n=5) groups. The patients were treated by either US or sham-US for ten sessions, three days per week, every other day. ⋯ Before and after treatment, the mean H reflex latency and Hmax/Mmax ratio, right and left side were similar in the groups (p > 0.05), and no significant changes were observed in the treatment groups (p > 0.05). After treatment, the extension and lateral flexion range of motion significantly increased in the US group (p = 0.04), but the back movements in the placebo group did not show significant changes (p > 0.05). The present study supports the significant effect of US on LBP, and suggests that US may improve the functional ability of patients with non specific low back pain.
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Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol · Nov 2006
Transcranial stimulation parameters to elicit motor evoked potentials.
We studied effectiveness of single, paired, and repetitive transcranial electrical stimulation to activate motor cortex in patients during spine surgery. ⋯ This study shows that the intraoperative repetitive transcranial stimulation is the most effective method to activate descending motor tracts under anesthesia.