The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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The relationship between the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia and low back pain rehabilitation outcomes.
The Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK) is commonly used in clinical practice to quantify levels of pain-related fear of activity or re-injury in patients presenting with back pain. Patients with high levels of kinesiophobia are often considered at greater risk of developing long-term activity limitation and chronicity. There is, however, little evidence to support this assumption. ⋯ The TSK provides no benefit as a screening tool to predict pain, functional and work outcomes following rehabilitation. Measured changes in TSK scores following rehabilitation do not correlate strongly with similar, concordant changes in pain scores, functional levels, or return-to-work outcomes.
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The timing of physical therapy (PT) services and its association with later function and pain are not clear, especially in older adults. ⋯ We found that among older adults presenting to their primary care providers for a new episode of back pain, early referral to PT resulted in no or minimal differences in pain, function, or health-related quality at 3, 6, or 12 months compared with a matched group that did not receive early PT. Secondary analysis show that patients initiating early PT may be somewhat more likely to experience 50% improvement in function at 12 months.
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Lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) is a common, acquired condition leading to disabling back and/or leg pain. Although surgery is common used to treat patients with severe symptoms, there are no universally accepted treatment guidelines. Wide variation in vertebral translation, disc collapse, sagittal alignment, and vertebral mobility suggests this is a heterogeneous disease. A classification scheme would be useful to differentiate homogenous subgroups that may benefit from different treatment strategies. ⋯ A new radiographic and clinical classification scheme for lumbar DS with high inter- and intraobserver reliabilites is proposed. Use of this classification scheme should facilitate communication to enhance the quality of outcomes research on DS.
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Comparative Study
Minimally invasive compared with open lumbar laminotomy: no functional benefits at 6 or 24 months after surgery.
Comparative studies between open and minimally invasive surgical (MIS) approaches for the treatment of spinal stenosis have mainly investigated immediate postoperative parameters. ⋯ Compared with an open approach, MIS lumbar laminotomy gave no clear advantages in longer term functional or pain scores. The MIS group also had patients with inadvertent durotomies and reoperation within 2 years. In any lumbar decompressive surgery, the purported advantages of an MIS approach should be carefully weighed against potential complications. For a relatively simple surgery such as laminotomy, the open approach remains a safe and straightforward option.
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Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) is increasingly popular for the surgical treatment of degenerative lumbar disease. The optimal construct for segmental stability remains unknown. ⋯ Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion augmentation with bilateral posterior fixation increases fusion construct stability and decreases posterior instrumentation stress. The shape or number of interbody implants does not appear to impact the segmental stability when bilateral pedicle screws are used. Increased posterior instrumentation stresses were observed in all loading modes with unilateral pedicle screw/rod fixation, which may theoretically accelerate implant loosening or increase the risk of construct failure.