Articles: back-pain.
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Comparative Study
A comparison of abdominal muscle thickness changes after a lifting task in subjects with and without chronic low-back pain.
Using ultrasound imaging, the abdominal muscles' response to the back extensor muscle fatigue was assessed in subjects with chronic low-back pain (CLBP). ⋯ Ultrasound imaging technique can provide critical information about the effect of fatigue on spinal muscle activation and consequently about the stability of the spine. As a more applicable and easy technique, ergonomists can use ultrasound imaging in musculoskeletal system assessment in worker populations in future studies.
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Recent data show that the thoracolumbar fascia can be a source of pain. However, the spinal neuronal mechanisms underlying pain from a pathologically altered fascia are unknown. The present study aimed at finding out how dorsal horn neurons react to input from a chronically inflamed thoracolumbar fascia. ⋯ One of the prominent findings was the appearance of new receptive fields in deep tissues of the hindlimb. Together with the expansion of the spinal target region of fascia afferents into the segment L3, the appearance of new receptive fields is a possible explanation for the spread of pain in patients with non-specific low back pain.
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Back and joint pain are the most common extraintestinal symptoms reported by patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We assessed the impact of back/joint pain, illness perceptions, and coping on quality of life (QOL) and work productivity in patients with IBD. ⋯ Back/joint pain, illness perceptions, and coping are significant predictors of QOL and work productivity, after controlling for disease activity.
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Hormone replacement remains one of the common therapies for menopause-related pain but is associated with risk of orofacial or back pain. Spinal endomorphin-2 (EM-2) is involved in varied pain and its release is steroid-dependent, but whether increasing spinal EM-2 can inhibit thermal hyperalgesia and inflammatory pain in ovariectomized (OVX) female rats, an animal model mimicking menopause, is not clear, nor is the potential involvement of spinal mu-opioid receptor (MOR). In the current study, we revealed that the temporal decrease of spinal EM-2 is accompanied with OVX-induced thermal hyperalgesia that was dose-dependently attenuated by intrathecal (IT) delivery of EM-2. ⋯ Furthermore, IT delivery of EM-2 did not affect the animals' locomotion or anxiety status. Our findings suggested that IT EM-2 might be a safer analgesia strategy than hormone replacement therapy in reducing risk of orofacial or back pain. However, a long-lasting form of EM-2 with less tolerance is needed to induce sustained analgesia.