Articles: back-pain.
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A 67-year-old male presented with a gradually progressive low back pain of 2 years duration. The patient was leading a retired life and there was no history of chronic fever or significant trauma. There was no radiation of pain or any features suggestive of claudication. ⋯ Routine blood investigations were within normal limits. The patient was managed conservatively. He was given a week's course of analgesics and muscle relaxants and then started on spinal flexion exercises, with significant improvement being noted at 6 months follow up.
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Bmc Musculoskel Dis · Feb 2014
Screening of the spine in adolescents: inter- and intra-rater reliability and measurement error of commonly used clinical tests.
Evidence on the reliability of clinical tests used for the spinal screening of children and adolescents is currently lacking. The aim of this study was to determine the inter- and intra-rater reliability and measurement error of clinical tests commonly used when screening young spines. ⋯ Some clinical tests showed good, and some tests poor, reliability when applied in a spinal screening of adolescents. The results could probably be improved by additional training and further test standardization. This is the first step in evaluating the value of these tests for the spinal screening of adolescents. Future research should determine the association between these tests and current and/or future neck and back pain.
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Although back pain is common among older people, limited information is available about the characteristics of these patients in primary care. Earlier research suggests that the severity of back symptoms increases with older age. ⋯ In this study, older back pain patients reported more disabilities and co-morbidity. However, the clinical relevance of these differences for the course of the back pain episode in older patients remains a subject for further research.
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Expectations for recovery are a known predictor for returning to work. Most studies seem to conclude that the higher the expectancy the better the outcome. However, the development of expectations over time is rarely researched and experimental studies show that realistic expectations rather than high expectancies are the most adaptive. This study aims to explore patterns of stability and change in expectations for recovery during the first weeks of a back-pain episode and how these patterns relate to other psychological variables and outcome. ⋯ Decreases in expectancies for recovery seem as important as baseline values in terms of outcome, which has clinical and theoretical implications.