Articles: low-back-pain.
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To assess the effects of acupuncture and dry-needling for the treatment of nonspecific low back pain. ⋯ The data do not allow firm conclusions regarding the effectiveness of acupuncture for acute low back pain. For chronic low back pain, acupuncture is more effective for pain relief and functional improvement than no treatment or sham treatment immediately after treatment and in the short-term only. Acupuncture is not more effective than other conventional and "alternative" treatments. The data suggest that acupuncture and dry-needling may be useful adjuncts to other therapies for chronic low back pain. Because most of the studies were of lower methodologic quality, there is a clear need for higher quality trials in this area.
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Case Reports Comparative Study
[Extreme sinus bradycardia (30/min) with acute right heart failure under tizanidine (Sirdalud). Possible pharmacological interaction with rofecoxib (Vioxx)].
The case of a 59-year-old healthy woman is described, who developed an extreme sinus bradycardia (30/min) with chest pain and acute right heart failure associated with gastrointestinal symptoms and elevation of the liver enzymes while simultaneously taking tizanidine (Sirdalud), diclofenac (Voltaren), and rofecoxib (Vioxx). The symptomatology resolved promptly after stopping the medication. ⋯ When prescribing Sirdalud, the possible pharmacological side effects and interactions should be taken into careful account.
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Cross-sectional study. Women giving birth at one of two hospitals of northern Sweden from 1 January 2002 until 30 April 2002 were invited to fill in a questionnaire on their obstetric and gynecological history, actual pregnancy, and delivery. ⋯ A majority of pregnant women report LBPP. Parity, LBPP during a previous pregnancy, body mass index, a history of hypermobility, and amenorrhea are factors influencing the risk of developing LBPP during pregnancy.
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J Spinal Disord Tech · Apr 2005
Clinical TrialLimited clinical utility of pain drawing in assessing patients with low back pain.
The aim of this study was to assess the use of pain drawing by studying its ability to identify patients with low back pain and abnormal psychological profile. The intraevaluator repeatability of the penalty point method of scoring of pain drawing was also evaluated. ⋯ Though there are differences in anxiety and depression scores in patients with normal and abnormal pain drawing, the performance characteristics of pain drawing are less than acceptable and therefore limit its use in clinical practice.
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Chronic refractory spinal pain poses a peculiar diagnostic challenge because of multiple putative pain sources, overlapping clinical features, and nonspecific radiologic findings. Diagnostic injection techniques are employed to isolate the source(s) of pain. Facet or zygapophysial joint pain is an example of spinal pain diagnosed by local anesthetic injections of the facet joint or its nerve supply. Diagnostic facet joint injections are expected to meet the cardinal features of a diagnostic test (i.e., accuracy, safety and reproducibility). Accuracy must be compared with a "gold" or criterion standard that can confirm presence or absence of a disease. There is, however, no available gold standard, such as biopsy, to measure presence or absence of pain. Hence, there is a degree of uncertainty concerning the accuracy of diagnostic facet joint injections. ⋯ The evidence obtained from literature review suggests that controlled comparative local anesthetic blocks of facet joint nerves (medial branch or dorsal ramus) are reproducible, reasonably accurate, and safe. The sensitivity, specificity, false-positive rates, and predictive values of these diagnostic tests for neck and low back pain have been validated and reproduced in multiple studies.