Articles: low-back-pain.
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Antagonistic trunk muscle activity is normally required to stabilize the spine. A lumbosacral orthosis (LSO) might reduce the need for this antagonistic activity by providing passive stiffness to the trunk and increasing spine stability. The maximum reduction in trunk muscle EMG and in the resultant spine compression force due to the LSO was estimated using a biomechanical model. ⋯ The resultant spine compression force averaged across all tasks decreased by only 355 N. A much larger variance of the experimental data precluded the detection of these effects at statistically significant levels. However, the small effects size does not necessarily exclude the possibility of functional benefits of slightly reducing muscle activity in patients with low back pain.
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In 2001, several myths of low back pain still were alive in the general population in Norway, myths that were not in concordance with current guidelines. ⋯ In Norwegian general practitioners and physiotherapists, Deyo's 7 myths mostly seem to be dead and buried. However, it does not seem that this has extended to the public yet, as many myths still are alive in the general population.
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To assess the report of low back pain (LBP) over 1 year and its predictors in individuals reporting symptoms during an initial cross-sectional survey. ⋯ In this community-based study, LBP symptoms after 1 year are common and symptoms of those experiencing LBP at follow up do not improve over time. Predictors of experiencing LBP and of LBP symptoms after 1 year included baseline pain characteristics and psychosocial factors.
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This study investigated the prevalence of back pain, disability, and, of most importance, the presence of misconceptions about low back pain (LBP), its diagnosis and treatment in a bicultural community sample (Belgium). Using the Graded Chronic Pain Scale [Pain 50 (1992) 133] persons were classified according to pain intensity and disability in five subgroups. The interrelationship between LBP beliefs and these five subgroups was also investigated. ⋯ The least misconceptions were found to exist in participants with mild LBP without disability. It is suggested that recovery from an episode of acute low back pain is an active process that involves a correction of beliefs about harm, about the need to restrict physical activities and about medical diagnosis and cure. Finally, it is argued that community actions may be useful to correct LBP myths in order to prevent the development of long-term disability due to LBP.