Articles: low-back-pain.
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Review Case Reports
Sacral stress fractures: an unusual cause of low back pain in an athlete.
A case report of a sacral stress fracture causing low back pain in an athlete. ⋯ Sacral stress fractures should be included in the differential diagnosis of athletes with low back pain, particularly runners and volleyball players. To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first report of a volleyball player with a sacral stress fracture. A review of the literature yielded 29 cases of sacral stress fractures in athletes, mainly runners.
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Clinical Trial
The relation between the transversus abdominis muscles, sacroiliac joint mechanics, and low back pain.
Two abdominal muscle patterns were tested in the same group of individuals, and their effects were compared in relation to sacroiliac joint laxity. One pattern was contraction of the transversus abdominis, independently of the other abdominals; the other was a bracing action that used all the lateral abdominal muscles. ⋯ Contraction of the transversus abdominis significantly decreases the laxity of the sacroiliac joint. This decrease in laxity is larger than that caused by a bracing action using all the lateral abdominal muscles. These findings are in line with the authors' biomechanical model predictions and support the use of independent transversus abdominis contractions for the treatment of low back pain.
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J Spinal Disord Tech · Feb 2002
Multicenter StudyPersistent low back pain and sciatica in the United States: treatment outcomes.
Patients with persistent low back pain (LBP) appear to be different in several important ways from patients who have traditionally been classified as patients with acute or chronic LBP, and data on the effectiveness of the treatments prescribed for them are lacking. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the short- and long-term effectiveness of the treatments currently prescribed for these patients. The data reported in this article were gathered as part of a multicenter, prospective, cross-sectional study of patients who were treated for persistent LBP by neurologic and orthopedic surgeons who are recognized specialists in spinal disorders. ⋯ The outcome of surgery for persistent LBP varied from dramatic for one subgroup of surgical patients, to poor for another subgroup of patients. Patients who were selected immediately for surgical treatment improved substantially. Those treated surgically later by study physicians or by physicians not associated with the study fared less well.
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J Altern Complement Med · Feb 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDescription and validation of a noninvasive placebo acupuncture procedure.
To evaluate a simulated acupuncture technique for use in randomized controlled trials assessing the efficacy of acupuncture for low-back pain. ⋯ The simulated acupuncture procedure evaluated in this study represents a reasonable control treatment for acupuncture-naïve individuals in randomized controlled trials assessing the efficacy of acupuncture for low-back pain.
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Treatment for chronic low back pain in primary care has a poor-quality outcome. There is evidence that multimodal therapy is the most successful approach to its management. We tried to evaluate whether giving primary care physicians evidence-based recommendations on therapy of chronic back pain or directly implementing a multimodal program would improve the outcome of patients with low back pain treated in primary care. ⋯ Giving primary care physicians information on the therapy recommended for treatment of low back pain does not lead to any change in physicians' preferred therapy. Multimodal programs for treatment of chronic low back pain should be organized locally, with existing health care providers joining forces to improve the quality of outcome in chronic low back pain managed in primary care.