Spine
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A prospective evaluation of the incidence of low back pain in college athletes was undertaken. ⋯ Athletes with lower extremity acquired ligamentous laxity or overuse may be at risk for the development of noncontact low back pain during athletic competition. Female athletes with lower extremity involvement appeared to have a higher incidence of low back pain treatment compared with their male counterparts. Inflexibility of the lower extremities or leg length discrepancy were not associated with future low back pain treatment.
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The influence of ketorolac on spinal fusion was studied in a retrospective review of 288 patients who underwent an instrumented spinal fusion. ⋯ These data suggest that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs significantly inhibit spinal fusion at doses typically used for postoperative pain control. The authors recommend that these drugs be avoided in the early postoperative period.
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Surface electromyographic activities were recorded from bilateral trunk muscles as test participants maintained a 50% maximum, voluntary, isometric, lateral bend contraction to volitional exhaustion. ⋯ The trunk responded to a prolonged, lateral bend contraction by increasing co-contraction as agonist trunk muscles fatigued. It was proposed that the fatigue compromised neural coordination and that the co-contraction served to maintain spine stability.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Functional restoration for chronic low back pain. Two-year follow-up of two randomized clinical trials.
Two randomized, prospective clinical trials involving 238 chronic low back disability patients were carried out. Results at 2-year follow-up are presented. ⋯ The functional restoration program seems effective in various parameters compared with the less intensive programs, but the differences in outcome in the two parallel studies indicate the necessity of testing a treatment program in different settings, in that the statistical variation may be a major factor in results of different studies.
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Reciprocal angulation of vertebral bodies in the sagittal plane in an asymptomatic Greek population.
A prospective study conducted on several roentgenographic parameters of the standing sagittal profile of the spine in an asymptomatic Greek population. ⋯ In the results of this study, a reliable table of reference for roentgenographic parameters in the sagittal plane of the spine was established in an asymptomatic Greek population. The parameters are similar to those used in previous studies. Thus, these data should be considered in preoperative planning and postoperative evaluation of achieved correction during restoration procedures of the spine in the sagittal plane.