Journal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics
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J Manipulative Physiol Ther · May 2011
Validity of the straight-leg raise test for patients with sciatic pain with or without lumbar pain using magnetic resonance imaging results as a reference standard.
The aim of this retrospective study was to assess validity of the straight-leg raise (SLR) test using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results as a reference standard in a group of patients with L4-L5 and L5-S1 lumbar-herniated disks and sciatic pain. The relationship between diagnostic accuracy of this test, age classes, and grade of lumbar disk displacement was investigated. ⋯ Our results indicate low accuracy of the SLR in diagnosis of LDH if compared with MRI results. The discriminative power of the SLR seemed to decrease as age increased; thus, positive and negative results may be less conclusive in older patients.
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J Manipulative Physiol Ther · Jan 2011
Evaluating the relationship among cavitation, zygapophyseal joint gapping, and spinal manipulation: an exploratory case series.
This project determined the feasibility of conducting larger studies assessing the relationship between cavitation and zygapophyseal (Z) joint gapping following spinal manipulative therapy (SMT). ⋯ A future clinical study is quite feasible. Forty subjects (30 in an SMT group and 10 in a control group) would be needed for appropriate power (0.90).
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J Manipulative Physiol Ther · Oct 2010
Validity of weekly recall ratings of average pain intensity in neck pain patients.
Ratings of usual pain over a period of 1 week are commonly used to rate a patient's usual level of pain intensity. This study investigated the validity of weekly recall pain ratings and biasing effects of pain levels on these ratings. ⋯ These results suggest that recall ratings of pain intensity may be valid for use in clinical research and practice on patients with nonspecific neck pain.
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J Manipulative Physiol Ther · Oct 2010
Medicare part B claims for chiropractic spinal manipulation, 1998 to 2004.
The objective of this study was to examine the volume and rate of Medicare Part B claims for chiropractic spinal manipulation longitudinally from 1998 to 2004. ⋯ Medicare Part B claims for chiropractic spinal manipulation increased significantly from 1998 to 2003 and then abruptly declined from 2003 to 2004. Estimates for 2004 are at variance with earlier published estimates.
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J Manipulative Physiol Ther · Oct 2010
Randomized Controlled TrialManipulation or microdiskectomy for sciatica? A prospective randomized clinical study.
The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of spinal manipulation against microdiskectomy in patients with sciatica secondary to lumbar disk herniation (LDH). ⋯ Sixty percent of patients with sciatica who had failed other medical management benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention. Of 40% left unsatisfied, subsequent surgical intervention confers excellent outcome. Patients with symptomatic LDH failing medical management should consider spinal manipulation followed by surgery if warranted.