European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society
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Impaired muscle function and lumbar proprioception have been observed in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) but those have not been studied in LSS patients with age-matched controls. We assessed lumbar movement perception and paraspinal and biceps brachii (BB) muscle responses during sudden upper limb loading in age-matched healthy subjects and patients with LSS. ⋯ The observed impairments in lumbar proprioception and activation of paraspinal and upper limb muscles indicate an extensive loss of both sensory and motor functions in LSS. The main new finding was decreased anticipatory muscle activation during expected upper limb loading reflecting involvement of central movement control mechanisms.
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Intraobserver and interobserver reliabilities of the several different methods to measure lumbar lordosis have been reported. However, it has not been studied sofar in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). ⋯ These results are the first to provide a reliability analysis of different global lumbar lordosis measurement methods in AS. The findings in this study demonstrated that the Cobb L1-L5 method is reliable for measuring the global lumbar lordosis in AS.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Antibiotic treatment in patients with chronic low back pain and vertebral bone edema (Modic type 1 changes): a double-blind randomized clinical controlled trial of efficacy.
Modic type 1 changes/bone edema in the vertebrae are present in 6 % of the general population and 35-40 % of the low back pain population. It is strongly associated with low back pain. The aim was to test the efficacy of antibiotic treatment in patients with chronic low back pain (>6 months) and Modic type 1 changes (bone edema). ⋯ The antibiotic protocol in this study was significantly more effective for this group of patients (CLBP associated with Modic I) than placebo in all the primary and secondary outcomes.
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With progression of cervicothoracic kyphosis (CTK), ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients suffer functional disability. Surgical correction still poses neurologic risks, while evidence of an ideal technique preventing its complications is weak. ⋯ With the non-instrumented HTC-based technique, average CBVA correction of 25° was achieved and all patients were ambulatory at follow-up. However, regarding translation at the osteotomy, loss of correction, morbidity of the HTC and lack of control at the osteotomy instrumentation-based correction and instrumented fusion seem to be preferable.