Articles: low-back-pain.
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The present report describes treatment of enlarged lumbar epidural veins in a patient with Budd-Chiari syndrome presenting with intractable radicular and low back pain. ⋯ Inferior vena cava stenosis related to hypertrophied caudate lobe producing lumbar epidural venous engorgements should be considered as one of the causes of radicular and low back pain. We could obtain a favorable clinical outcome by handling the primary cause of the venous engorgement.
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A systematic search of three electronic databases was done to identify randomized controlled trials on the effect of written or audiovisual information in low back pain. ⋯ Information based on a biopsychosocial model is recommended in primary care to shift patient beliefs on low back pain. Nevertheless, information delivery alone is not sufficient to prevent absenteeism and reduce healthcare costs.
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Population-based telephone survey in Missouri. ⋯ Race differences in diagnosis and surgery may help to explain why African Americans, relative to whites, receive lower workers' compensation medical expenditures, disability ratings, and settlement awards.
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Recently, the presence of a high-intensity zone (HIZ) within the posterior annulus seen on T2-weighted MRI has aroused great interest and even controversy among many investigators, particularly on whether the HIZ was closely associated with a concordant pain response on awake discography. The study attempted to interpret the correlation between the presence of the HIZ on MRI and awake discography, as well as its characteristic pathology. Fifty two patients with low back pain without disc herniation underwent MRI and discography successively. ⋯ All 17 discs with HIZ showed painful reproduction and abnormal morphology with annular tears extending either well into or through the outer third of the annulus fibrosus. The consecutive sagittal slices through the HIZ lesion showed that a notable histologic feature of the formation of vascularized granulation tissue in the outer region of the annulus fibrosus. The current study suggests that the HIZ of the lumbar disc on MRI in the patient with low back pain could be considered as a reliable marker of painful outer anular disruption.
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Trunk stability requires muscle stiffness associated with appropriate timing and magnitude of activation of muscles. Abnormality of muscle function has been implicated as possible cause or consequence of back pain. This experimental study compared trunk muscle activation and responses to transient force perturbations in persons with and without self-reported history of low back pain. ⋯ The likelihood of muscle responses to perturbations was not significantly different between the two groups. The findings were consistent with the hypothesis that LBP subjects employed muscle activation in a quasi-static task and preactivation prior to a perturbation in an attempt to stiffen and stabilize the trunk. However, interpretation of the findings was complicated by the fact that LBP subjects generated lesser efforts, and it was not known whether this resulted from anatomical differences (e.g., muscle atrophy) or reduced motivation (e.g., pain avoidance).