American Back Society

02/25/2014

http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=65eccea6db96b5081a5a31578&id=bf5ac2d8f1

The random public with chronic pain often suffers distress in response to painful episodes, where athletes often find their pain exposures healthy, fulfilling, and satisfying. The question remains if normally active individuals can gain pain tolerance and coping abilities through athletic training...

02/24/2014

The authors note that lumbar spinal stenosis is the most common reason for older people to undergo spine surgery. They classified neurogenic claudication as a feature most identified with spinal stenosis, described as back or leg pain that worsens with ambulation or prolonged standing and reaches the point where the sufferer cannot continue without resting with the trunk flexed. http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=102

The authors note that neurogenic claudication is a hallmark of lumbar spinal stenosis, but the reliability of clinical impression of claudication has not been studied. The purpose of the study was to determine the reliability of the clinical examination for neurogenic claudication. They found that...

02/17/2014

The authors observed that the number of fused segments appear to be a predictor of treatment failure as these extensive procedures are associated with longer operating time and a greater requirement for transfusions. They note that the 3 patients whose fusions included the sacrum all developed infection and had their implants removed. They found that pelvic instrumentation requires an extensive surgical exposure and is associated with a high incidence of wound complications, including infection, which is partially explained by deficient soft tissue coverage and blood supply, which can interfere with wound healing and can lead to worse results when treating a postoperative infection.
http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=103

The authors evaluated the long-term survival of spinal implants after surgical site infection, in addition to the risk factors associated with treatment failure, analyzing 43 patients who had undergone an instrumented posterior spinal fusion and who developed an acute deep surgical site infection, a...

02/10/2014

The authors report that all types of pain are processed by the same cortical networks, and that loss of a loved one, rejection by someone close, and back pain are processed by overlapping cortical networks causing prolonged stress and leading to any combination of emotional, social, and physical pain.

http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=104

The authors note the results of clinical research over the past several years implicating chronic pain as a disease of the brain in which specific cortical areas are affected, causing significant negative effects upon cognition and behavior, in addition to an accumulation of adverse events and conco...

02/03/2014

Vertebroplasty/kyphoplasty are often very helpful in patients with severe pain not controlled by medication and in which the patient is significantly restricted from activities of daily living. Infections can occur with any procedure, and the surgeon must exercise the same precautions for this procedure as any other procedure with respect to reducing the risk for infection.

http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=105

The authors presented a case series with long-term follow-up of spinal infection after vertebroplasty/kyphoplasty, specifically presenting 9 cases, re a study of 1,307 patients, 6 of whom had postoperative infections and 3 additional patients were referred from other institutions.

01/28/2014

The authors note that herniated discs often show inflammatory changes, which are attributable to neovascularization and healing following injury, which is supported by an increased expression of growth factors in herniated discs in comparison with microscopically normal discs in patients of similar age. They found other reported changes in herniated discs, which include...

http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=106

The authors report their findings that tissue changes in disc herniations differ from those in discs that degenerate without herniation. They studied tissues obtained at surgery from 21 herniated discs and 11 non-herniated discs of similar degeneration, and comparative studies were made of the nucl...

01/23/2014

The editorial staff provide a detailed discussion of the pathophysiology associated with the transition from acute to chronic nonspecific low back pain. They note that although most patients with degenerative spine changes...

http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=107

The editorial staff of this publication developed a comprehensive review of pain of spinal origin...

01/15/2014

ABS E-Knowledge Update January 15, 2014

http://eepurl.com/MsiDj

12/16/2013

This publication offers a better understanding of the relationship between selected medical conditions and exposure to physical and environmental factors occurring in the workplace. Understanding the interaction of these associations and relating them to the cause of symptoms is...

http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=96

When evaluating patients with worker’s compensation claims, we are often asked if a condition is work-related or attributable to a specific event, and we are expected to give an opinion based on careful review of the individual clinical findings, the individual workplace exposures, and the scientifi...

12/02/2013

The authors cited a hypothesis that decompressive surgery could cause a change in pressure at the level of the preexisting missed compression lesions causing...

http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=97

The authors cite six patients with a combination of lumbar and thoracic spinal stenosis, who experienced acute neurologic deterioration after lumbar decompressive surgery. They note that patients with compressive myelopathy due to lower thoracic lesions, particularly T10 to T12/L1 disc levels, pres...

11/21/2013

The authors offer several possible mechanisms for success of this program including that the passage of time when engaged in the referral process could favor recovery. They state that physiatrists may spend more time counseling patients about diagnosis, prognosis and treatment options giving patients a more balanced understanding of their options. Or perhaps, they offer, that a physiatrists may...

http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=98

Variable surgical rates for the treatment of back pain across different geographic regions, in the US and worldwide, point to a lack of consensus for indications for surgery. Furthermore, for many conditions, spine surgery is an elective process, and is only one of several possible treatment option...

11/13/2013

The author summarizes his important message with respect to the clinical problems associated with transitioning a patient from opioids to non-opioids. The prescribing clinician needs to understand and have a specific strategy for safely and effectively tapering or transitioning the chronic pain patient on opioid therapy.

The most important point here is...

http://www.americanbacksoc.org/view/article-detail.php?id=99

The author reports that approximately 100 million U.S. residents have chronic pain. He notes that in the last three decades there has been a fourfold increase in opioid prescribing, associated with a fourfold increase in unintentional opioid overdose deaths and a sixfold increase in substance abuse...