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Background:

Adverse drug reactions are important determinants of inpatient and outpatient morbidity. Thiocolchicoside is a semisynthetic derivate of naturally occurring colchicoside, which is largely used in humans as a centrally acting muscle relaxant. Epileptic seizures after thiocolchicoside intake have been reported in individuals with a history of epilepsy, acute brain injury or possible blood–brain barrier disruption.

Case report:

We report the case of a 66-year-old male patient presenting a sudden epileptic seizure temporally related to the intake of thiocolchicoside for muscle contracture and pain. The probably causes of the seizures were thiocolchicoside intake and cerebral microhemorrhages attributed to cerebral amyloid angiopathy.

Discussion:

Drugs only rarely cause focal seizures. Our case indicates that thiocolchicoside can precipitate seizures in predisposed patients, and that its use should be avoided in patients with brain diseases (and therefore lower seizure thresholds) or blood–brain barrier disruption. This information should be provided in the drug package insert.

The discovery of new uses for older, clinically approved drugs is one way to expedite drug development for cancer. Thiocolchicoside, a semisynthetic colchicoside from the plant Gloriosa superba, is a muscle relaxant and used to treat rheumatologic and orthopedic disorders because of its analgesic and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. Given that activation of the transcription factor NF-κB plays a major role in inflammation and tumorigenesis, we postulated that thiocolchicoside would inhibit NF-κB and exhibit anticancer effects through the modulation of NF-κB–regulated proteins. We show that thiocolchicoside inhibited proliferation of leukemia, myeloma, squamous cell carcinoma, breast, colon, and kidney cancer cells. Formation of tumor colonies was also suppressed by thiocolchicoside. The colchicoside induced apoptosis, as indicated by caspase-3 and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage, and suppressed the expression of cell survival [e.g., Bcl-2, X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP), MCL-1, bcl-xL, cIAP-1, cIAP-2, and cFLIP] proteins. Cell proliferation biomarkers such as c-MYC and phosphorylation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase and glycogen synthase kinase 3β were also blocked by thiocolchicoside. Because most cell survival and proliferation gene products are regulated by NF-κB, we studied the effect of thiocolchicoside on this transcription factor and found that thiocolchicoside inhibited NF-κB activation, degradation of inhibitory κBα (IκBα), IκBα ubiquitination, and phosphorylation, abolished the activation of IκBα kinase, and suppressed p65 nuclear translocation. This effect of thiocolchicoside on the NF-κB pathway led to inhibition of NF-κB reporter activity and cyclooxygenase-2 promoter activity. Our results indicate that thiocolchicoside exhibits anticancer activity through inhibition of NF-κB and NF-κB–regulated gene products, which provides novel insight into a half-century old drug.

Botulinum toxin has become an important component of standard practice in the management of children with hypertonia (spasticity or dystonia). Following intramuscular injection, the neurotoxin causes a reversible neuromuscular blockade, creating both muscle weakness and a reduction in tone. Frequent goals of botulinum toxin injection include improving motor function, promoting longitudinal muscle growth and decreasing painful muscle spasms. The neuromuscular blockade lasts for three to six months on average. The clinical effect may last longer and the safety profile is excellent. Strong evidence, including randomized trials, exists for the efficacy of botulinum toxin in the management of lower and upper extremity tone in children. Common clinical indications include spastic equinus (toe walking), hip subluxation, upper extremity spasticity associated with hemiplegia or quadriplegia, and multilevel leg muscle injections in children with spastic diplegia.

Objective

Determine the effects of body-weight-supported treadmill training (BWSTT) and tilt-table standing (TTS) on clinically assessed and self-reported spasticity, motor neuron excitability, and related constructs in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design

Random cross-over.

Methods

Seven individuals with chronic SCI and spasticity performed thrice-weekly BWSTT for 4 weeks and thrice-weekly TTS for 4 weeks, separated by a 4-week wash-out. Clinical (Modified Ashworth Scale, Spinal Cord Assessment Tool for Spinal reflexes) and self-report (Spinal Cord Injury Spasticity Evaluation Tool, Penn Spasm Frequency Scale) assessments of spasticity, quality of life (Quality of Life Index Spinal Cord Injury Version – III), functional mobility (FIM Motor Subscale), plus soleus H-reflex were measured at baseline, after the first training session and within 2 days of completing each training condition.

Results

In comparison with TTS, a single session of BWSTT had greater beneficial effects for muscle tone (effect size (ES) = 0.69), flexor spasms (ES = 0.57), and the H/M ratio (ES = 0.50). Similarly, flexor spasms (ES = 0.79), clonus (ES = 0.66), and self-reported mobility (ES = 1.27) tended to benefit more from 4 weeks of BWSTT than of TTS. Participation in BWSTT also appeared to be favorable for quality of life (ES = 0.50). In contrast, extensor spasms were reduced to a greater degree with TTS (ES = 0.68 for single session; ES = 1.32 after 4 weeks).

Conclusion

While both BWSTT and TTS may provide specific benefits with respect to spasticity characteristics, data from this pilot study suggest that BWSTT may result in a broader range of positive outcomes.

Background

Low back pain and its associated incapacitating effects constitute an important healthcare and socioeconomic problem, as well as being one of the main causes of disability among adults of working age. The prevalence of non-specific low back pain is very high among the general population, and 60–70% of adults are believed to have suffered this problem at some time. Nevertheless, few randomised clinical trials have been made of the efficacy and efficiency of acupuncture with respect to acute low back pain. The present study is intended to assess the efficacy of acupuncture for acute low back pain in terms of the improvement reported on the Roland Morris Questionnaire (RMQ) on low back pain incapacity, to estimate the specific and non-specific effects produced by the technique, and to carry out a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Methods/Design

Randomised four-branch controlled multicentre prospective study made to compare semi-standardised real acupuncture, sham acupuncture (acupuncture at non-specific points), placebo acupuncture and conventional treatment. The patients are blinded to the real, sham and placebo acupuncture treatments. Patients in the sample present symptoms of non specific acute low back pain, with a case history of 2 weeks or less, and will be selected from working-age patients, whether in paid employment or not, referred by General Practitioners from Primary Healthcare Clinics to the four clinics participating in this study.

In order to assess the primary and secondary result measures, the patients will be requested to fill in a questionnaire before the randomisation and again at 3, 12 and 48 weeks after starting the treatment. The primary result measure will be the clinical relevant improvement (CRI) at 3 weeks after randomisation. We define CRI as a reduction of 35% or more in the RMQ results.

Discussion

This study is intended to obtain further evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture on acute low back pain and to isolate the specific and non-specific effects of the treatment.

In over 400 treatments with procaine intravenously, moderate to good improvement was noted in about 60 per cent of patients with osteoarthritis and radiculitis. Definite improvement after a single treatment was noted occasionally, but more often relief was not obtained until six to eight treatments had been given. Symptoms due to osteoarthritic changes in peripheral joints did not respond as well as did those due to spinal arthritis.

Curare relieves some of the pain of arthritis due to muscle spasm, but does not bring improvement in motion of the small joints, such as those of the fingers.

Preliminary experience with a new synthetic drug, 3-ortho-toloxy-1, 2-propanediol (Tolserol®), which produces muscular relaxation differing from that induced by curare, suggests further clinical trial.

Intra-articular acidification by injection relieved pain in about 50 per cent of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.

Three hundred and sixty-five patients were given tetracaine intravenously for various types of pain and neuromuscular tension. In the treatment of pain, myositis, muscle spasm, and visceral spasm most patients were relieved. Best results were obtained in syndromes in which pain was associated with muscle spasm, such as in pain in the lower part of the back and scalenus anticus syndromes. The effects of tetracaine intravenously are those of analgesia, vasodilatation, and relaxation of spastic muscle. Sixty-five of the patients were treated for neuromuscular tension, and there was good relaxation and increased comfort. Alcoholics were relieved of some of the tension symptoms and may have been helped to resist the desire to drink. Of 14 patients with premenstrual tension, 13 had complete relief. Eight patients with mixed anxiety and tension states also responded well.

Toxic and allergic reactions were negligible, and other side effects were infrequent and of no consequence.

Executive Summary

Objective

To conduct an evidence-based analysis of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of intrathecal baclofen for spasticity.

The Technology

Spasticity is a motor disorder characterized by tight or stiff muscles that may interfere with voluntary muscle movements and is a problem for many patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord injury (SCI), cerebral palsy (CP), and acquired brain injury (ABI).(1). Increased tone and spasm reduces mobility and independence, and interferes with activities of daily living, continence and sleep patterns. Spasticity may also be associated with significant pain or discomfort (e.g., due to poor fit in braces, footwear, or wheelchairs), skin breakdown, contractures, sleep disorders and difficulty in transfer.

Goals of treatment are to decrease spasticity in order to improve range of motion, facilitate movement, reduce energy expenditure and reduce risk of contractures. Existing treatments include physical therapy, oral medications, injections of phenol or botulinum toxin, or surgical intervention.

Baclofen is the oral drug most frequently prescribed for spasticity in cases of SCI and MS.(1) Baclofen is a muscle relaxant and antispasticity drug. In the brain, baclofen delivered orally has some supraspinal activity that may contribute to clinical side effects. The main adverse effects of oral baclofen include sedation, excessive weakness, dizziness, mental confusion, and somnolence.(2) The incidence of adverse effects is reported to range from 10% to 75%.(2) Ochs et al. estimated that approximately 25-30% of SCI and MS patients fail to respond to oral baclofen.(3;4)

Adverse effects appear to be dose-related and may be minimized by initiating treatment at a low dose and gradually titrating upwards.(2) Adverse effects usually appear at doses >60 mg/day.(2) The rate of treatment discontinuation due to intolerable adverse effects has generally been reported to range from 4% to 27%.(2)

When baclofen is administered orally, only a small portion of the original dose crosses the blood brain barrier and enters the central nervous system (CNS) fluid, which is the site of drug action. In order to bypass the oral route, baclofen may be administered intrathecally by infusion directly to the CNS.

Candidates for intrathecal baclofen infusion are patients with spasticity who have intractable spasticity uncontrolled by drug therapy, or who experience intolerable side effects from oral baclofen.

Advantages of intrathecal baclofen infusion are:

Direct drug administration to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)

The central side effects of oral baclofen, such as drowsiness or confusion, appear to be minimized with intrathecal administration.

The intrathecal delivery of baclofen concentrates the drug in the CSF at higher levels than those attainable via the oral route.

Intrathecal administration can use concentrations of baclofen of less than one hundredth of those used orally.(5)

Adjustable/programmable continuous infusion makes it possible to finely titrate patients’ doses and to vary the doses over the hours of the day. For example, the dose can be relatively low to give the patients the extensor tone needed for ambulation during the day and increased at night, thereby improving quality of sleep.

Reversible (in contrast to surgery).

A patient who is a candidate for intrathecal baclofen infusion must have no contraindications to the insertion of an intrathecal catheter (e.g., anticoagulant therapy, coagulopathy, local or systemic infection, anatomical abnormality of the spine).

Review Strategy

The Medical Advisory Secretariat reviewed the literature to assess the effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness of intrathecal baclofen to treat patients who have intractable spasticity uncontrolled by drug therapy, or who experience intolerable side effects to oral baclofen.

The Medical Advisory Secretariat used its standard search strategy to retrieve international health technology assessments and English-language journal articles from selected databases.

Summary of Findings

Level 2 evidence supports the effectiveness of intrathecal baclofen infusion for the short-term reduction of severe spasticity in patients who are unresponsive or cannot tolerate oral baclofen

Level 3 evidence supports the effectiveness of intrathecal baclofen for the long-term reduction of severe spasticity in patients who are unresponsive or cannot tolerate oral baclofen

Level 4 qualitative evidence demonstrates functional improvement for patients who are unresponsive or cannot tolerate oral baclofen

Intrathecal baclofen is cost-effective with costs which may or may not be avoided in the Ontario health system

True functional use remains to be determined

Spasticity, a classical clinical manifestation of an upper motor neuron lesion, has been traditionally and physiologically defined as a velocity dependent increase in muscle tone caused by the increased excitability of the muscle stretch reflex. Clinically spasticity manifests as an increased resistance offered by muscles to passive stretching (lengthening) and is often associated with other commonly observed phenomenon like clasp-knife phenomenon, increased tendon reflexes, clonus, and flexor and extensor spasms. The key to the increased excitability of the muscle stretch reflex (muscle tone) is the abnormal activity of muscle spindles which have an intricate relation with the innervations of the extrafusal muscle fibers at the spinal level (feed-back and feed-forward circuits) which are under influence of the supraspinal pathways (inhibitory and facilitatory). The reflex hyperexcitability develops over variable period of time following the primary lesion (brain or spinal cord) and involves adaptation in spinal neuronal circuitries caudal to the lesion. It is highly likely that in humans, reduction of spinal inhibitory mechanisms (in particular that of disynaptic reciprocal inhibition) is involved. While simply speaking the increased muscle stretch reflex may be assumed to be due to an altered balance between the innervations of intra and extrafusal fibers in a muscle caused by loss of inhibitory supraspinal control, the delayed onset after lesion and the frequent reduction in reflex excitability over time, suggest plastic changes in the central nervous system following brain or spinal lesion. It seems highly likely that multiple mechanisms are operative in causation of human spasticity, many of which still remain to be fully elucidated. This will be apparent from the variable mechanisms of actions of anti-spasticity agents used in clinical practice.

Abstract

Objective

To introduce and describe a standardized protocol for a functional, pre-manipulative assessment procedure for spinal pain.

Design

Two brief case reports and the clinical utility of this maneuver is compared with another commonly used orthopedic test in a retrospective study involving 50 subjects.

Setting

Northwestern Health Sciences University's Bloomington Natural Care Center.

Results

The use of the proposed pre-manipulative orthopedic assessment maneuver may have clinical utility for patients presenting with back and/or leg pain. There were differences in the subjective responses of some subjects between the use of the torsion test and the straight leg raise and some results that suggest a correlation between the two tests.

Conclusion

The test described may be useful as an additional assessment procedure since it closely reflects those spinal stressors that are commonly present when manual therapy is being employed. Additionally, the torsion test may have practical utility since it can be modified to reflect different techniques employed by different health care providers.

OBJECTIVES—To compare clinical effectiveness and health related quality of life in patients with severe spasticity who received intrathecal baclofen or a placebo.
METHODS—In a double blind, randomised, multicentre trial 22 patients were followed up during 13 weeks and subsequently included in a 52 week observational longitudinal study. Patients were those with chronic, disabling spasticity who did not respond to maximum doses of oral baclofen, dantrolene, and tizanidine. After implantation of a programmable pump patients were randomly assigned to placebo or baclofen infusion for 13 weeks. After 13 weeks all patients received baclofen. Clinical efficacy was assessed by the Ashworth scale, spasm score, and self reported pain, and health related quality of life by the sickness impact profile (SIP) and the Hopkins symptom checklist (HSCL).
RESULTS—At three months the scores of the placebo and baclofen group differed slightly for the spasm score (effect size=0.20) and substantially for the Ashworth scale (effect size=1.40) and pain score (effect size=0.94); health related quality of life showed no significant differences. Three months after implantation the baclofen group showed a significant, substantial improvement on the SIP "physical health", "mental health", "mobility", and "sleep and rest" subscales and on the HSCL mental health scale; patients receiving placebo showed no change. After one year of baclofen treatment significant (P<0.05) improvement was found on the SIP dimensions "mobility" and "body care and movement" with moderate effect sizes. Improvement on the SIP subscale "physical health" (P<0.05; effect size 0.86), the SIP overall score (without "ambulation"), and the "physical health" and overall scale of the HSCL was also significant, with effect sizes >0.80. Changes in health related behaviour were noted for "sleep and rest" and "recreation and pastimes" (P<0.01, P<0.05; effect size 0.95 and 0.63, respectively). Psychosocial behaviour showed no improvement.
CONCLUSIONS—Intrathecal baclofen delivered by an implanted, programmable pump resulted in improved self reported quality of life as assessed by the SIP, and HSCL physical health dimensions also suggest improvement.



A 21 year old female patient developed Südeck's atrophy of the right foot secondary to a chronic Achilles tendinitis. The condition was complicated by the occurrence of painful muscle spasms in the right leg and incontinence of urine. The spasms had characteristics of both a tonic ambulatory foot response and a spinal flexor reflex. The movements disappeared during sleep. Regional anaesthesia of the right leg made the spasms disappear both in and outside the region of anaesthesia. Backaveraging of the EEG showed the involuntary spasms to be preceded by a cortical potential similar to a readiness potential, indicating a cortical potential similar to a readiness potential, indicating a cortical component in the pathophysiology of the muscle spasms complicating Südeck's atrophy.

Abstract

Purpose

Exercise therapy has become an expected modality in the treatment of low back pain but there are no clear evidence based guidelines available. The purpose of this review is to analyze the available literature in regard to demonstrated efficacy of various types of exercise therapy for low back pain.

Method

A search was made on PubMed for exercise and low back pain that found 28 citations in English including 23 randomized controlled clinical trials published between 1993 and 2004 and 5 literature reviews published in 2000 through 2002.

Results

Previous reviews have stated that the literature does not support the use of exercise therapy for acute low back pain but it does give qualified support to exercise therapy for chronic low back pain. More recent studies have divided subjects based on functional rather than temporal characteristics, specifically, taking into consideration the directional preference of the patient and addressing muscle groups that augment stabilization of the “neutral zone.” Such approaches yield effective clinical response in both acute and chronic patients within 2 weeks with 6 visits and provide lasting benefit up to 3 years after intervention.

Conclusions

By identifying specific functional characteristics of individual patients, providers should be able to design exercise therapies that will provide more effective clinical intervention for low back pain patients.

Pharmacological treatment of pain in multiple sclerosis (MS) is challenging due to the many underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. Few controlled trials show adequate pain control in this population. Emerging evidence suggests that pain might be more effectively classified and treated according to symptoms and underlying mechanisms. The new mechanism-based classification we propose here distinguishes nine types of MS-related pain: trigeminal neuralgia and Lhermitte’s phenomenon (paroxysmal neuropathic pain due to ectopic impulse generation along primary afferents), ongoing extremity pain (deafferentation pain secondary to lesion in the spino-thalamo-cortical pathways), painful tonic spasms and spasticity pain (mixed pains secondary to lesions in the central motor pathways but mediated by muscle nociceptors), pain associated with optic neuritis (nerve trunk pain originating from nervi nervorum), musculoskeletal pains (nociceptive pain arising from postural abnormalities secondary to motor disorders), migraine (nociceptive pain favored by predisposing factors or secondary to midbrain lesions), and treatment-induced pains. Identification of various types of MS-related pain will allow appropriate targeted pharmacological treatment and improve clinical practice.

Background

Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) and ultrasound physical therapy (UPT) are commonly used for chronic low back pain. Although there is evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis that OMT generally reduces low back pain, there are no large clinical trials that specifically assess OMT efficacy in chronic low back pain. Similarly, there is a lack of evidence involving UPT for chronic low back pain.

Methods

The OSTEOPAThic Health outcomes In Chronic low back pain (OSTEOPATHIC) Trial is a Phase III randomized controlled trial that seeks to study 488 subjects between August 2006 and June 2010. It uses a 2 × 2 factorial design to independently assess the efficacy of OMT and UPT for chronic low back pain. The primary outcome is a visual analogue scale score for pain. Secondary outcomes include back-specific functioning, generic health, work disability, and satisfaction with back care.

Conclusion

This randomized controlled trial will potentially be the largest involving OMT. It will provide long awaited data on the efficacy of OMT and UPT for chronic low back pain.

Trial registration

, NCT00315120

Abstract

Objective

This study examined a set of patients who were symptomatic for low back pain and who had significant lumbar hypolordosis as assessed by visual evaluation of magnetic resonance images to investigate the frequency of comorbid paraspinal muscle spasms as determined via history or physical examination.

Methods

A retrospective chart review was performed on 50 patients who had significant hypolordosis on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Cobb angle <20°) to determine whether they were positive for paraspinal muscle spasms by either history or physical examination.

Results

Of the 50 patients with significant hypolordosis on MRI, 66% (33) had a history of paraspinal muscle spasms, 76% (38) had a positive physical examination for palpation of paraspinal muscle spasms, and 48% (24) were positive for both history and physical examination.

Conclusions

This retrospective study suggests that most symptomatic patients with significant hypolordosis on lumbar MRI have a positive history or physical examination for paraspinal muscle spasm. Thus, MRI finding of significant hypolordosis (Cobb angle <20°) could potentially be a valuable tool in addition to medical history and physical examination in aiding clinicians in diagnosing paraspinal muscle spasms in symptomatic patients and in helping them to formulate appropriate and effective treatments.

Background

The one year prevalence of thoracic back pain has been estimated as 17% compared to 64% for neck pain and 67% for low back pain. At present only one randomised controlled trial has been performed assessing the efficacy of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) for thoracic spine pain. In addition no high quality trials have been performed to test the efficacy and effectiveness of Graston Technique® (GT), a soft tissue massage therapy using hand-held stainless steel instruments. The objective of this trial is to determine the efficacy of SMT and GT compared to a placebo for the treatment of non specific thoracic spine pain.

Methods

Eighty four eligible people with non specific thoracic pain mid back pain of six weeks or more will be randomised to one of three groups, either SMT, GT, or a placebo (de-tuned ultrasound). Each group will receive up to 10 supervised treatment sessions at the Murdoch University Chiropractic student clinic over a 4-week period. Treatment outcomes will be measured at baseline, one week after their first treatment, upon completion of the 4-week intervention period and at three, six and twelve months post randomisation. Outcome measures will include the Oswestry Back Pain Disability Index and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Intention to treat analysis will be utilised in the statistical analysis of any group treatment effects.

Trial Registration

This trial was registered with the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry on the 7th February 2008. Trial number: ACTRN12608000070336

To find out whether segmental magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings such as intervertebral disc degeneration (DD) and facet joint osteoarthritis (FJO) are associated with motion deficiencies as seen in common mobility tests and observed range of motion (ROM). A total of 112 female subjects, nurses and office workers, with and without low back pain, were examined by clinical experts, and lumbar mobility was measured including modified Schober, fingertip-to-floor distance (FTFD) and ZEBRIS motion analysis. An MRI of the lumbar spine was made. Mobility findings were correlated with segmental morphologic changes as seen on MRI at the levels of L1-2 through L5-S1. Only a few statistically significant correlations between MRI findings and the results of the mobility tests could be found. Lateral bending was weakly and negatively correlated to DD and FJO but only on the level of L5-S1. The FTFD showed a weak positive correlation to endplate changes on the level of L4-5. When ROM is observed by clinical experts, there are several significant relationships between MRI findings and the observed motion. There is a highly significant segmental correlation between DD and disc form alteration as seen on MRI on the level of single motion segments. Pain history and current pain level did not moderate any association between MRI and mobility. There is no clear relationship between the structural changes represented by MRI and the measured mobility tests used in this study. Our findings suggest that close observation of spinal motion may provide at least equal information about the influence of spinal structures on motion than the commonly used measured mobility tests do.

Objective

The purpose of this case series is to describe the chiropractic management of 21 patients with daily stress and occasional total urinary incontinence (UI).

Clinical Features

Twenty-one case files of patients 13 to 90 years of age with UI from a chiropractic clinic were reviewed. The patients had a 4-month to 49-year history of UI and associated muscle dysfunction and low back and/or pelvic pain. Eighteen wore an incontinence pad throughout the day and night at the time of their appointments because of unpredictable UI.

Intervention and Outcome

Patients were evaluated for muscle impairments in the lumbar spine, pelvis, and pelvic floor and low back and/or hip pain. Positive manual muscle test results of the pelvis, lumbar spine muscles, and pelvic floor muscles were the most common findings. Lumbosacral dysfunction was found in 13 of the cases with pain provocation tests (applied kinesiology sensorimotor challenge); in 8 cases, this sensorimotor challenge was absent. Chiropractic manipulative therapy and soft tissue treatment addressed the soft tissue and articular dysfunctions. Chiropractic manipulative therapy involved high-velocity, low-amplitude manipulation; Cox flexion distraction manipulation; and/or use of a percussion instrument for the treatment of myofascial trigger points. Urinary incontinence symptoms resolved in 10 patients, considerably improved in 7 cases, and slightly improved in 4 cases. Periodic follow-up examinations for the past 6 years, and no less than 2 years, indicate that for each participant in this case-series report, the improvements of UI remained stable.

Conclusion

The patients reported in this retrospective case series showed improvement in UI symptoms that persisted over time.

Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors, have come to play an important role in the pharmacologic management of arthritis and pain. Clinical trials have established the efficacy of etoricoxib in osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, acute gouty arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, low back pain, acute postoperative pain, and primary dysmenorrhea. Comparative studies indicate at least similar efficacy with etoricoxib versus traditional NSAIDs. Etoricoxib was generally well tolerated in these studies with no new safety findings during long-term administration. The gastrointestinal, renovascular, and cardiovascular tolerability profiles of etoricoxib have been evaluated in large patient datasets, and further insight into the cardiovascular tolerability of etoricoxib and diclofenac will be gained from a large ongoing cardiovascular outcomes program (MEDAL). The available data suggest that etoricoxib is an efficacious alternative in the management of arthritis and pain, with the potential advantages of convenient once-daily administration and superior gastrointestinal tolerability compared with traditional NSAIDs.

A clinical prediction rule to identify patients most likely to respond to spinal manipulation has been published and widely cited but requires further testing for external validity. We performed a pre-planned secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial investigating the efficacy of spinal manipulative therapy in 239 patients presenting to general practice clinics for acute, non-specific, low back pain. Patients were randomised to receive spinal manipulative therapy or placebo 2 to 3 times per week for up to 4 weeks. All patients received general practitioner care (advice and paracetamol). Outcomes were pain and disability measured at 1, 2, 4 and 12 weeks. Status on the clinical prediction rule was measured at baseline. The clinical prediction rule performed no better than chance in identifying patients with acute, non-specific low back pain most likely to respond to spinal manipulative therapy (pain P = 0.805, disability P = 0.600). At 1-week follow-up, the mean difference in effect of spinal manipulative therapy compared to placebo in patients who were rule positive rather than rule negative was 0.3 points less on a 10-point pain scale (95% CI −0.8 to 1.4). The clinical prediction rule proposed by Childs et al. did not generalise to patients presenting to primary care with acute low back pain who received a course of spinal manipulative therapy.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00586-008-0679-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A significant complaint associated with spinal cord injury (SCI) is chronic pain, which includes symptoms such as cutaneous hypersensitivity and spontaneous unevoked pain and is difficult to treat with currently available drugs. One complication with current analgesics is tolerance, a decrease in efficacy with repeated treatment over time. One promising class of pharmacological treatment is cannabinoid (CB) receptor agonists. The current study assessed the efficacy of the CB receptor agonist WIN 55,212-2 (WIN) in a rat model of neuropathic SCI pain. Brief spinal compression leads to significant hindpaw hypersensitivity to tactile stimulation. WIN dose-dependently increased withdrawal thresholds and continued to demonstrate efficacy over a twice-daily 7-day treatment regimen. By contrast, the efficacy of morphine in SCI rats decreased over the same treatment period. Similarly, the antinociceptive efficacy of WIN to acute noxious heat in uninjured rats diminished over time. These data suggest that the sustained efficacy of a CB receptor agonist for pain could depend on the pain state. Such agonists may hold promise for long-term use in alleviating chronic SCI pain.

The acute onset lumbar lateral shift, otherwise known as a list or acute scoliosis, is a common clinical observation associated with low back pain. In general orthopaedics, the presence of a lateral shift is associated with a poor prognosis; however, a manual correction method devised by McKenzie is claimed to produce rapid reversal of the deformity and reduction in pain. This single-case report presents the details of the McKenzie Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment (MDT) management of a major right-sided lateral shift, which includes the manual correction technique, self-correction and management, prophylaxis, pain ablation, and rehabilitation to a high level of athletic function, with long-term follow-up at 9 months. The lateral shift is widely accepted as being associated with disc pathology, but the exact mechanism of shift production remains speculative. hypotheses include muscle spasm, avoidance of irritation of a spinal nerve, and space-occupying or space-deficient disc mechanics. The hypotheses used to explain the lateral shift phenomena are discussed. (Case report is supplemented by video stream, available at jmmtonline.com/).

The association of low back pain with physical workload in seated workstation related jobs has been debated and remains controversial. Clinical studies eliciting the natural history of the disease in this emerging population are insufficient to make definitive conclusions. We report four consecutive cases of patients suffering from low back pain presenting to a tertiary spine clinic with severe non-specific low back pain. Two patients as age-matched controls with persistent low back pain were followed for 6 months after receiving conventional treatment. In comparison, two test patients received parallel conventional treatment along with orthopaedic full spinal supports as an additional treatment modality. Outcomes analysed demonstrate the efficacy of orthopaedic full spinal supports for treating low back pain.

Trial registration number:

NCT00553540

It is not known whether or not muscle spasm of the back muscles presented in patients with sciatic scoliosis caused by lumbar disc herniation produces muscle pain and/or tenderness. Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) of the lower back and low-back pain were examined in 52 patients (13 of 52 presenting sciatic scoliosis) with lumbar disc herniation who complained of radicular pain and in 15 normal subjects. PPTs were measured at five points bilaterally using an electronic pressure algometer. Low-back pain was evaluated using visual analogue scale (VAS) ratings. All patients complained of radicular leg pain and were divided into the following three groups according to the presence of and the region of low-back pain: no low-back pain group, low-back pain with no laterality group, and low-back pain dominantly on the herniation side group; the VAS rating on the side ipsilateral to the herniation side was higher than that on the contralateral side. In the normal subjects, there were no statistically significant differences between sides in mean PPTs at all sites examined. PPTs were not lower in the spasmodic side (concave side) than the convex side in patients with sciatic scoliosis. PPTs on the herniation side were significantly lower than those on the contralateral side in patients with low-back pain dominantly on the herniation side. Furthermore, the areas of low PPTs were beyond the innervation area of dorsal ramus of L5 and S1 nerve root. It was considered that not only the peripheral mechanisms but also the hyper excitability of the central nervous system might contribute in lowering PPTs of the lower back on the herniation side.