Analysis suggests saline shots may do just as well as steroids for lower back pain
New research from Johns Hopkins suggests that it may not be the steroids in spinal shots that provide relief from lower back pain, but the mere introduction of any of a number of fluids, such as anesthetics and saline, to the space around the spinal cord...
Pathologic Findings Following Outbreak Of Fungal Infections Associated With Contaminated Steroid Injections
Investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describe pathologic findings from 40 case reports of fungal infection in patients who had been given contaminated epidural, paraspinal, or intra-articular (into joints) steroid injections and correlate these findings with clinical and laboratory data...
Steroid Injection Therapy For Back Pain May Increase Risk Of Spinal Fracture
Most aging adults will experience back pain or a spinal disorder at some time in their life. In fact, about 25.8 million visits were made to physicians' offices due to primary back problems. Treatment focuses on pain relief and is available in both non-surgical (medication or physical therapy) and surgical forms...
Pain Reduction And Physiotherapy Patient Interaction Go Hand-In-Hand
How many times have you been to a physiotherapist where you've had more time in the waiting room than face-time with the physio? Well, according to University of Alberta physical therapy PhD grad Jorge Fuentes, how a physiotherapist interacts with a patient verbally, through eye contact, body language and listening skills is almost as important as the treatment itself...
Patients With Low Back Pain Can Be Accurately Assessed Via Telerehabilitation
A new "telerehabilitation" approach lets physical therapists assess patients with low back pain (LBP) over the Internet, with good accuracy compared with face-to-face examinations, reports a study in the journal Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health...
Some Sufferers Of Low-Back Pain Benefit From Bone-Marrow Grafts
A new study suggests that the type of bio-cellular grafts increasingly used by surgeons to repair damaged tissue may be useful for treating low-back pain (LBP). However, not all sufferers responded equally to the novel therapy. Results reported today at the 29th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine ranged from complete pain relief to no improvement...
One Specific MicroRNA Appears To Promote Tumor Growth And Cancer Spread
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have determined that the overexpression of microRNA-155 (miR-155), a short, single strand of ribonucleic acid encoded by the miR-155 host gene, promotes the growth of blood vessels in tumors, tumor inflammation, and metastasis. As a therapeutic target, miR-155 could potentially provide a new avenue of treatment when targeted with drugs to suppress its activity...
Surgery For Compressed Nerves Improved By Nerve Mapping Technology
Nerve mapping technology allows surgeons to determine whether surgery has been effective for relieving pressure from compressed nerves, which often function poorly and cause sciatica or pain and weakness in muscles supplied by the nerve. In a small study involving 42 patients at Henry Ford Hospital, lead author and orthopaedic surgeon Stephen Bartol, M.D...