Effects of a lumbar support on spine posture and motion assessed by electrogoniometer and continuous recording.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether belt wearing causes changes in lumbar posture and motion during standing and work-related activities. DESIGN: The lumbar spine sagittal kinematics of healthy subjects were assessed with an electrogoniometer during a dynamic test and continuous recording with and without a lumbar support. Correlation between data from electrogoniometer and X-ray was established in preliminary experiments.

Restoration of functional gait in paraplegic patients with the RGO-II hybrid orthosis. A multicenter controlled study. II: Physiological evaluation.

We have investigated physiological changes in 21 patients with a spinal cord injury who were fitted with the RGO-II hybrid orthosis. All parameters were measured before and after a training programme in order to evaluate the benefit of gait rehabilitation, cardiovascular adaptation, constipation, spasticity and osteoporosis. A tendency for the improvement in cardiovascular function was noticed, and a segmental decrease in right colonic transit time was observed.

Restoration of functional gait in paraplegic patients with the RGO-II hybrid orthosis. A multicentre controlled study. I. Clinical evaluation.

By means of a multicentric study in six rehabilitation centres, we assessed the RGO-II orthosis to restore functional gait in patients with spinal cord injuries. The 26 subjects participating in the study had spastic complete paraplegia. Twenty one had progressed to the training programme and 19 were able to stand up alone.

[Longitudinal division of the penis caused by an indwelling urinary catheter in a paraplegic patient].

The authors report a rare case of longitudinal section of the penis, due to an urethral catheter. The patient was paraplegic and schizophrenic. They found only six such cases in the literature.

[Value of voiding ultrasonography combined with urodynamic studies in the assessment of vesical sphincter dyssynergy].

Fifteen paraplegic patients all presenting with vesico-sphincteric dyssynergia underwent, between January and September 1990, a urodynamic and electromyographic examination combined with pre-voiding or voiding transrectal ultrasonography. The ultrasound apparatus used was a Siemens Sonoline SL1 with a MHz linear intracavitary probe giving a strictly longitudinal plane of section. The urodynamic apparatus used was a Wiest 6000 with a Böhler 7 F urethral catheter and an electromyography needle-electrode implanted in the striated sphincter.

[Arthritis of the hip in paraplegic patients. Apropos of 8 cases].

Eight instances of septic arthritis of the hip were treated in 6 paraplegics. On each occasion the hip had been infected through a nearby ulcer. In 2 cases the diagnosis was only made at operation because signs of a severe infection are not obvious in paraplegics.

[Orthostatic hypotension in tetraplegic patients (author's transl)].

Blood pressure regulation was studied in nine patients with tetraplegia following total cervical section. Ten minutes after placing the patients in an inclined position at 30 degrees there was a marked reduction in blood pressure, an increase in heart rate, and absence of increased peripheral resistance. Valsalva's maneuver was pathological in all cases (lack of overshoot).

[Post-traumatic resorption of a vertebral body in a patient with spondylarthritis (author's transl)].

Rheumatoid pelvispondylitis in the lumbar spine can be the cause of a fracture of a vertebral body following usually minimal trauma. If no treatment is applied, a pseudo-arthrosis with severe bone resorption can occur. The whole vertebral body was affected in this way in the case reported.