MAPK /ERK signaling pathway: A potential target for the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is a chronic skeletal muscle degenerative disease, which is considered the main cause of low back pain. It seriously affects the quality of life of patients and consequently brings a heavy economic burden to their families and the society. Although IDD is considered a natural process in degenerative lesions, it is mainly caused by aging, trauma, genetic susceptibility and other factors.

Total disc replacement versus fusion for lumbar degenerative diseases - a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Lumbar fusion is considered to the gold standard for treatment of spinal degenerative diseases but results in adjacent segment degeneration and acquired spinal instability. Total disc replacement is a relatively new alternative avoiding the occurrence of the above complications. The systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to evaluate whether total disc replacement exhibited better outcomes and safety.

Unstable shoes for the treatment of lower back pain: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the treatment effects of unstable shoes and flat shoes on lower back pain patients.

Data Sources: Literature databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE (up to June 2019), were searched systematically.

Review Methods: Two authors independently screened the retrieved records and identified the randomized controlled trials where patients with lower back pain who wore unstable shoes as intervention and wore flat shoes as a control.