Assessing aberrant muscle activity patterns via the analysis of surface EMG data collected during a functional evaluation.

Background: Surface electromyographic (EMG) recordings collected during the performance of functional evaluations allow clinicians to assess aberrant patterns of muscle activity associated with musculoskeletal disorders. This assessment is typically achieved via visual inspection of the surface EMG data. This approach is time-consuming and leads to accurate results only when the assessment is carried out by an EMG expert.

Commentary: Surgery for nonambulatory patients with epidural spinal metastasis: is it evidence based and cost effective?

Commentary on: Kim CH, Chung CK, Jahng T-A, Kim HJ. Resumption of ambulatory status after surgery for nonambulatory patients with epidural spinal metastasis. Spine J 2011; 11:1015-23 (in this issue).

Discography interpretation and techniques in the lumbar spine.

The authors provide an indepth analysis of discography, a provocative diagnostic tool to determine the origin of low-back pain. Injecting the intervertebral disc with radiopaque dye provides physicians with several useful pieces of information. First, the modality provides radiographic evaluation of the integrity of the nucleus pulposus and annular rings to determine tears or other lesions that could be creating low-back pain.