Pattern of startle reflex to somatosensory stimuli changes after spinal cord injury.

Introduction: Spinal cord injury (SCI) may cause functional changes at various levels in central and peripheral nervous systems. One of these changes is increased excitability above the lesion such as enhanced auditory startle responses (ASR). Startle response may also be obtained after somatosensory stimulus (startle reflex to somatosensory stimuli, SSS).

Validation of Duruöz Hand Index in patients with tetraplegia.

Study Design: Cross-sectional, clinical measurement.

Purpose: To investigate the validity of the Duruöz Hand Index (DHI) in the assessment of hand function in patients with tetraplegia.

Methods: A total of 40 patients with tetraplegia participated.

Ultrasound-guided greater occipital nerve block: an efficient technique in chronic refractory migraine without aura?

Background: The effectiveness of greater occipital nerve block (GONB) in patients with primary headache syndromes is controversial. Few studies have been evaluated the usefulness of GONB in patients with migraine without aura (MWOA).

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided GONB using bupivacaine 0.

Trigemino-cervical reflex in spinal cord injury.

Abnormal enhancement of polysynaptic brainstem reflexes has been previously reported in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). We aimed to investigate trigemino-cervical reflex (TCR) in SCI since it may reflect alterations in the connections of trigeminal proprioceptive system and cervical motoneurons. Consecutive 14 patients with SCI and 16 healthy subjects were included in this study.

Skin thickness on bony prominences measured by ultrasonography in patients with spinal cord injury.

Objective: The detailed assessment of soft tissues over bony prominences and identification of methods of predicting pressure sores would improve the quality of care for patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Comparing skin thicknesses on bony prominences in patients with SCI to those in healthy individuals will represent, to our knowledge, the first study aimed at determining whether differences in skin thicknesses between these groups can be detected by ultrasound.

Design: In both patients and controls, skin thicknesses on the sites at risk for pressure ulcers - sacrum, greater trochanter, and ischium - were evaluated using high-frequency ultrasound.

Clinical evaluation during the acute exacerbation of knee osteoarthritis: the impact of diagnostic ultrasonography.

We aimed to investigate (1) the probable correlation between clinical and ultrasonographic findings in chronic painful primary knee OA patients referred with acute flare-ups and (2) the impact of diagnostic ultrasonography (US) to determine the real source of pain in these patients. We included 100 patients consecutively who were admitted to our outpatient unit with a pain complaint on a single knee with the diagnosis of primary knee OA according to the ACR criteria. The control group consisted of the patients with pain-free knees at least during the last month, who were already included in the study group.

Assessment of quality of life and depression in spouses of patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

The objective of this study is to investigate the quality of life and the rates of depression in spouses/partners of patients with AS compared with spouses/partners of healthy controls". Twenty-five persons with AS and their 25 spouses (21 women and 4 men) and 25 healthy controls were recruited consecutively. All the subjects completed 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire forms and 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D17).

Comparison of high-power pain threshold ultrasound therapy with local injection in the treatment of active myofascial trigger points of the upper trapezius muscle.

Objective: To compare the effects of high-power pain threshold ultrasound (HPPTUS) therapy and local anesthetic injection on pain and active cervical lateral bending in patients with active myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) of the upper trapezius muscle.

Design: Randomized single-blinded controlled trial.

Setting: Physical medicine and rehabilitation department of university hospital.

Effect of treatment on trigger points.

Patients with muscle pain complaints commonly are seen by clinicians treating pain, especially pain of musculoskeletal origin. Myofascial trigger points merit special attention because its diagnosis requires examinations skills and its treatment requires specific techniques. If undiagnosed, the patients tend to be overinvestigated and undertreated, leading to chronic pain syndrome.

The sensitivity and specificity of the Slump and the Straight Leg Raising tests in patients with lumbar disc herniation.

Background: An accurate and specific diagnosis prevents the recurrences of low back pain and chronic spinal pain. The physical examination is the most useful tool to diagnosis. The examiner must aim to determine the exact tissue that pain arises from to make the specific diagnosis.

In vitro investigation of heat transfer in calf spinal cord during polymethylmethacrylate application for vertebral body reconstruction.

The objective of this experimental study was to investigate the temperature variations within the spinal cord of calf cadavers during polymethlymethacrylate (PMMA) application for vertebral body reconstruction. Cervical spines including the cervical spinal cord of ten fresh cadavers were used. Corpectomy and laminectomy were performed and dura was exposed at the same level for proper placement of thermal sensors.

High-power pain threshold ultrasound technique in the treatment of active myofascial trigger points: a randomized, double-blind, case-control study.

Objective: To study what effects a high-power, pain-threshold, static ultrasound technique applied to acute myofascial trigger points of the upper trapezius has on pain and on active cervical lateral bending.

Design: Double-blind randomized trial.

Setting: Physical therapy unit of a private general hospital.

Multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of thiocolchicoside in acute low back pain.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of intramuscular injection of thiocolchicoside (4 mg-2 ml) compared to placebo administered twice daily for 5 days in patients suffering from acute low back pain.

Patients And Methods: Multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. The study was conducted between July 1998 and March 2000 in five centers.