Evaluation of the efficacy of a short-course, personalized self-management and intensive spa therapy intervention as active prevention of musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremities (Muska): a research protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) constitute a major occupational health problem in the working population, substantially impacting the quality of life of employees. They also cause considerable economic cost to the healthcare system, with, notably, the reimbursement of treatments and compensation for lost income. MSDs manifest as localized pain or functional difficulty in one or more anatomical areas, such as the cervical spine, shoulder, elbow, hand, and wrist.

MACVIA-LR (Fighting Chronic Diseases for Active and Healthy Ageing in Languedoc-Roussillon): A Success Story of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing.

The Région Languedoc Roussillon is the umbrella organisation for an interconnected and integrated project on active and healthy ageing (AHA). It covers the 3 pillars of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA): (A) Prevention and health promotion, (B) Care and cure, (C) and (D) Active and independent living of elderly people. All sub-activities (poly-pharmacy, falls prevention initiative, prevention of frailty, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic diseases with multimorbidities, chronic infectious diseases, active and independent living and disability) have been included in MACVIA-LR which has a strong political commitment and involves all stakeholders (public, private, patients, policy makers) including CARSAT-LR and the Eurobiomed cluster.

Combining balneotherapy and health promotion to promote active and healthy ageing: the Balaruc-MACVIA-LR approach.

Scaling up and replication of successful innovative integrated care models for chronic diseases is one of the targets of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA). MACVIA-LR (MAladies Chroniques pour un VIeillissement Actif en Languedoc-Roussillon) is a Reference Site of the EIP on AHA. The main objective of MACVIA-LR is to develop innovative solutions in order to (1) improve the care of patients affected by chronic diseases, (2) reduce avoidable hospitalization and (3) scale up the innovation to regions of Europe.

Educational self-care objectives within a functional spine restoration program. Retrospective study of 104 patients.

Background: Defining individual educational, or learning, targets is part of the initial educational assessment in rehabilitation programs, but no data are available on how to achieve these goals.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate whether educational objectives established with the patient as part of a functional spine restoration program integrating self-care sessions were met after the program and associated therapy outcomes.

Methods: This retrospective study involved 104 patients with chronic low-back pain who participated in a self-care rehabilitation program between 2008 and 2012.

Effect of a kneeling chair on lumbar curvature in patients with low back pain and healthy controls: A pilot study.

Background: The concept of an ideal sitting posture is often used in practice but lacks a basis in evidence.

Objective: We designed a cross-sectional, comparative, matched study to determine the effects of chair and posture on lumbar curvature in 10 patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (CLBP; mean pain duration 24 ± 18 months) and 10 healthy matched controls.

Methods: Pelvic incidence, sacral slope and lumbar curvature were measured on computed radiographs by 2 blinded clinicians for subjects in 2 postures (upright vs slumped sitting) and on 2 chairs (usual flat chair vs kneeling chair).

Which physical activities and sports can be recommended to chronic low back pain patients after rehabilitation?

Background: Physical exercise is widely prescribed in rehabilitation programmes for low back pain (LBP). The LBP patient often asks whether this physical activity should be maintained and, in some cases, whether he/she should resume or take up a sport.

Purpose: To answer these two questions by performing a review of literature on the efficacy and safety of post-rehabilitation physical activities and sport in LBP.

Evaluation of various ways to deliver information concerning non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to osteoarthritis patients.

Introduction: It is essential to provide complete information to patients using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) because of the risk of side effects. Today, most healthcare professionals recommend and privilege oral information regarding NSAIDs.

Objective: Evaluate the impact of three standardized NSAIDs information-delivery modalities on knowledge, anxiety and satisfaction of patients hospitalized in a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation unit for debilitating and degenerative locomotor diseases.

Reliability of shoulder rotators isokinetic strength imbalance measured using the Biodex dynamometer.

Background: Isokinetic assessment of shoulder internal and external rotators is commonly used by clinicians to assess muscle performance and to guide rehabilitation. The reliability of isokinetic assessment is fundamental to track small but clinically relevant changes.

Objectives: We aimed to analyze the absolute and relative reliability of strength imbalance indices such as peak torque ratios (ERconc/IRconc, ERecc/IRecc, ERecc/IRcon, IRecc/ERcon), bilateral concentric and eccentric strength ratios, and to examine the reliability of external rotator and internal rotator peak torque measured using a Biodex(®) dynamometer in the seated position.

Isokinetic muscle strengthening after acquired cerebral damage: a literature review.

Objective: Isokinetic strengthening is a rehabilitation technique rarely used in stroke patients. However, the potential benefits of force and endurance training in this population are strongly suspected.

Method: This literature review synthesizes the results of clinical trials on this topic.

Evaluation of the benefits of low back pain patients' education workshops during spa therapy.

Objectives: To evaluate the medium-term impact of education workshops on low back pain (LBP) in the setting of a thermal spa on: fear-avoidance beliefs, disability, pain, and satisfaction.

Methods: Randomized prospective alternate-month design-type study including 360 individuals having thermal spa therapy for LBP: 188 in the intervention group (three standardized education workshops lasting 1 h 30 each and usual thermal therapy for 3 weeks), 172 in the control group (usual thermal therapy and non-standardized verbal information). The principal analysis criterion was the difference in the fear-avoidance beliefs (physical FABQ) score between baseline and 6 months after the therapy; secondary criteria were: evolution of disability (Quebec Scale) and pain intensity (Visual Analogue Scale), and satisfaction with the information received.

Education in the management of low back pain: literature review and recall of key recommendations for practice.

Introduction: Therapeutic patient education (TPE) is a continuous medical care process whose role in lower back pain (LBP) has yet to be well defined.

Objective: To evaluate the role and impact of TPE in the medical and surgical management of LBP.

Method: A non-systematic literature review.

Heterogeneous assessment of shoulder disorders: validation of the Standardized Index of Shoulder Function.

Objective: Although 40 assessment tools are described in the literature, very few of them have been correctly validated. The Standardized Index of Shoulder Function (FI2S) encompasses pain, mobility, strength and function. The aim of this work is to describe the FI2S and to study its construct validity, reliability and responsiveness to change.

Reproducibility of isokinetic peak torque assessments of the hip flexor and extensor muscles.

Objectives: Isokinetic assessment is currently the reference method for measuring dynamic muscle strength. We have sought to evaluate the reproducibility over time of isokinetic testing of the hip flexor (FI) and extensor (Ext) muscles and to establish whether there is a significant difference in peak torque (PT) between the left and right hips.

Patients And Methods: Ten adults were tested once a week for 3 weeks by the same investigator and according to the same protocol, with two velocities (60 degrees /s and 180 degrees /s) for the hip FI and Ext in concentric tests and one velocity (30 degrees /s) for the Ext only in eccentric tests.

The importance of fear, beliefs, catastrophizing and kinesiophobia in chronic low back pain rehabilitation.

Aim: To evaluate fear, beliefs, catastrophizing and kinesiophobia in chronic low back pain patients about to begin a training programme in a rehabilitation centre.

Patients And Methods: Fifty chronic low back pain patients (including both males and females) were assessed in our physical medicine department. We used validated French-language scales to score the patients' pain-related disability, quality of life and psychosocial factors.

Aging and sequelae of poliomyelitis.

Objective: We estimate that there are about 50,000 persons who survived poliomyelitis in their childhood in France (mean age estimated between 50 and 65 years). After a few decades of stability, 30 to 65% of individuals who had been infected and recovered from polio begin to experience new signs and symptoms.

Method: Review of the literature on Pubmed with the following keywords "Poliomyelitis" and "Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS)".

Osteoporotic fracture of the sacrum: sacroplasty and physical medecine.

Context: Traditional treatment of sacrum osteoporotic fractures is mainly based on antalgics and rest in bed. But complications are frequent, cutaneous, respiratory, thrombotic or digestive and mortality at 1 year significant.

The Aims: We wanted to define the interest of sacroplasty when treating osteoporotic fracture of sacrum.

How do scoliotic women shrink throughout life?

Study Design: Cross-sectional study among a population of scoliotic and nonscoliotic women aged 40 years or more with low back pain from a spine rehabilitation unit.

Objectives: (1) To test the hypothesis that scoliotic (SW) women shrink faster than nonscoliotic women (NSW) in adulthood. (2) To investigate the effects of age and curve progression in the scoliotic group, and to develop a model to assess the natural history of scoliosis and shrinkage.

The effect of music therapy on mood and anxiety-depression: an observational study in institutionalised patients with traumatic brain injury.

Introduction: A previous study (carried out in 2003-2004) had included 34 patients with traumatic brain injury in order to study the feasibility and usefulness of music therapy in patients with this type of injury.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of music therapy on mood, anxiety and depression in institutionalised patients with traumatic brain injury.

Study Methodology: A prospective, observational study.

Analysis of low back pain in adults with scoliosis.

Study Design: Prospective study of self-assessed symptom severity.

Objectives: To carry out a comparative semiological analysis of pain in scoliotic and nonscoliotic adults with low back pain, and to study the factors that correlate with the severity of pain in scoliotic patients.

Summary Of Background Data: Low back pain is a frequent complaint in subjects with adult lumbar scoliosis.

Qualitative evaluation of the expectations of low back pain patients with regard to information gained through semi-directed navigation on the Internet.

Objectives: To make a qualitative analysis of the expectations of chronic low back pain (LBP) sufferers with regard to information gained using semi-directed Internet navigation on a sample of French LBP-related websites, and to compare the results with those of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) medical doctors (MD).

Material And Methods: Twenty-seven hospitalised chronic LBP sufferers assessed in ecological conditions a sample of seven LBP-related websites. The sites were assessed using a simplified version of a rating scale of patients' expectations.

[Complex regional pain syndrome of the knee: early and beneficial action of diphosphonates on pain and function].

We report the case of a 24-years-old man with parcellar Complex Regional Pain Syndrome I (CRPS I) of the patella, responsible for major functional limitation. The diagnosis was based on physical exam and X-ray, in the absence of other articular or peri-articular diseases. The patient received two pamidronate perfusions over a week, with a spectacular decrease of pain, which allowed him to follow the rehabilitation program in good conditions.