Publications by authors named "Karppinen J"

Study Design: A cross-sectional magnetic resonance imaging study with questionnaires on low back pain (LBP) and functional limitations.

Objective: To investigate the association between lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (DD) and low back symptom severity among young Finnish adults.

Summary Of Background Data: Both LBP and lumbar DD are common already in adolescence, but very little is known of their association in young adults.

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Musculoskeletal pain is common among adolescents, but little is known about the factors that affect seeking health care for the problem. We examined the care-seeking pattern among adolescents reporting musculoskeletal pain. The study consisted of adolescents aged 16 years from the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort who responded to a mailed questionnaire in 2001 and reported musculoskeletal pain over the preceding 6 months (n=5052).

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Study Design: A cross-sectional imaging study of young adults.

Objective: To evaluate whether severity of low back symptoms predicts atrophy in the paraspinal muscles of young adults.

Summary Of Background Data: Although an increased fat content of the lumbar muscles has been observed among adults with chronic LBP, there is limited knowledge of this association in younger populations.

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Study Design: Population-based cross-sectional study of clinically assessed low back syndromes.

Objective: To investigate whether exposure to professional car driving, either alone or in combination with strenuous physical work is associated with clinically defined sciatica or other clinically diagnosed chronic low back syndromes.

Summary Of Background Data: Several studies have found an association between professional driving and back disorders, but drivers' histories of heavy physical work tasks has rarely been taken into account.

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Objective: To investigate how self-reported musculoskeletal pain and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are associated among young adults.

Design And Setting: The study population consisted of a subgroup of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 at the age of 19 (N=874), who completed the 15-dimensional (15D) HRQoL questionnaire (score 0 to 1) and answered questions about six-month period prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in neck, shoulder, low back, and peripheral location.

Results: Half of the males and one third of the females reported a 15D score of at least 0.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of an ergonomic intervention on pain and sickness absence caused by upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders.

Methods: In this randomized controlled study, subjects aged 18-60 years (N=177) seeking medical advice due to upper-extremity symptoms were included if their symptoms, or the exacerbation of symptoms, had started <30 days prior to the medical consultation and immediate sick leave was not required. Workplace ergonomic improvements were made in the intervention group.

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Study Design: A cross-sectional population-based magnetic resonance imaging study of Schmorl nodes (SN) in the lumbar spine.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and potential determinants of SN, and their association with intervertebral disc degeneration.

Summary Of Background Data: SN represent intravertebral disc herniation and are commonly seen in the spine.

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Not all patients with nerve injury develop neuropathic pain. The extent of nerve damage and age at the time of injury are two of the few risk factors identified to date. In addition, preclinical studies show that neuropathic pain variance is heritable.

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Background: Shoulder pain is a common health problem. The purpose of this study was to assess the associations of lifestyle factors, metabolic factors and carotid intima-media thickness with shoulder pain and chronic (> 3 months) rotator cuff tendinitis.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the target population consisted of subjects aged 30 years or older participating in a national Finnish Health Survey during 2000-2001.

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Objective: Typically, age and abnormal physical loading ("wear and tear") have been associated with the development of intervertebral disc degeneration. In the past decade, various additional etiologic factors for disc degeneration have been sporadically reported in the literature; however, many investigators continue to place tremendous emphasis on the effects of age and biomechanics associated with disc degeneration. The aim of this study was to provide additional insight into the notion that age and biomechanics are key factors in the development of disc degeneration.

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Musculoskeletal pain in multiple sites is common already in adolescence, and may lead to subsequent musculoskeletal complaints in adulthood. We examined predictive factors for the persistence of multiple musculoskeletal pains in adolescence over a 2-year time span. A postal questionnaire was administered to a subsample of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n=1773) when subjects were aged 16 and 18.

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The dose display values of computed tomography (CT) devices are used for patient dose estimation and as a tool for optimisation. Therefore, the dose display value accuracy should be verified. In practice, this means doing measurements in the standard phantoms and comparing results with the dose display values.

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The gene SCN9A is responsible for three human pain disorders. Nonsense mutations cause a complete absence of pain, whereas activating mutations cause severe episodic pain in paroxysmal extreme pain disorder and primary erythermalgia. This led us to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SCN9A were associated with differing pain perception in the general population.

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Objective: To assess the association between smoking and low back pain with meta-analysis.

Methods: We conducted a systematic search of the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases until February 2009. Eighty-one studies were reviewed and 40 (27 cross-sectional and 13 cohort) studies were included in the meta-analyses.

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The objective of the present study was to examine the associations between eleven putative predisposing single nucleotide polymorphisms (COL9A3, COL11A2, IL1A, IL1B, IL6 and VDR) and early disc degeneration (DD). The population consisted of 12 to 14-year-old Danish children (N=352). DD was evaluated from magnetic resonance images (MRI).

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Study Design: Large scale, cross-sectional imaging study of a general population.

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence, morphology, and distribution of ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF) in a population, and synthesize the scientific literature on the prevalence of OLF and some factors associated with its occurrence.

Summary Of Background Data: OLF is a rare disease in which the pathogenesis has not been conclusively established.

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This meta-analysis assessed the association between overweight/obesity and low back pain. The authors systematically searched the Medline (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland) and Embase (Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) databases until May 2009. Ninety-five studies were reviewed and 33 included in the meta-analyses.

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The quantity and quality of adolescents' sleep may have changed due to new technologies. At the same time, the prevalence of neck, shoulder and low back pain has increased. However, only a few studies have investigated insufficient quantity and quality of sleep as possible risk factors for musculoskeletal pain among adolescents.

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Purpose: To study how time spent in physical activity and that in television (TV) viewing are associated with muscular fitness among young adults.

Methods: The study population consisted of a cross-sectional sample of 381 males and 493 females aged 19.1 yr (SD 0.

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Study Design: A cross-sectional imaging study of young adults.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of disc degeneration (DD) and displacement, anular tears, and Modic changes in lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) among young adults.

Summary Of Background Data: Although low back pain in young adulthood is common, the prevalence of spinal MRI findings at this age remains virtually unknown.

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According to recent systematic reviews, Modic changes are associated with low-back pain. However, their pathophysiology remains largely unknown. A previous study of Northern Finnish males implicated that IL1A and MMP3 polymorphisms play a role in type II Modic changes.

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Recent studies indicate that adolescents often experience musculoskeletal pains in two or more body locations. However, previous studies have mainly focused on localized pains, and the determinants of multiple musculoskeletal pains in adolescents are not well known. The present study was set to evaluate the role of psychosocial, mechanical, and metabolic factors in adolescents' musculoskeletal pains in multiple locations.

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The objectives of the study were to evaluate the reproducibility of the maximal isometric trunk muscle strength testing and inclinometric method to measure body sway and to establish reference values for these measurements in young Finnish adults. Reproducibility was assessed with 2 repeated measurements. Reference values are based on the cross-sectional cohort data.

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Study Design: Cross-sectional study with retrospectively assessed work determinants.

Objective: To study the association between the history of physically demanding work and sciatica, among the occupationally active, and among persons of working age who are not occupationally active.

Summary Of Background Data: Few studies have examined the association of physically loading work with sciatica, and studies concerning women are scarce.

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