High-Force Versus Low-Force Lumbar Traction in Acute Lumbar Sciatica Due to Disc Herniation: A Preliminary Randomized Trial.

Objective: This study compared the effects of high-force versus low-force lumbar traction in the treatment of acute lumbar sciatica secondary to disc herniation.

Methods: A randomized double blind trial was performed, and 17 subjects with acute lumbar sciatica secondary to disc herniation were assigned to high-force traction at 50% body weight (BW; LT50, n = 8) or low force traction at 10% BW (LT10, n = 9) for 10 sessions in 2 weeks. Radicular pain (visual analogue scale [VAS]), lumbo-pelvic-hip complex motion (finger-to-toe test), lumbar-spine mobility (Schöber-Macrae test), nerve root compression (straight-leg-raising test), disability (EIFEL score), drug consumption, and overall evaluation of each patient were measured at days 0, 7, 1, 4, and 28.

Eccentric exercise training: modalities, applications and perspectives.

Eccentric (ECC) exercise is classically used to improve muscle strength and power in healthy subjects and athletes. Due to its specific physiological and mechanical properties, there is an increasing interest in employing ECC muscle work for rehabilitation and clinical purposes. Nowadays, ECC muscle actions can be generated using various exercise modalities that target small or large muscle masses with minimal or no muscle damage or pain.

Muscle oxygenation and intramuscular pressure related to posture and load in back muscles.

Background Context: There is little information about the simultaneous changes of intramuscular pressure (IMP) and oxygen saturation (StO(2)) of the paraspinal muscle under various conditions of posture and load.

Purpose: To measure simultaneously and compare IMP and StO(2) across a range of static trunk postures commonly observed during normal work tasks.

Study Design: A prospective study using a repeated-measure design in clinical setting.

Sciatica, disk herniation, and neuroborreliosis. A report of four cases.

We report four cases of sciatica in patients with same-level disk herniation confirmed by computed tomography and a final diagnosis of acute radiculitis caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, with a favorable response to ceftriaxone therapy. The neurological manifestations of Lyme disease are protean, and a potential contribution of concomitant disk disease to sciatica can lead to diagnostic wanderings. Disk lesions and infectious conditions that can cause sciatica are discussed.

Mechanism of action of spinal manipulative therapy.

Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) acts on the various components of the vertebral motion segment. SMT distracts the facet joints, with faster separation when a cracking sound is heard. Intradiscal pressure may decrease briefly.

[A rare cause of constipation: neurinoma of the fourth lumbar nerve. Case report and review of the literature ].

Constipation is a symptom not to be neglected, especially if the complaint is recent. We report a case where this symptom was the only clinical manifestation of a voluminous retroperitoneal tumor. The tumor was found to be a neurilemmoma of the fourth right lumbar roots, confirmed at pathological examination.