Low back pain (LBP) and obesity are major public health problems; however, the relationship between body composition and low back pain in men is unknown. This study aims to examine the association between body composition and LBP and disability in a population-based sample of men, as well as the factors that may affect this relationship. Nine hundred seventy-eight male participants from the Gee...

Reviews of the efficacy of acupuncture as a treatment for acute low back pain (aLBP) have shown that there is insufficient evidence for its effect and that more research is needed. Motion style acupuncture treatment (MSAT) is novel in that it requires a part of the patient's body to move passively or actively while acupuncture needles are retained. A multicenter, randomized, comparative effecti...

PURPOSE To estimate the prevalence of insomnia in patients with chronic back pain, and to correlate insomnia with severity of back pain and disability. METHODS 63 women and 57 men aged 24 to 83 (mean, 55) years who presented with chronic back pain for >6 months were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire to evaluate the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Oswestry Disability Index (OD...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between musculoskeletal pain and disability among a group of geriatric out-patients. DESIGN Consecutive case series. SETTING Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS Attendees at a geriatric specialist out-patient clinic from October 2002 to February 2003. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pain duration, location, intensity, and frequency; use of analgesi...

OBJECTIVES To determine the extent to which bodily pain mediates the effect of obesity on disability and physical function. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis. SETTING Population-based sample of residents in the greater Boston area. PARTICIPANTS Community-dwelling adults aged 70 and older (N=736). MEASUREMENTS Body mass index (BMI), obtained from measured height and weight, was categorized...

STUDY DESIGN Cohort study of patients with acute low back pain undergoing physical therapy. OBJECTIVES Examine the reliability and validity of the Physical Impairment Index in a group of patients with acute low back pain and determine the responsiveness and minimum detectable change of the index and its component tests. SUMMARY OF THE BACKGROUND DATA The Physical Impairment Index was origin...

OBJECTIVE US Hispanics with rheumatoid arthritis experience worse functional outcomes compared to whites. The determinants of disability, however, are not well established in large Hispanic cohorts. In the present report, we identified factors associated with disability in a cross-sectional design, and evaluated their individual contributions to disability over time. METHODS Two hundred fifty...

This study was carried out to assess the validity of the SPADI, (Shoulder pain and Disability Index), a self assessment of shoulder pain and disability in community based patients.The authors gave a fair introduction on the development of the SPADI and briefly critiqued the 2 studies that initially supported the validity of the subjective outcome measure. I note only moderate test-retest reliab...