BACKGROUND A chronic pain condition may result in altered autonomic nervous system regulation in various patient populations. We evaluated whether autonomic regulation differs between sciatica patients referred to spine surgery and age-matched healthy controls analyzed with heart rate variability techniques (HRV). METHODS HRV of patients (n = 201) and healthy controls (n = 138) were measured ...

AIM To compare the effectiveness of the discectomy and conservative treatment in patients with disc related low back and lumbar radicular syndrome. METHODS We performed retrospective-prospective cohort study enrolling 100 patients. According to our extended criteria all of them had operative indications. We operated 50 patients, 50 patients refused operation and they were treated non-operativ...

Etanercept is a potent antagonist of TNF, a pleotropic immune signaling molecule that is also a pivotal regulator of synaptic function. Excess TNF is centrally involved in the pathogenesis of a variety of inflammatory neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, sciatica, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Perispinal etanercept produces rapid improvement in both Alzheimer'...

Cauda equina syndrome (CES) is often defined as a complex of symptoms and signs consisting of low back pain, bilateral sciatica, lower extremity weakness, saddle anesthesia, and bowel and bladder dysfunction. CES is considered to be neurosurgical emergency. Delayed or missed diagnosis of CES can result in serious morbidity and neurological sequelae. However, the diagnosis of CES is often diffic...

Fifteen patients with identical symptoms of pain and tenderness at the tip of the greater trochanter are reviewed. Diagnosis by the referring doctor was usually osteoarthritis of the hip or sciatica, but localised tenderness and pain on resisted abduction were the only clinical signs. Radiographs were usually normal. Most cases were relieved by one or more local steroid injections. This disorde...

Symptoms from lumbar disc herniation are common in the general population. Many discs heal spontaneously and the patient’s symptoms cease. When people have severe pain and sciatica, the recommendation is to start with physiotherapy treatment and pain medication for at least six to eight weeks before surgery is considered. There is, however, limited evidence relating to the effects of physiother...

The value of caudal epidural steroid injections (CEI) in treatment of low back pain and sciatica is controversial. It is believed that CEI are mainly effective in treating acute radiculopathy at intermediate term follow up and have no long-term benefit. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of CEI in the management of low back pain. This study reviews all patients with low back p...

Gluteal syndrome (GS), a new low-back-pain subtype mimicking sciatica, has been included in the 11th Revision of International Classification Diseases (ICD-11). Low back pain is symptom, not disease, and main problem associated with it complexity. A plausible generator gluteal central sensitization process therapeutic target area, which are trigger points located within muscles. It hypothesized...

some time, but only 14% have an episode that lasts more than 2 weeks. About 1.5% have such episodes with features of sciatica.2,3 Most causes of back pain respond to symptomatic and physical measures, but some are surgically remediable and some are systemic diseases (cancer or disseminated infection) requiring specific therapy, so careful diagnostic evaluation is important. Features of the clin...