OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate if the application of a cervical myofascial induction technique targeted to the ligamentum nuchae resulted in changes in cervical range of motion and pressure pain thresholds (PPT) in asymptomatic subjects. METHODS Thirty-five subjects, 8 men and 27 women (mean age, 21 +/- 4 years), without a current history of neck, shoulder, or arm pain...

Lumbar facet synovial cysts are common benign lesions arising from zygapophyseal joint capsule and are thought to result from chronic degeneration. They are usually asymptomatic. With the increasing use of magnetic resonance imaging in daily practice, the incidence of synovial cysts has also increased. While it is not very common, when they are symptomatic, they are generally treated by percuta...

OBJECTIVES This research was designed to analyse the frequency spectra of joint crack sounds produced during spinal manipulative therapy applied to the upper cervical spine of 50 volunteers and to determine if the spectra differed between the sexes and or for those with a history of previous neck trauma compared with those without a history of trauma. DESIGN Randomised experimental study. S...

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease which affects primarily the sacroiliac joints and the spine. In patients with active disease, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine shows areas of bone marrow edema, the histopathological equivalent of which is unknown. In this study we correlate inflammation in the spine of patients with AS as revealed by histological examin...

The aim of this study was to characterize the individuals with sacroiliac joint bridging (SIB) by analyzing the degenerative changes in their whole vertebral column and comparing them with the controls. A total of 291 modern Japanese male skeletons, with an average age at death of 60.8 years, were examined macroscopically. They were divided into two groups: individuals with SIB and those withou...

Purpose: To evaluate the safety profile and fusion rates of hollow titanium lumbar zygophyseal fusion cages compared to traditional posterolateral onlay fusion. Methods: In a prospective case controlled study, Group 1 consisted of 30 adult patients who received one or two level lumbar spinal zygapophyseal joint fusions using paired hollow titanium facet joint implants with adjunctive pedicle sc...

PURPOSE The prevalence of radiofrequency zygapophyseal joint neurotomy (RFN) has increased substantially across the past decade. Limited research exists that has examined pre-procedure predictors of RFN outcomes, particularly within workers' compensation populations. The purpose of this study was to determine if pre-procedure biopsychosocial variables are predictive of outcomes in a cohort of c...

Attempts to reconstruct the neutral neck posture of sauropod dinosaurs, or indeed any tetrapod, are doomed to failure when based only on the geometry of the bony cervical vertebrae. The thickness of the articular cartilage between the centra of adjacent vertebrae affects posture. It extends (raises) the neck by an amount roughly proportional to the thickness of the cartilage. It is possible to ...