Shoulder Pain And Back Pain Treatment

New treatment for narrowing of the spinal canal - spinal canal stenosis - and back pain

Some neurosurgeons are now using a "magic bullet" to relieve back pain due to spinal canal stenosis without resorting to major surgery.

Medications and steroid injections are often used for this kind of back pain but when they no longer relieve the pain, there is now an alternative to surgical treatment.

Lumbar spinal stenosis is one of the most common cause of disabling back pain and the leading cause of back surgery in men over the age of 50.

The problem is that wear and tear arthritis causes spinal joints to enlarge and get big and knobby-looking. These enlarged joints can start crowding out the space for the spinal nerves and that causes severe pain in the lower back and legs.

The X-stop is a new spinal device that surgeons are having good results with. It looks like a little titanium bullet with wings.

The x-stop is implanted in a 45-minute minimally invasive procedure through a one-inch incision to reach a ligament that spans the spinal bones.

The wings clamp the bones so it can't move and this can markedly reduce the back pain intensity.

The X-Stop was approved by the Food and Drug Administration six months ago. It works best in patients who have moderate impairment and who get relief from their pain when they bend forward. Bending forward opens the spinal canal naturally. That's also what the X-Stop does.

Read more here

Ultrasound scanning is an effective imaging modality in evaluating the shoulder. The shoulder joint is probably the most accessible joint for this kind of test in adults.

But can ultrasound scanning detect inflammation inside the shoulder joint?

Ultrasound of the shoulder is usually done through the axilla or armpit region - but patients with shoulder inflammation find it very difficult to lift their arm up and out. Some ultrasound doctors have now been using an approach from the front of the shoulder for the scan.

The results are good and indicate that ultrasound is a very effective, simple and non invasive way of assessing the shoulder joint.

If you attend a physiotherapist with shoulder or neck pain - what should you expect in the way of treatment?

A new large study looked at the treatment options chosen by physiotherapists when faced with a patient complaining of shoulder pain and neck pain.

The study had a follow-up period of 6 months and looked at the treatments applied by physical therapists in treating patients with pain in the arm, neck and / or the shoulder.

During a 1-year period, the participating physiotherapists recorded data about patients with pain in and around the upper extremity. The patients completed a questionnaire at baseline, and the physical therapists completed a treatment record for up to 6 months.

624 patients took part.

93% of the patients were treated with exercise therapy and 87% received massage or a combination of both.

More patients with specific complaints received exercises or massage and patients with pain less well localised to one area were treated with manipulation techniques.

Read more about this here

Chronic neck muscle pain after whiplash injury is difficult to treat and often causes long term problems for the sufferer.

A new study has looked at whether muscle relaxation feedback training can help and the results seem promising. The study is small but this type of treatment could help many of those who suffer with whiplash pain.

Patients with whiplash neck pain were given 4 weeks of myofeedback (muscle relaxation) training.

Eleven patients received the training, during which upper shoulder and neck muscle activation and relaxation were continuously recorded and processed. Feedback was provided when muscle relaxation was insufficient.

Pain in neck, shoulders, and upper back and muscle activation patterns during rest, typing, and stress tasks were assessed before and after the 4 weeks of training.

Results showed that pain intensity decreased after 4 weeks of training.

Clinically relevant changes were found with regard to pain in the neck and upper back region (55% of the patients), right shoulder (64%), and left shoulder (18%). A trend for decreased disability was found in 36% of the patients.

A remarkable reduction was found in the problem of headache and in pain when lifting weights.

The study authors concluded that four weeks of muscle feedback training may be beneficial in reducing pain and disability levels and normalizing muscle activation patterns in chronic whiplash injury patients.


Read more about this here

Do you know what a chiropractor is and what they do?

You may do - but if so then you could teach some medical researchers a thing or two !!

Many studies have been published looking at the effects of chiropractor treatment - some of them positive and some of them negative. But did the patients in these studies actually receive treatment from a chiropractor? A new study raises some interesting questions about this.

The results of this year-long stusy suggests that the words chiropractor and chiropractic manipulation are often used inappropriately by researchers when reporting apparent associations between cervical spine manipulation and symptoms suggestive of traumatic injury.

This seems to happen particularly in Europe - more so than in the USA.

This raises concerns that studies suggesting that chiropractic neck treatments are harmful might be innaccurate. Was it really a chiropractor who did the treatment?


Read more about this here

Manipulation treatment for frozen shoulder is sometimes regarded as an old fashioned option - but does it still have a place to play? New research has looked at this old topic and reached some interesting conclusions

Researchers looked at the short- and long-term results of the treatment of frozen shoulders by manipulation under anesthesia and compare the results of idiopathic, post-trauma and post-surgery frozen shoulders. Idiopathic frozen shoulder is frozen shoulder with no known trigger (probably the commonest type)

The study results revealed that manipulation under anestheia is a very simple and noninvasive procedure for shortening the course of frozen shoulder pain and can improve shoulder function and symptoms within a short period of time.

However,less improvement was found in frozen shoulder that had started after an operation (called post surgical frozen shoulder) especially in residual pain and limited range of motion (ROM), which may be influenced by the initial injury or initial surgery. The researchers concluded however that, although less improvement in pain and range of movement was noted in this group of patients, manipulation is still a good and simple way to treat post-surgery frozen shoulders.

You can read more about this research here