Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Evaluation of the Efficacy of Manipulation and Cervical Traction in the Treatment of Radical Cervical Spondylosis.

Background: With the accelerated pace of life in modern society, changes in work style, and the popularity of computers, the prevalence of cervical spondylosis (CSR) is increasing, and the age of onset is advancing. Once suffering from this disease, it is often difficult to cure and recurring, with complex clinical symptoms, causing a serious impact on human health. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of manipulation and cervical traction in the treatment of radical cervical spondylosis. Methods: The PubMed, CNKI, and Wanfang databases were searched for literature. The literature related to this study was included according to selective criteria and inhibitory elimination criteria, and valuable information was selected for statistical analysis, resulting in a total of 11 randomized controlled trials with 994 subjects. Results: The short-term efficacy of manual treatment for CSR was superior to that of cervical traction alone (P < 0.05); subgroup analysis showed that the short-term efficacy of pulling or rotational manipulation was superior to that of cervical traction (P < 0.05). The mean difference between symptoms and manipulation VAS scores was higher before and after treatment when compared with cervical traction for CSR (P < 0.05); the subgroup analysis showed that VAS scores, upper extremity anesthesia scores, and survivorship scores were lower for pulling or rotating manipulation than for cervical traction (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The advantages of manual therapy in terms of short-term efficacy, VAS pain scores, neck pain, upper extremity anesthesia, and survivorship improvement provide a theoretical basis for its clinical impact.

Sleep pattern in relation to recurrent osteoporotic fracture in the elderly.

Background: Previous studies assessed the relationship between individual sleep behavior and fracture risk, rather than taking into account the joint complexity of the sleep behaviors. We aimed to explore the association between sleep pattern and risk of imminent recurrent osteoporotic fracture in older hospitalized patients due to an index osteoporotic fracture, where sleep pattern was evaluated as a combination incorporating five common sleep behaviors (i.e., insomnia, snoring, nocturnal sleep duration, daytime napping, and midnight waking up). Methods: We used data from a prospective cohort study for analyses. Patients who aged not < 55 years and were admitted to the hospital due to an index osteoporotic fracture were recruited. Sleep pattern was grouped as healthy, intermediate, and poor pattern, based on the categorization of overall sleep scores. We used Cox proportional hazard models to explore sleep pattern in relation to imminent recurrent fracture. Results: We included a total of 185 elderly hospitalized patients for analyses with mean (± standard deviation) age = 71.5 ± 10.3 years and 87.0% female. During a mean follow-up of 14.7 months, there were 10 (5.4%) recurrent osteoporotic fractures observed. A significantly higher overall sleep score was found in patients with recurrent fractures when compared with those without fractures (3.20 vs. 2.36, p = 0.038). Both intermediate (p = 0.76) and poor sleep patterns (p = 0.093) were non-significantly associated with an elevated risk of fracture when compared with a healthy pattern. Per-one-increase in the overall sleep score was significantly related to an increased risk of fracture: hazard ratio = 1.60 (95% confidence interval: 1.00--2.55) from the multivariable model. Conclusion: Per-one-increase in the overall sleep score was found to be significantly associated with a 60% higher risk of imminent recurrent osteoporotic fracture in the elderly, and intermediate and poor sleep patterns were non-significantly related to an increased risk of recurrent fracture. More high-quality evidence is required to further evaluate the relationship between the sleep pattern and the risk of recurrent osteoporotic fracture in the elderly.

Relationship between sleep pattern and bone mineral density in patients with osteoporotic fracture.

Background: Evidence investigating sleep pattern in relation to bone health in elderly participants with osteoporosis remains sparse. We aimed to assess the relationship between sleep pattern incorporating five sleep characteristics (snoring, midnight waking up, insomnia, sleep duration, and daytime napping) and bone mineral density (BMD) in elderly participants with osteoporotic fracture. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to include eligible elderly patients from the Department of Orthopedics who were admitted to hospital due to an osteoporotic fracture. Sleep pattern was constructed based on total sleep scores and categorized into healthy, intermediate, and poor pattern groups. Multivariable logistic regression model was used to assess sleep pattern in relation to risk of low BMD. Results: A total of 169 elderly patients with osteoporotic fracture were included in this study (mean age: 71.91 years; 87.57% females). There were 36 (21.30%), 107 (63.31%), and 26 (15.38%) patients with healthy, intermediate, and poor sleep pattern, respectively. Compared with healthy sleep pattern, no significant relationship between intermediate sleep pattern and BMD was detected [odds ratio (OR) = 1.72, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74, 3.97, p = 0.21), while poor pattern was significantly associated with decreased BMD (OR = 3.50, 95% CI: 1.10, 11.14, p = 0.034). Conclusion: The majority of elderly patients with osteoporotic fracture had unhealthy sleep pattern; poor sleep pattern was significantly related to reduced BMD when compared with healthy pattern. Further high-quality evidence is needed to assess and validate the relationship between sleep pattern and risk of low BMD in the elderly.

Association between bone turnover markers and the risk of imminent recurrent osteoporotic fracture.

The association between bone turnover markers (BTMs) and the risk of imminent recurrent osteoporotic fracture (ROF) in the elderly remains unclear. The present study thus aimed to explore BTMs in relation to imminent ROF in the elderly with an index OF. For this purpose, data from a prospective cohort study were used for analysis. Elderly patients hospitalized due to an index OF were included and followed-up. The BTMs included bone resorption marker (C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen) and the bone formation markers, procollagen type I N propeptide, osteocalcin (OC) and total alkaline phosphatase. The outcome was the time to the first ROF following their index fracture. Cox regression analysis was used to assess the association between BTMs and ROF. Model discrimination was calculated to explore whether the BTMs had potential to improve fracture risk prediction. There were 169 eligible patients included in the analysis (median age, 72 years; 87.6% females). During a median follow-up period of 10.5 months, there were seven ROFs (4.1%) observed. Serum OC levels were found to be significantly associated with the risk of ROF [hazard ratio, 0.13; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.018-0.90; P=0.039] for per-SD increase in OC from multivariable analysis. After incorporating OC into the model, a C-index of 0.83 (95% CI, 0.70-0.96; P<0.001) was observed, which outperformed the model with bone mineral density alone (improvement for C-index, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.028-0.55). On the whole, the present study demonstrates a significant association between serum OC and the decreased risk of imminent ROF in the elderly with index fractures. However, further high-quality evidence is required to further clarify and validate the BTMs in relation to the imminent risk of ROFs among the elderly.

[Percutaneous release of trigger finger with L shaped hollow needle knife].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of a percutaneous release with L shaped hollow needle knife in treating trigger finger. METHODS: Between September 2007 and September 2009, 160 patients with trigger fingers (202 fingers) were treated by percutaneous release with L shaped hollow needle knife. There were 47 males and 113 females with a mean age of 55 years (range, 12-68 years). The disease duration was 2 weeks to 1 year. Affected fingers included 58 thumbs, 20 index fingers, 46 middle fingers, 60 ring fingers, and 18 little fingers. According to Quinnell grading, 63 fingers were classified as grade III, 126 fingers as grade IV, and 13 fingers as grade V. A1 pulley was released during operation and steroid was injected after release procedure using the same needle. RESULTS: The mean operation time was 8.2 minutes (range, 5-19 minutes), and no complication occurred. All the patients were followed up 1 year to 3 years and 6 months (mean, 1.6 years). The patients still felt pain in 36 fingers at 1 week after operation, which were relieved after oral administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Twenty-five fingers had snapping or locking in flexion-extension motion; 5 fingers recovered at 1 month after operation and 20 fingers had no obvious improvement; of 20 fingers, symptom was alleviated in 10 fingers, and was not alleviated in 10 fingers after re-release with L shaped hollow needle knife. According to Quinnell grading for efficacy evaluation at 6 months after operation, the results were excellent in 165 fingers, good in 27 fingers, poor in 10 fingers with an excellent and good rate of 95.0%. CONCLUSION: The percutaneous release with L shaped hollow needle knife is a safe and effective procedure in treating trigger finger with low complications.