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Biomedical subjects

H Hurri

Publications and source records attributed to H Hurri.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Periprosthetic microvasculature in loosening of total hip replacement.

This study was performed to quantitate vascularity in periprosthetic tissues of loose total hip replacements (THRs), because most likely revascularization and endothelial cells are important for implant osseointegration and loosening. Interface and pseudocapsular tissue samples obtained from loose THRs were stained with an immunohistochemical labelling (ABC technique) for von Willebrand factor. Non-inflammatory synovial samples served as controls. The results were quantitated by morphometry using the Kontron image analysis system. Evaluation of the mean endothelial index (EI; positively stained area micron/mm2 of tissue) revealed that in the control samples synovium was better vascularized than was the case in the cellular areas of the periprosthetic pseudocapsule (P = 0.0008) and interface (P = 0.0004) of loose THRs. There was no significant difference between mean EI of cellular areas in the interface and that of the pseudocapsule (P = 0.24). In the interface the vascularity was irregular. Vascular injury and decreased blood supply seem to occur at the implant-host interface, which may be one of the reasons for insufficient implant osseointegration and loosening.

Aged↗

Isokinetic performance capacity of trunk muscles. Part I: The effect of repetition on measurement of isokinetic performance capacity of trunk muscles among healthy controls and two different groups of low-back pain patients.

The aim of this investigation was to assess the reproducibility of the isokinetic trunk muscle performance measurement among patients with different degrees of low-back pain. Twenty-two healthy volunteers, 20 patients with mild and 18 patients with severe low-back pain participated in isokinetic measurements. Lidoback isokinetic dynamometer was used. The measurements were performed with the subjects standing, using velocities of 60, 90 and 120 degrees/second. Five repetitions were performed at each velocity. All subjects were tested three times with a 1-week interval between the tests. Peak torque, average peak torque, coefficient of variation, total work done and peak torque to body weight ratio were calculated for each velocity for both flexion and extension. The results showed that in every measurement peak torque, average peak torque, peak torque to body weight ratio and total work done correlated with each other very strongly both in flexion and extension (r > or = 0.9). The average peak torques increased in further measurements. The change had a strong correlation with the severity of the back problem, which was evaluated by means of the Oswestry disability index. The critical value was found to be 20% in the Oswestry index: values above this meant big changes between measurements and values below this meant small changes between measurements.

Adult↗

Isokinetic performance capacity of trunk muscles. Part II: Coefficient of variation in isokinetic measurement in maximal effort and in submaximal effort.

It has been claimed that with the aid of isokinetic trunk strength measuring devices it is possible to distinguish true muscular weakness from submaximal effort in the test. This proposition is based on the presumption that in the isokinetic trunk strength test identical performances can only be reproduced by maximal effort. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to distinguish maximal effort from submaximal with the aid of the coefficient of variation (CV) in an isokinetic trunk muscle strength test. The study group included 35 (21 male and 14 female) subjects of whom 12 were healthy, 10 had a mild low-back pain and 13 had a more severe chronic low-back pain. The subjects performed five consecutive bendings both with maximal (100%) and submaximal (50%) efforts at a speed of 90 degrees/second. In maximal effort only healthy subjects reached an average level of CV close to 10% both in extension and in flexion. In the chronic low-back pain group the average CV was close to 20%. The difference in CV was statistically significant (p < 0.05-0.02) between the healthy and the chronic low-back pain subjects. In the submaximal effort all health groups had a CV of approximately 20% or more and no significant differences were found. The group of slightly variable measurements (CV = 11-20%) was remarkably large in both the maximal and submaximal effort. The results suggest that an effort with a CV of 11-20% cannot be classified as definitely submaximal or maximal. When the CV is less than 10% the effort can be fairly certainly classified as maximal.

Back↗

Static back endurance and the risk of low-back pain.

Spinal physical capacity and in particular static back endurance were studied for their prediction of first-time experience of low-back pain. Of a total of 126 persons who were free from back complaints at entry, 33 developed low-back pain during a follow-up of 1 year. The static back endurance test was found to be the only physical capacity measurement that indicated an increased risk of low-back pain. Adjusted for age, sex, and occupation, the odds ratio of a new low-back pain in those with poor performance was 3.4 (95% confidence interval, 1.2-10.0) compared to those with medium or good performance. RELEVANCE--:The simple static back endurance test might have value in health examinations because of its strong predictive value of future low-back pain.

Journal Article↗

Asymmetry of lumbar lateral flexion and treatment outcome in chronic low-back pain patients.

In a study on the treatment of chronic low-back pain (n = 456 patients; 58% men, 35-54 years of age), 3-month treatment outcome was assessed by back pain questionnaires and physical measurements including spinal and hip mobility and trunk muscle strength. Changes in differences between ranges of right and left lumbar lateral flexion and rotation of > 5 degrees from pretreatment to follow-up were recorded. A relative increase in left lumbar lateral flexion was associated with a better treatment outcome according to both back pain and physical performance (p < 0.05-0.001). With spinal rotation measurements no similar connections were observed. The results point to a connection between back pain and asymmetric spinal function, which may have pathogenetic and therapeutic significance.

Adult↗

Relationship of the Pain Disability Index (PDI) and the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire (ODQ) with three dynamic physical tests in a group of patients with chronic low-back and leg pain.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between overall disability in daily activities, assessed with the Pain Disability Index (PDI) and the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire (ODQ), and impaired performance on three physical tests in patients with chronic low-back pain. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: The PDI and ODQ were administered in a cross-sectional study, before beginning a back rehabilitation program, to 45 patients with low-back pain of > or = 3 months' duration, with or without radiation to the legs. All patients also performed repetitive sit-up, arch-up, and squatting tests. SETTING: Tertiary care center. RESULTS: Modestly significant (p < 0.05) or significant (p < 0.01) inverse correlations (Pearson's r = 0.30-0.41) were noted between the PDI and the ODQ and all three physical performance tests. When normative data were used, the correlation (Spearman's rs = -0.45) between PDI and the squatting test remained significant (p < 0.01), whereas it was modestly significant (rs = -0.33, p < 0.05) between the ODQ and squatting test and between the PDI and arch-up test (rs = -0.35, p < 0.05). Compared with patients presently working, those on sick leave had significantly higher scores on the PDI and ODQ (Wilcoxon's two-sample test: p < 0.001) and also significantly worse performance on all physical tests (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The PDI and ODQ, as measures of self-perceived disability, and impaired performance on repetitive squatting, arch-up, and sit-up tests, as measures of physical capability, show some overlap in low-back-pain patients. Both types of disability measures are clearly influenced by the patient's work status.

Adult↗

Subjective benefits of energy storing prostheses.

The energy storing (ES) prosthesis has been used in the Prosthetic Foundation's workshop since 1987. Subjective responses from 168 amputees (141 trans-tibial and 27 trans-femoral) fitted with the ES prosthesis were analysed. Ratings were generally favourable in comparison with those for conventional prostheses. The most pronounced advantages of the new prosthesis as shown by the ratings were in walking uphill or swift walking. The younger amputees had more benefit than the older ones. High body weight decreased the benefit of the ES prosthesis. The ES prosthesis does not seem to provide any major advantage for the less active amputee whose movements are mainly indoors.

Adult↗

Flexibility of the spine: normative values of goniometric and tape measurements.

A sample of 508 male and female white-collar and blue-collar employees aged 35 to 54 years were examined clinically to determine the reliability of spinal flexibility measurements using inclinometers and a tape measure, and to determine the normal values of cervical sagittal movements, lateral flexion, lumbar flexion and extension, trunk rotation and sidebending. Spinal flexibility decreased with advancing age, particularly among the blue-collar workers. Male predominance was observed in lumbar flexion and rotation and female predominance in cervical flexion-extension-movement. Spinal flexibility was negatively related to the experience of disabling pain. The strongest connections were between cervical flexion-extension-movement and neck pain, and between trunk sidebending and low back pain during the preceding year. The interobserver reliabilities were found to be generally good for all these measurements, and trunk sidebending showed the highest reliability coefficients. The intraobserver reproducibility (checked at a one-year interval) was acceptable only for cervical flexion-extension movement, cervical sidebending and trunk sidebending.

Adult↗

Non-dynamometric trunk performance tests: reliability and normative data.

A sample of 508 male and female white-collar and blue-collar employees aged 35 to 54 years was evaluated clinically to determine the reliability of repetitive sit-ups, repetitive arch-ups, repetitive squatting, and static back endurance tests, to determine the normal values of these tests and to detect determinants for trunk muscle performance. All of the given tests had fairly good or even excellent test-retest reliability. Muscular performance capacity decreased with advancing age, particularly among blue-collar workers. Men showed greater muscle endurance in all the muscle tests, and blue-collar workers lower values in all tests. The repetitive tests, in particular, showed reduced values in those with previous low-back pain. Normative values of back endurance, repetitive squatting, sit-up and arch-up tests for different age, sex and occupational groups are presented.

Adult↗

Evaluating the outcome of vocational rehabilitation.

This paper presents an analysis of studies in which vocational rehabilitation was followed up during the 1980s and early 1990s. Its purpose is to clarify the outcome of vocational rehabilitation as well as the factors predicting that outcome. In these follow-up studies the variables by which the outcome is measured are closely linked with the subjects' employment opportunities, and are basically the same as those applied in earlier follow-up studies. Because of the study designs it is difficult to make any generalizations concerning the results. Little attention has been paid to the evaluation of psychological adaptation in most of these studies. Also, follow-up studies generally have not taken into account the employment situation. Whether those who have had rehabilitation are able to find employment depends essentially on employers' policies towards the handicapped and the disabled.

Female↗

Correlation between neurological leg deficits and reaction time of upper limbs among low-back pain patients.

The purpose of the study was to examine how neurological deficits of the leg, i.e. sensory deficit, deficient reflexes and muscular weakness, correlate with reaction times of upper limbs in a group with chronic low-back pain. Thirty-two patients were studied. Three sets of measurements of simple reaction time and choice reaction time of upper limbs were conducted at one-week intervals. Neurological deficits of the leg were recorded by a physician and the subjects answered a questionnaire about the severity of their low-back symptoms (Oswestry's index). We also defined a neurological index which reflected the total sum of the three types of leg deficits experienced by each of the subjects. Sensory deficit of the leg and the neurological index correlated strongly with slower reaction times of upper limbs, while the other two neurological deficits did not reach a level of significance. Sensory deficits of the leg seem to be an indicator of much greater motor disability than has been thought so far. The motor disability not only appears distally from the lumbar radicular damage caused for example by an intervertebral herniation, it also seems to relate to psychomotor reaction more generally, even on upper limbs.

Adult↗

Surgical treatment of severe isthmic spondylolisthesis in adolescents. Reduction or fusion in situ.

Twenty-two adolescent patients with severe (more than 50%) slip were surgically treated. Eleven were reduced with Magerl/Dick transpedicular screw devices and fused posteriorly from L4 to S1, and 2 weeks later anteriorly L5-S1; the other 11 were fused in situ L4-S1 (6 patients) or L5-S1 (5 patients) using a circumferential (6 patients), anterior (4 patients) or posterolateral (1 patient) technique without instrumentation. The two groups were comparable as to age at operation, age at follow-up, follow-up time, and preoperative radiologic measurement of the slip, lumbosacral kyphosis, and clinical findings. The mean follow-up times were 56.5 and 59.8 months, respectively. In the reduction group an improvement in the slip of 36.1 percentage points was achieved as compared with 7.7 percentage points in the in situ-fusion group. The sagittal rotation angle improved by 11 in the reduction group and worsened by 2.8 in the in situ-fusion group. There were no differences between the groups in the functional tests or clinical findings concerning pain. Subjective assessment was good in both groups at follow-up; that is, the pain had disappeared. Mean operation time and intraoperative blood loss were significantly higher in the reduction group. Reduction procedures were also associated with a higher number of complications and reoperations. No neurologic complications, however, occurred in the reduction group. Based on this study, in situ fusions are to be preferred in adolescents with severe spondylolisthesis.

Adolescent↗

Spondylodesis augmented by transpedicular fixation in the treatment of olisthetic and degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine.

Fifty-one patients having lumbar or lumbosacral posterolateral fusion with pedicle screw internal fixation were reviewed retrospectively two years after the fusion by an independent observer. In 44 patients, the underlying condition was lytic or degenerative spondylolisthesis. The internal device was removed one year after the fusion. The fusion rate was 94%. The subjective disability was assessed using the Oswestry disability index. The mean Oswestry score was 38% preoperatively, and 24% two years after the fusion. Preoperatively, only every fifth patient was able to work; two years postoperatively, almost 60% held jobs. Complications due to internal fixation were recorded in 57% of the cases. Most of these, such as screw breakage and screw loosening in the sacrum, were of no clinical importance. The use of internal fixation seems to enhance the fusion rate but is associated with more complications than posterolateral fusion without implants.

Adult↗

Relationship between the self-assessment and clinical assessment of health status and work ability.

Clinical assessments of health status and work ability were compared with subjective assessments reported on a questionnaire. The clinical examinations included cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and psychological measurements. The subjective work ability comprised an index based on estimations of work ability in relation to diseases, job demands, and psychological resources. For the clinical examinations 89 male and 85 female workers aged 44-58 years were selected according to health and subjective work ability as reported on the questionnaire. Half of the group was healthy and half suffered from either coronary artery disease (men) or low-back pain (women), and the subjective estimations of work ability varied from good to poor. The results indicated that the questionnaire responses on health and work ability related well with the clinically assessed factors at the group level. Some divergence was detected at the individual level, but it could usually be explained on the basis of the available data.

Attitude to Health↗

Aerobic capacity among chronic low-back-pain patients.

The role of aerobic capacity (maximal oxygen uptake, VO2max) in connection with chronic low-back pain was assessed in a study mainly designed to evaluate the outcome of inpatient and outpatient treatment of low-back pain. A total of 245 subjects (ages 35-54 years, 71% men)--81 inpatients, 88 outpatients, and 76 controls--who had chronic low-back pain but who were still working, performed maximal graded bicycle ergometer tests four times during the follow-up of 30 months. In every group the estimated VO2max was on the level of the reference values of healthy persons. There were no significant changes in the VO2max in any of the intervention groups during the follow-up period. The correlation analyses showed no connection between aerobic capacity and pain or disability caused by chronic low-back pain. Among several components of physical fitness, aerobic capacity had no predictive value in the course of low-back pain.

Adult↗

A controlled study on the outcome of inpatient and outpatient treatment of low back pain. Part III. Long-term follow-up of pain, disability, and compliance.

The long-term outcome results of inpatient and outpatient treatment of low back pain (LBP) were studied in 476 subjects (aged 35-54, 63% men) randomly assigned to three study groups: inpatients (n = 157), outpatients (n = 159), and controls (n = 160). The study included changes in the severity of low back pain, grade and disability, compliance with self-care, data on disability pensions, and days of sickness allowance during a 2.5-year follow-up period. These variables were used as outcome criteria. Pain and disability had decreased significantly in the two treated groups up to the 3-month follow-up. LBP was still a little slighter in the inpatients at the 1.5-year and 22-month follow-ups, but there were no significant differences between the groups in disability caused by LBP. The refresher programme carried out 1.5 years after the first one did not bring about as clear short-term improvement in pain and disability as the first treatment. During the whole 2.5-year follow-up compliance with self-care was better in the two treated groups, especially in the inpatients. Days of sickness allowance had increased somewhat more in the controls than in the inpatients during the follow-up. No differences between the groups were found in the number of disability pensions granted.

Absenteeism↗

A controlled study on the outcome of inpatient and outpatient treatment of low back pain. Part IV. Long-term effects on physical measurements.

Effects of inpatient and outpatient treatment on physical measurements in chronic low back pain patients (n = 476) were analyzed at 1.5- and 2.5-year follow-ups as well as 3 months after a refresher programme which was carried out 1.5 years after the first treatment. Physical measurements consisted of hip and lumbar spinal mobility, and trunk muscle strength. At the 1.5-year follow-up the two treatment groups did not differ from the control group, but at the 2.5-year follow-up inpatients showed better improvements in physical functions from the pretreatment level. The refresher treatment was found to improve physical functions more effectively than the first treatment program, especially in the outpatients. Self-care with heavy exercising was related with the improvement of physical functions, but back exercises and light exercising were not. Statistically significant but modest correlations were found between improved physical functions and subjective progress during the long-term follow-ups.

Adult↗