Brief action planning to facilitate the management of acute low back pain with radiculopathy and yellow flags: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Brief action planning (BAP) is a collaborative tool to support patients' self-management goal setting and action planning. BAP facilitates patient self-reflection, and provides opportunity to establish goals of their own priority. CASE PRESENTATION: A 55 year-old female with recentonset low back pain with L5 nerve root distribution, described severe pain in the low back and sharp pain and tingle-sensations down to her right foot. Pain worsened with sitting, coughing, and bending. She was diagnosed with lumbar and other intervertebral disc disorder with radiculopathy (ICD 10: M51.1). TREATMENT: Initial treatment included reassurance, education, promotion of movement, and manual therapies. Symptoms worsened at the eighth visit (five weeks) where she also demonstrated pain-catastrophizing behaviours and an over-reliance on passive treatment strategies (i.e., psychosocial factors or yellow flags). BAP was introduced into her treatment plan to set achievable goals for her care. OUTCOME: Decreased pain and disability were reported after incorporating BAP into care. Reduced pain-catastrophizing and reduced over-dependence on passive strategies were also demonstrated. Clinical gains were sustained at the 10-week follow-up assessment. KEY CLINICAL MESSAGE: We describe the utilization of brief action planning as a technique for improving adherence to evidence-based clinical practice guideline recommendations in a patient with acute low back pain and radiculopathy, and late-onset psychosocial factors.

INTRODUCTION: L'outil collaboratif Brief action planning (BAP) sert à aider les patients à se fixer des objectifs et à prévoir leurs interventions. Il favorise l'autoréflexion du patient tout en lui permettant d'établir des objectifs selon l'ordre de priorité qu'il établit lui-même. PRÉSENTATION DU CAS: Une femme de 55 ans souffrant d'une lombalgie d'apparition récente, accompagnée d'une douleur selon la distribution de la racine nerveuse L5, se plaignait d'une douleur lombaire intense, d'une douleur aiguë et de picotements jusqu'au pied droit. La douleur s'aggravait en s'assoyant, en toussant et en se penchant. On lui a diagnostiqué un trouble du disque intervertébral lombaire avec radiculopathie (CIM 10: M51.1). TRAITEMENT: On a commencé par réconforter la patiente, l'informer, favoriser le mouvement et à administrer des thérapies manuelles. Ses symptômes se sont aggravés à partir de la huitième consultation (au bout de cinq semaines). Elle a commencé à dramatiser sa douleur et à trop compter sur des stratégies de traitement passives (c'est-à-dire intervention sur les facteurs de risque psychosociaux (qu'on appelle aussi « drapeaux jaunes ¼)). On a utilisé le BAP pour qu'elle puisse se fixer des objectifs thérapeutiques réalisables. RÉSULTAT: On a observé une diminution de la douleur et de l'incapacité après le début de l'utilisation du BAP. On a aussi noté une réduction de la dramatisation de la douleur et de la dépendance excessive envers les stratégies passives. La patiente a continué à faire des gains jusqu'à l'examen de suivi, à la 10e semaine. MESSAGE CLINIQUE CLÉ: Nous définissons l'outil BAP comme une technique servant à favoriser l'observance des directives et des recommandations fondées sur des preuves chez un patient souffrant de lombalgie aiguë accompagnée d'une radiculopathie et de facteurs psychosociaux tardifs.

Spinal Manipulative Therapy and Other Conservative Treatments for Low Back Pain: A Guideline From the Canadian Chiropractic Guideline Initiative.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop a clinical practice guideline on the management of acute and chronic low back pain (LBP) in adults. The aim was to develop a guideline to provide best practice recommendations on the initial assessment and monitoring of people with low back pain and address the use of spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) compared with other commonly used conservative treatments. METHODS: The topic areas were chosen based on an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality comparative effectiveness review, specific to spinal manipulation as a nonpharmacological intervention. The panel updated the search strategies in Medline. We assessed admissible systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials for each question using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Back Review Group criteria. Evidence profiles were used to summarize judgments of the evidence quality and link recommendations to the supporting evidence. Using the Evidence to Decision Framework, the guideline panel determined the certainty of evidence and strength of the recommendations. Consensus was achieved using a modified Delphi technique. The guideline was peer reviewed by an 8-member multidisciplinary external committee. RESULTS: For patients with acute (0-3 months) back pain, we suggest offering advice (posture, staying active), reassurance, education and self-management strategies in addition to SMT, usual medical care when deemed beneficial, or a combination of SMT and usual medical care to improve pain and disability. For patients with chronic (>3 months) back pain, we suggest offering advice and education, SMT or SMT as part of a multimodal therapy (exercise, myofascial therapy or usual medical care when deemed beneficial). For patients with chronic back-related leg pain, we suggest offering advice and education along with SMT and home exercise (positioning and stabilization exercises). CONCLUSIONS: A multimodal approach including SMT, other commonly used active interventions, self-management advice, and exercise is an effective treatment strategy for acute and chronic back pain, with or without leg pain.

The Treatment of Neck Pain-Associated Disorders and Whiplash-Associated Disorders: A Clinical Practice Guideline.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to develop a clinical practice guideline on the management of neck pain-associated disorders (NADs) and whiplash-associated disorders (WADs). This guideline replaces 2 prior chiropractic guidelines on NADs and WADs. METHODS: Pertinent systematic reviews on 6 topic areas (education, multimodal care, exercise, work disability, manual therapy, passive modalities) were assessed using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and data extracted from admissible randomized controlled trials. We incorporated risk of bias scores in the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation. Evidence profiles were used to summarize judgments of the evidence quality, detail relative and absolute effects, and link recommendations to the supporting evidence. The guideline panel considered the balance of desirable and undesirable consequences. Consensus was achieved using a modified Delphi. The guideline was peer reviewed by a 10-member multidisciplinary (medical and chiropractic) external committee. RESULTS: For recent-onset (0-3 months) neck pain, we suggest offering multimodal care; manipulation or mobilization; range-of-motion home exercise, or multimodal manual therapy (for grades I-II NAD); supervised graded strengthening exercise (grade III NAD); and multimodal care (grade III WAD). For persistent (>3 months) neck pain, we suggest offering multimodal care or stress self-management; manipulation with soft tissue therapy; high-dose massage; supervised group exercise; supervised yoga; supervised strengthening exercises or home exercises (grades I-II NAD); multimodal care or practitioner's advice (grades I-III NAD); and supervised exercise with advice or advice alone (grades I-II WAD). For workers with persistent neck and shoulder pain, evidence supports mixed supervised and unsupervised high-intensity strength training or advice alone (grades I-III NAD). CONCLUSIONS: A multimodal approach including manual therapy, self-management advice, and exercise is an effective treatment strategy for both recent-onset and persistent neck pain.

Discovery of pulsed OH maser emission stimulated by a pulsar.

Stimulated emission of radiation has not been directly observed in astrophysical situations up to this time. Here we demonstrate that photons from pulsar B1641-45 stimulate pulses of excess 1720-megahertz line emission in an interstellar hydroxyl (OH) cloud. As this stimulated emission is driven by the pulsar, it varies on a few-millisecond time scale, which is orders of magnitude shorter than the quickest OH maser variations previously detected. Our 1612-megahertz spectra are inverted copies of the 1720-megahertz spectra. This "conjugate line" phenomenon enables us to constrain the properties of the interstellar OH line-producing gas. We also show that pulsar signals undergo significantly deeper OH absorption than do other background sources, which confirms earlier tentative findings that OH clouds are clumpier on small scales than are neutral hydrogen clouds.