Posts

Showing posts from August, 2011

Medial Branch Blocks and a Reason to Make Friends

Facet joints are funny things. Not funny ha-ha, as in 'let me tell you a joke about a clown', but funny, as in 'let me tell you a story about a clown who lost everyone he loved in a terrible balloon animal accident.' Facet joints are funny, because so often they seem to be the starting point for post-surgical problems. Funny, because despite the research and experimental trials that have gone on, they can more often than not stubbornly refuse to be helped. That was my experience this last February. I went through the injections hoping that I might gain some relief from my fun arthritis; instead all I got was a bunch of needles and another reason to roll my eyes skyward. With the lack of success on the part of the facet joint injections (oh cortisone, how you have failed me) I was placed on the list for the medial branch blocks, and having just completed the second half of them, I have only one thing to say... HolyHannahWhatJustHappenedToMeOwOwOwOwOwHelplessWeeping

Low Grade Isthmic Spondylolisthesis; A Randomized Controlled Study

ScoliosisJournal published an article regarding surgical management of low grade isthmic spondylolisthesis; a randomised controlled study of the surgical fixation with and without reduction Authors: Ziad M Audat, Fayeq T Darwish, Moh'd M Al Barbarawi, Moutasem M Obeidat, Walid H Haddad, Khaldoon M Bashaireh and Ihsan A Al-Aboosy Background Spondylolisthesis is a condition in which a vertebra slips out of the proper position onto the bone below it as a result of pars interarticularis defect. The slipped segment produces abnormal positioning of the vertebrae in relation to each other along the spinal column and causes mechanical back pain and neural breach . Methods and materials: A randomized and double blinded study consisted of 41 patients aged 36-69 years ( 18 females and 28 males) treated for symptomatic spondylolisthesis between December, 2006 and December, 2009. All patients were randomly distributed into two groups I and II. Twenty patients were in Group I; they und