The Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine Vol 26 No 7

July 05, 2010

Septic arthritis and several other types of musculoskeletal infections in children are caused by group A Streptococcus. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is emerging as a cause of skin infections in the sports community. Neisseria meningitidis in purpura fulminans usually is not associated with direct infection of musculoskeletal structures.

July 04, 2010

The immune system plays a dynamic role in physiological and pathogenic bone remodeling. Macrophage-, stromal-, and lymphocyte-derived cytokines may induce the activation or inhibition of bone cells and their precursors and cause bone deposition or bone resorption.

July 02, 2010

Close to three-fourths of women who have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience pain on a daily basis, even though three-fourths receive medication for pain relief, according to a new study presented at the 2010 Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), held recently in Rome.

July 16, 2009

"Overuse syndromes" is an umbrella designation that covers a variety of upper extremity disorders, including tendinitis of the hand and wrist and epicondylitis.

July 14, 2009

The name and identifying features derive from what happens to the skin: it becomes thickened and swollen from deposition of excessive amounts of collagen.

July 13, 2009

The ability to heal soft tissue injuries and regenerate cartilage is the Holy Grail of musculoskeletal medicine. With advances in cell biology and technology, practicing physicians now may accomplish more in this area than ever before: platelet-rich plasma (PRP) can be used for multiple soft tissue injuries, and autologous stem cells used in combination with PRP may be effective for tissue repair (eg, rotator cuff tears) as well as cartilage regenerative processes.

July 12, 2009

New European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for the diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis (OA) are expected to provide clinicians with a solid foundation of criteria for disease management and be particularly useful for primary care physicians. The guidelines were issued at EULAR's 2009 Annual Congress, held recently in Copenhagen.

July 09, 2009

For patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), starting therapy with a combination of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) improves long-term outcomes without an increase in adverse events. The combination of methotrexate, sulfasalazine, and hydroxychloroquine plus prednisolone is satisfactory for most patients.

July 09, 2009

A patient’s expectations for recovery from a whiplash-associated disorder (WAD), measured in the first 6 weeks after a traffic-related WAD, predict actual recovery. Pain recovery and resolution of pain-related limitations show a similar pattern.

July 09, 2009

Persons in consistently good musculoskeletal health-those who do not report musculoskeletal pain-often demonstrate low levels of psychosocial problems, such as depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, traumatic experiences, and somatization.

July 09, 2009

Functional limitations are greater and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is poorer in persons who have spondyloarthritis (SpA) than in those who do not, even after adjustment for age, sociodemographics, and comorbidities. Many factors are modifiable (eg, severity and duration of disease, response to current therapy, treatment-related adverse effects, medical comorbidity, socioeconomic factors), and targeted interventions may improve function and HRQOL in patients with SpA.

July 09, 2009

Acupuncture-like treatments significantly improve function in persons with chronic low back pain compared with usual care. However, the beneficial and persisting effects of real acupuncture needling may be no greater than those of noninsertive stimulation.

July 09, 2009

Even with advances in the way anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are managed, the Lysholm score and Tegner activity scale are still valid outcome measures more than 25 years after they were developed. Originally used mostly by physicians to measure knee stability and function/activity level, respectively, after injury and surgical repair, the scores are now usually patient-administered.