Patients with neck pain and headache-the first non-ischemic symptoms of arterial dissection-frequently access a physical therapist as a first point provider who may or may not have specialist training in orthopedic manual physical therapy (OMPT). All physical therapists irrespective of their training, who are helping patients manage neck pain, headache and/or facial symptoms, must feel confident to identify potential vascular flow limitations of the neck prior to providing treatment. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, Epub 10 May 2021. doi10.2519/jospt.2021.10408.

To examine the associations of knee injury, radiographic osteoarthritis severity, and quadriceps strength with knee pain exacerbation during walking.

Within-person knee-matched case-control study.

Participants from the Osteoarthritis Initiative who completed a 20-m walking test at the 24-month visit were included. Pain exacerbation was defined as an increase in pain intensity of 1 or more on a numeric rating scale (0 as no pain and 10 as the worst imaginable pain) while completing the 20-m walking test. We used conditional logistic regression to assess the relation of recent knee injury, Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade, and quadriceps strength to unilateral knee pain exacerbation during walking.

We included 277 people who experienced unilateral knee pain exacerbation during the walking test. Recent knee injury was associated with pain exacerbation during walking, with an odds ratio of 3.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3, 9.2). Compared with knees with a KL grade of 0, the odds ratios of pain exacerbation during walking were 1.3 (95% CI 0.7, 2.7), 3.3 (95% CI 1.5, 7.1), and 8.1 (95% CI 3.1, 21.1) for knees with KL grades of 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Painful knees with a deficit in quadriceps strength of greater than or equal to 4% had a 1.4-fold (95% CI 1.0, 1.9) higher risk of pain exacerbation during walking than their pain-free counterparts.

Recent knee injury, more severe radiographic osteoarthritis, and lower quadriceps strength were associated with an increased risk of knee pain exacerbation during walking.

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Recent knee injury, more severe radiographic osteoarthritis, and lower quadriceps strength were associated with an increased risk of knee pain exacerbation during walking. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2021;51(6)298-304. Epub 10 May 2021. doi10.2519/jospt.2021.9735.Social Security Administration demonstration projects that are intended to help people receiving disability benefits have increased employment but not the number of exits from disability programs. The Supported Employment Demonstration (SED) is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of services for individuals with mental health problems before they enter disability programs. read more The SED aims to provide health, employment, and other support services that help them become self-sufficient and avoid entering disability programs. The target population is people who have been denied Social Security disability benefits for a presumed psychiatric impairment. Thirty community-based programs across the United States serve as treatment sites; inclusion in the SED was based on the existence of high-fidelity employment programs that use the individual placement and support model, the ability to implement team-based care, and the willingness to participate in a three-armed RCT. In the SED trial, one-third of 2,960 participants receive services as usual, one-third receive services from a multidisciplinary team that includes integrated supported employment, and one-third receive services from a similar team that also includes a nurse care coordinator for medication management support and medical care. The goals of the study are to help people find employment, attain better health, and delay or avoid disability program entry. This article introduces the SED.

There have been insufficient data regarding the impact of partial nephrectomy (PN) with minimal invasive approaches, including robot-assisted PN (RAPN), on postoperative quality of life (QOL) in patients with small renal mass (SRM). The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) outcomes in patients with SRM who underwent RAPN.

　We performed a prospective observational study including 100 consecutive patients with SRM who underwent RAPN at our institution between April 2016 and August 2018. A single surgeon performed RAPN for all 100 cases using the da Vinci Xi. HRQOL in these patients was assessed using the Medical Outcomes Study 8-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-8) before, 3, 6 and 12 months after RAPN.

Mean age in the 100 patients was 63 years, and diabetes mellitus, hypertension and chronic kidney disease were preoperatively detected in 22, 44 and 30 patients, respectively. Mean values of tumor diameter and RENAL nephrometry score were 25 mm and 7, respectively. Console and warm ischemia times during RAPN were 115 and 15 minutes, respectively. Of 8 sub-scale scores of the SF-8 survey, 3 sub-scales prior to RAPN, including bodily pain, role emotional and mental health, were significantly improved after RAPN. Furthermore, of 2 summary scores, metal health component summary (MCS), but not physical health component summary (PCS), showed a significant improvement postoperatively. Multivariate analyses of several factors revealed that despite the lack of factors associated with improved PCS, younger age (<65 years) had an independent impact on improved MCS.

These findings suggest that patients undergoing RAPN could result in the achievement of favorable HRQOL, particularly that reflecting mental health status in younger patients.

These findings suggest that patients undergoing RAPN could result in the achievement of favorable HRQOL, particularly that reflecting mental health status in younger patients.Spinal cord injury (SCI) is commonly caused by traumatic mechanical damage. Although numerical models can help predict the mechanics of SCI without putting the subjects in danger, previous studies did not focus on alternations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure and did not account for the presence of epidural fat. This study aims to numerically compare the mechanical behavior of the human spine when subjected to contusion and burst fracture with varying CSF pressure, either normal or elevated pressure that represents intracranial hypertension. An additional aim is to find out how the presence of the fat in the model affects the SCI calculations. CSF and epidural fat were modeled as smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and the soft tissues were modeled as hyperelastic. This approach made it possible to account for CSF pressure alteration and its effect on the cord. Validation models resulted in good correlation with previous numerical and experimental studies. The results were able to capture the fluid dynamics of the CSF while demonstrating a considerable change in the stresses of the spinal cord.