At short-term follow-up, no association was found for the factors of age and sex with the outcomes of pain intensity and disability. At long-term follow-up, smoking had the same result. At long-term follow-up, pain intensity and fear of movement had no association with disability. At short-term follow-up, conflicting evidence was found for the association between the outcomes pain intensity and disability and the factor of fear of movement. At long-term follow-up, conflicting evidence was found for the factors of age, sex, and physical job demands. At long-term follow-up, conflicting evidence also was found for the association between return to work and age, sex, and activities of daily living. At baseline, there was limited evidence of a positive influence of lower pain intensity and physical job demands on return to work. No high-quality studies were found for the outcomes of quality of life and global perceived effect.

Background and Purpose. Many conservative treatments are available for adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis, but the evidence for their accepted use is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of braces and other conservative treatments of idiopathic scoliosis in adolescents by systematically reviewing the literature. Methods. The literature was searched in the PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, and PEDro databases. Studies were selected if the design was a randomized clinical trial or a controlled clinical trial, if all patients had an idiopathic scoliosis, if all patients were less than 18 years of age during the intervention, and if the type of intervention was a conservative one. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological qualityusing the Delphi list and performed data extraction. Analysis was based on the levels of evidence. Results. Thirteen studies met the final inclusion criteria, showing a wide range of interventions such as bracing, electrical surface stimulation, and exercises. Discussion and Conclusion. The authors conclude that the effectiveness of bracing and exercises is not yet established, but might be promising. They found no evidence of the effectiveness of electrical stimulation.

PurposeCervical radiculopathy (CR) is a common diagnosis. It is unclear if intervention studies use uniform definitions and criteria for patient selection. Our objective was to assess the uniformity of diagnostic criteria and definitions used in intervention studies to select patients with CR.MethodsWe electronically searched the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL. Studies were included when evaluating conservative interventions in randomised clinical trials (RCTs) in patients with CR. Selection criteria and definitions for patients with CR were extracted and evaluated on their uniformity.ResultsThirteen RCTs were included. Pain was used as an inclusion criterion in 11 studies. Inclusion based on the duration and location of pain varied between studies. Five studies used sensory symptoms in the arm as inclusion criterion. Four studies used cervical range of motion and motor disturbances as inclusion criteria, while reflex changes were used in two studies. Three studies included patients with a positive Spurling’s test and two studies used it within a cluster of provocation tests.ConclusionsCriteria used to select patients with CR vary widely between different intervention studies. Selection criteria and test methods used are poorly described. There is consensus on the presence of pain, but not on the exact location of pain.