Although rare in the healthy volunteers, most of the patients with lumbosacral radiculopathy had gluteal trigger point, located at the painful side. Further studies are required to test the hypothesis that specific gluteal trigger point therapy could be beneficial in these patients.

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BackgroundCumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) are common in musicians and their prevalence has been the subject of a number of studies in most western countries. Such studies are scarce in developing countries despite the possibility that CTDs may have a different prevalence in these countries, especially when considering traditional musical instruments and different methods of playing. Although not formally studied before, according to our experience the prevalence of CTDs seemed to be high among Iranian instrumentalists.We proposed this study to determine the prevalence of CTDs in amateur music students playing one of the two traditional Iranian instruments: Daf and Setar.MethodsIn a prospective cross sectional study, we interviewed and examined the students of three music training centers in Iran. Seventy eight instrumentalists, who were playing Daf or Setar and twelve students who had not started playing yet were regarded as case and control groups respectively. Some of them also underwent electrodiagnostic studies.ResultsForty-seven percent (17 of 36) of the Setar players and 57% (24 of 42) of the Daf players and fifty-three percent (41 of 78) of the instrumentalists as a whole had CTDs. None of them had carpal tunnel syndrome.ConclusionsOur study revealed that the prevalence of CTDs in Iranian instrumentalists was unusually high. In addition to age, other variables may be contributory. This needs to be further studied.

Background: Osteoarthritis of any joint may exert different effects on bone mineral density that may be the result of several mechanisms including change in the pattern of weight load distribution. In this cross-sectional study we tried to find correlations between unilateral knee osteoarthritis and bone mineral density of hips and lumbar vertebrae. Methods: Forty three patients with knee osteoarthritis (unilateral or more severe in one side) were recruited in this study. The American college of Rheumatology Criteria was followed for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Dual X-Ray absorptiometry was used to obtain the T score and the Z score of the hips and lumbar vertebrae. Results: The T score and Z score of the hip and T score of the femoral neck, at the side with ipsilateral knee osteoarthritis was lower than the other side (p < 0.05). The mean Z score and T score of the vertebrae was negative irrespective of the side of osteoarthritis. Conclusions: Bone mineral density of the hip with ipsilateral knee osteoarthritis was lower than the other side, which suggests that BMD may be sensitive to some extent in detecting osteoporosis in these patients; it has also been observed that osteoarthritis might not affect bone mineral density of the hips and lumbar vertebrae in the same manner or to the same extent.