The diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis is often delayed due to ambiguous clinical manifestations and strict diagnostic criteria. However, imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging have been found effective for the early diagnosis of non-radiographic sacroiliitis. New tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors have good efficacy for patients with persistently high disease activi...

The objective of the present study was to comparatively analyze the clinical status of the lower limbs in healthy subjects and subjects with back pain. Forty three (43) male and female subjects with average age of 36.91± 3.97 were selected as the statistical sample of the study. This population was recognized intelligently by utilizing the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ). Furthermo...

PURPOSE To further the understanding of growing pains (GP), in particular, the nature of this pain disorder. METHODS This study included 33 children aged 5-12 years who met criteria for GP (cases) and 29 children without GP of similar age and sex (controls). Nineteen controls were siblings of cases. GP was diagnosed by standard consensus questionnaires. A questionnaire addressed characteristi...

In human studies, low COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase) activity has been associated with increased sensitivity to acute clinical preoperative or postoperative pain. We explored the association between the COMT genotype and three chronic pain conditions: migrainous headache, fibromyalgia, or chronic widespread pain and chronic musculoskeletal pain. Furthermore, we evaluated whether COMT genot...

This study aims to clarify the effects of stress perception and related social indicators on three major musculoskeletal symptoms: low back, shoulder, and joint pains in a Japanese population. Twenty health-related variables (stress perception and 19 social indicators) and the three symptoms were obtained from the following Japanese national surveys: the Comprehensive Survey of Living Condition...

1,25(OH)2D FIGURE 1. Vitamin D Metabolism Standing apart from the various other essential nutrients, vitamin D was spotlighted recently as having special therapeutic potential. This has important implications for the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain and fatigue syndromes. During this past June 2008, news-media headlines heralded recent clinical research that revealed benefits of vitam...