STUDY DESIGN A retrospective comparative cohort study. OBJECTIVE To compare return to work (RTW) rates for patients who underwent single-level cervical fusion for radiculopathy compared with fusion for degenerative disc disease (DDD) as an indication for surgery. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Studies have shown that workers' compensation subjects have less favorable surgical and functional out...

INTRODUCTION Patients with age-related degenerative changes in the cervical spine leading to cervical spondylosis may be symptomatic or asymptomatic. Older patients with radicular pain tend to have a better response to epidural steroid injections, but it is often difficult to predict which patients will have a positive response to selective nerve root block (SNRB). We analyzed whether the cervi...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective chart review. PURPOSE A comparison of mini open foraminotomy (MOF) for cervical radiculopathy using either large tubular (LT) or TrimLine (TL) retractors. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Posterior foraminotomy relieves compression of the cervical nerve root in radiculopathy patients. However, invasion of the paravertebral muscle may cause major problems in these patients. ...

BACKGROUND Patients with cervical disc disease may present with radiculopathy (root compression), myelopathy (cord compression), or myeloradiculopathy. These complaints must be correlated with x-ray, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and computed tomographic (CT) scans. Although most patients can be managed nonsurgically, those with significant neurological deficits and larger disc herniations m...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine compliance rates for following three electromyography (EMG) clinical practice guidelines and to determine the reliability of two performance measurement tools developed for this study. METHODS This was a retrospective descriptive and correlation study of chart reviews of voluntary submissions of EMG reports performed by physical therapists (P...

This cross-sectional study sought to identify dimensions underlying measures of impairment, disability, personal factors, and health status in patients with cervical radiculopathy. One hundred twenty-four patients with magnetic resonance imaging-verified cervical radiculopathy, attending a neurosurgery clinic in Sweden, participated. Data from clinical tests and questionnaires on disability, pe...

Background: Favorable surgical results had been reported in cervical posterior foraminotomy using endoscopy; however, the learning curve for the surgeon is steep. We therefore developed a procedure that can be performed more easily and with small incision, called “Mini Open Foraminotomy (MOF)”, using a tubular retractor (22mm diameter) under direct vision. The purpose of this study was to demon...

IntrOductIOn Cervical Radiculopathy (CR) is a neurologic condition characterised by dysfunction of a cervical spinal nerve, the roots of the nerve, or both [1]. It is a clinical diagnosis based on a sclerotomal distribution of motor and/or sensory changes or complaints. Any process that causes impingement of exiting cervical nerve roots can lead to a radicular disorder. Impingement may be broug...

Degenerative cervical spondylosis is a common, mostly asymptomatic condition, occurring as a result of age-related degenerative changes in the cervical spine. Symptoms caused by cervical spondylosis can be categorized broadly into three clinical syndromes: axial neck pain, cervical radiculopathy, and cervical myelopathy; with patients commonly having a combination of these syndromes. This speci...