OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of contrast agents on Doppler ultrasound findings in the synovial membrane in the wrist and fingers of healthy volunteers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eleven healthy subjects were included in the study (5 women and 6 men, mean age 38 years, range (20-60)). They had no clinical signs of inflammatory or degenerative joint diseases. A total of 66 joints were examined-6 ...

BACKGROUND It has been reported that there is an inverse association between osteoarthritis (OA) and osteoporosis. However, the relationship of bone mass to OA in a Japanese population whose rates of OA are different from Caucasians remains uncertain. METHODS We studied the association of appendicular bone mineral density (second metacarpal; mBMD) and quantitative bone ultrasound (calcaneus; ...

This study investigated the potential influence of proximal sensory feedback on voluntary distal motor activity in the paretic upper limb of hemiparetic stroke survivors and the potential effect of voluntary distal motor activity on proximal muscle activity. Ten stroke subjects and 10 neurologically intact control subjects performed maximum voluntary isometric flexion and extension, respectivel...

Background. Radial subluxation of the extensor communis tendons at the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints is a rarely reportedvinjury. These injuries have proved difficult to reproduce in cadaveric studies and have a low biomechanical likelihood of occurrence due to the ulnar direction of pull of the extensor communis tendons. It has been suggested that the juncturae tendinum may have a stabilisi...

BACKGROUND Metacarpophalangeal (MCP) arthroplasty with implants, which is the replacement of painful knuckle joints with artificial knuckle joints, has been performed for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) since the 1960s. The surgery is done because RA can cause damage of the knuckle joints making them unable to straighten out (flexion deformity) and causing them to lean over toward the sma...

Objective: The study assessed the effect of a single session of repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation (rpMS) combined with manual stretch on wrist and finger flexor muscle spasticity. Methods: Forty chronic patients after CNS lesion with a severe wrist and finger flexor spasticity with a Modified Ashworth Score (MAS, 0-5) of either 2, 3 or 4 participated and formed two groups. A single ses...

Objective. To investigate the relationship between synovial vascularity and joint damage progression in each finger joint of patients with RA under low disease activity during treatment with biologic agents. Methods. We studied 310 MCP and 310 PIP joints of 31 patients with active RA who were administered adalimumab (ADA) or tocilizumab (TCZ). Patients were examined with clinical and laboratory...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence and pattern of radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA) of the hand joints and its association with self reported hand pain and disability. METHODS Baseline data on a population based study (age >/=55 years) were used (n = 3906). Hand ROA was defined as the presence of Kellgren-Lawrence grade >/=2 radiological changes in two of three groups of hand joints in e...

Objective: To evaluate the presence of flow by Doppler ultrasound (DUS) in the wrist and finger joints (carpometacarpal 1 (CMC1), metacarpophalangeal (MCP), and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints) of healthy controls. Methods: Twenty seven healthy volunteers (15 women, 12 men; mean age 45 years, range 18–93) with a total of 324 joints were examined by DUS. The synovial vascularisation was de...

OBJECTIVE Musculoskeletal US is being increasingly used for the assessment of synovitis, although questions remain about its reliability. One potential factor affecting reliability is the lack of consensus of image acquisition methods such as using different joint positions. This may have an implication on the reproducibility of studies that use US as an outcome measure. The aim of this study w...