Development Progress is an ODI project that aims to measure, understand and communicate where and how progress has been made in development. ODI is the UK's leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. Further ODI materials are available at odi.org.uk • Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have a direct impact on the achievement of the Millennium Developmen...

Objective. To compare the effects of applying Extra-Corporal Shockwave treatment (ESWT) and Muscle Energy Technique (MET) to Quadratus lumborum (QL) with regards pain function. Methods. 77 participants were included in this study. Patients if they diagnosed as Myofascial syndrome, localized on QL muscle; surrounding tightness; tenderness; painful trigger points, causing referred around QL. Outc...

Background: Revision discectomy is the principal procedure for recurrent lumbar disk herniation (RLDH). The clinicaloutcomes after this procedure are as good as or slightly poorer than those produced by primary discectomy. In thisstudy, the clinical outcomes of patients treated with microsurgical discectomy for RLDH were analyzed.Methods: We examined 179 patients undergoing lumbar microdiscecto...

Background. Middle-aged women are at risk of musculoskeletal disorders because of the decreased muscle mass and bone density caused by a decreased endocrine function. Objectives. This study investigated the effectiveness of a stabilization exercise using respiratory resistance on female patients in their 40s with low back pain. Methods. Forty-four female patients in their 40s with low back pa...

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between health problems as rated by the health professionals in the Norwegian form of the Core Set for low back pain and the patients' self-reported health problems in Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS II). METHODS This was part of an international multicenter study where a convenience ...

BACKGROUND Epidural steroid injection has been frequently performed to treat chronic pain due to lumbosacral disc herniation (L-HIVD). However, a considerable number of patients do not achieve pain relief using this method because perineural or epidural adhesions prevent the spread of injectate into the epidural space. Percutaneous adhesiolysis (PA) is thought to be a useful method because it c...

STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional, case-control study. PURPOSE To investigate associations between physical fitness measures and disabilities related to back pain and quality of life (QOL) by the presence of symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) in elderly Korean women. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE LSS leads to decreased functioning and reduced QOL. However, correlations among physical fitness, d...

Millions of dollars are wagered on the outcome of one day international (ODI) cricket matches, with a large percentage of bets occurring after the game has commenced. Using match information gathered from all 2200 ODI matches played prior to January 2005, a range of variables that could independently explain statistically significant proportions of variation associated with the predicted run to...

BACKGROUND Portable devices are used for unattended recording of patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). The MESAM 4 (MAP; Martinsried, Germany) is a computerized ambulatory polysomnographic system that records four parameters: breathing noise, heart rate, arterial oxygen saturation (SaO(2)), and body position. DESIGN AND METHOD We evaluated the reliability of the oxy...

The aim of the article is to investigate the efficacy of ultrasound (US)-guided Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection (CESI) compared with fluoroscopy (FL)-guided CESI in patients with unilateral lower lumbar radicular pain. This case-controlled, retrospective, comparative study was done at the university hospital. A total of 110 patients treated with US- or FL-guided CESI were administered a mixtu...