Short-term outcomes of a back school program for chronic low back pain

Objective: To assess the short-term outcome of a back school program for patients suffering from chronic, nonspecific low back pain (LBP). Design: Quasi-experimental cohort study with a waiting list control group. Setting: Dutch rehabilitation department. Participants: Experimental group (n = 14) participating, in the back school program and a waiting list control group (n = 10). Intervention: A back school program aimed to achieve optimal functional capacity and functional health status by teaching participants to react appropriately to overload signals. Main Outcome Measures: Functional capacity assessed by the RAND-36 instrument; functional health status assessed by the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire; and static and dynamic lifting capacity, endurance, and range of motion assessed by objective measures. Results: The experimental group significantly improved in functional capacity and functional health status, with a large power, likely attributable to adequate reactions to signals of overload. Significant differences existed between the 2 groups, with large powers for the main outcomes. Conclusion: The back school program improved the functional capacity and functional health status of patients with chronic, nonspecific LBP

Analysis of handwriting of children during treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

BACKGROUND: Children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) often complain about handwriting problems. PROCEDURE: Using a computerized writing task, we have prospectively studied the processes necessary for the production of handwriting movements in 11 children (5-12 years old) during treatment for ALL. Children were tested at time points closely related to the vincristine administration. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Children treated for ALL drew slower, with longer pause durations and increased drawing pressure. Children were able to overcome the problems, except for a consistently increased drawing pressure. This increased drawing pressure may be an attempt of the children to obtain sufficient kinesthetic information and thus can be seen as an adequate adaptation mechanism in case of peripheral neuropathy due to the neurotoxic effects of vincristine. However, neurotoxic effects of other cytostatic drugs cannot be excluded