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PV Curves for the Diagnosis of a Herniated Lumbar Disc After an Imaging Test. The predictive value calculation for a test that can only be interpreted as positive or negative tells you the likelihood that the result, either positive or negative, is true and not false. With LOBAK you can find your pre-test probability (p) … Continue reading PREDICTIVE VALUE (PV) CURVES

Rats that walk upright on two legs Why Humans Have So Much Back Trouble? Rats without front legs learn to walk upright and develop the inward (lordotic) spine curves in the neck and lower back seen in all humans. That puts more weight on the spine and tends to pinch out the discs toward the … Continue reading Why Do Lumbar Discs Protrude?

After the patient has had an MRI scan with markers on the skin surface for localization, the data could be processed and viewed through "virtual reality" glasses as shown above. The patient is asleep on their stomach and the surgeon can "see through" the body to view the spine. No incision has bern made. Here … Continue reading “X-ray Vision” – Surgery of the Future?

Outcomes after micro-lumbar discectomy (MLD), done as described in this blog, were surveyed by questionnaire. Patient were asked to check one of four options for their present symptoms: Excellent - no pain and able to resume normal activities, Good - some pain but not requiring medication and most activities resumed without limitations, Fair - pain … Continue reading Outcomes After Surgery for Herniated Lumbar Disc

An L4 radiculopathy, the signs of which were explained in a previous blog, is a much less common finding. It is due to a HNP at L3/4, which occurs much less frequently than HNPs at either L4/5 or L5/1, where 85-90% of lumbar disc herniations occur.. Because the L4 root exits at L4/5, a far-lateral … Continue reading The Significance of an L4 Radiculopathy

One of the two most common radiculopathies found with lumbar HNP, an L5 radiculopaty is present when one, two or all three of the findings of weak big toe extension, decreased pin prick sensation over the big toe, or a decreased posterior tibial reflex is found. My study, as shown in the LOBAK app, found … Continue reading The Significance of an L5 Radiculopathy

An S1 radiculopathy is usually due to a HNP getting the S1 nerve root as it passes over the L5/S1 disc on its way to exit the spinal canal at the S2/S1 foramen. The calf muscle is very big and strong and it's unusual to find much of any weakness in it, so more often … Continue reading The Significance of an S1 Radiculopathy

Radicle is a medical term for a spinal nerve root as it comes out of the spinal dural sac and goes through its exit canal between two vertebrae. Pathology is an abnormality of body structure. So radiculopathy indicates an abnormality in a nerve root. How do you tell it's the nerve root and not the … Continue reading What is Radiculopathy?

A company called Geno Pharmaceuticals sells a pill for back pain called LOBAK. I think I named my AI program for managing lower back pain I call LOBAK in 1989 before they produced this pain medicine. Their pill is hard to find. Geno is based in India. The LOBAK pill might work pretty well. It … Continue reading LOBAK Tablets