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Biomedical subjects

Henry Pollard

Publications and source records attributed to Henry Pollard.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

The organisation of the stress response, and its relevance to chiropractors: a commentary.

The stress response is a natural reaction by the body, against potentially harmful stimuli to enhance the chance for survival. Persistent activation of the stress response can cause changes to homeostatic mechanisms. The study of stress neurophysiology, in the evaluation of the manifestation of disease in the body, suggests that these chronic changes have detrimental effects on sub cortical structures. Furthermore, there is much scientific support for the notion that chronic activation of supraspinal systems will lead to maladaptation of homeostatic mechanisms, causing the impairment of processes within the body, and ultimately leading to visceral disorders. The chiropractic profession for many years has alluded to chronic change of neurophysiological pathways as a potential explanation of visceral disorders, but the profession has typically described these in terms of somatovisceral or viscerosomatic reflex activity. Change in supraspinal neurophysiological efferent activity is increasingly being used to explain "stress" related disease. The chiropractic profession should consider investigating such stress responses by conducting spinal manipulative therapy trials that evaluate supraspinal effects of manipulation. Such research may help elucidate key mechanisms associated with the change of visceral disorders noted by some chiropractors following manipulative therapy.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Journal publications by Australian chiropractic academics: are they enough?

PURPOSE: To document the number of journal publications attributed to the academic faculty of Australian chiropractic tertiary institutions. To provide a discussion of the significance of this output and to relate this to the difficulty the profession appears to be experiencing in the uptake of evidence based healthcare outcomes and cultures. METHODS: The departmental websites for the three Australian chiropractic tertiary institutions were accessed and a list of academic faculty compiled. It was noted whether each academic held a chiropractic qualification or research Doctoral (not professional) degree qualification A review of the literature was conducted using the names of the academics and cross-referencing to publications listed independently in the PubMed and Index to Chiropractic Literature (ICL) databases (from inception to February 27 2006). Publications were excluded that were duplicates, corrected reprints, conference abstracts/proceedings, books, monographs, letters to the editor/comments or editorials. Using this information an annual and recent publication rate was constructed. RESULTS: For the 41 academics there was a total of 155 PubMed listed publications (mean 3.8, annual rate per academic 0.31) and 415 ICL listed publications (mean 10.1, annual rate 0.62). Over the last five years there have been 50 PubMed listed publications (mean 1.2, annual rate 0.24) and 97 ICL listed publications (mean 2.4, annual rate 0.47). Chiropractor academics (n = 31) had 29 PubMed listed publications (mean 2.5, annual rate 0.27) and 265 ICL listed publications (mean 8.5, annual rate 0.57). Academics with a doctoral degree (n = 13) had 134 PubMed listed publications (mean 10.3, annual rate 0.70) and 311 ICL listed publications (mean 23.9, annual rate 1.44). Academics without a Doctoral degree (n = 28) had 21 PubMed listed publications (mean 0.8, annual rate 0.13) and 104 ICL listed publications (mean 3.7, annual rate 0.24). CONCLUSION: While several academics have compiled an impressive list of publications, overall there is a significant paucity of published research authored by the majority of academics, with a trend for a falling recent publication rate and not having a doctoral degree being a risk factor for poor publication productivity. It is suggested that there is an urgent necessity to facilitate the acquisition of research skills in academic staff particularly in research methods and publication skills. Only when undergraduate students are exposed to an institutional environment conducive to and fostering research will concepts of evidence based healthcare really be appreciated and implemented by the profession.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Chiropractic treatment of lower extremity conditions: a literature review.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to document the quantity and type of research conducted on the chiropractic management of lower extremity conditions. METHODS: A review of the literature was conducted using the CINAHL, MEDLINE, MANTIS, and Science Direct databases (each from inception to December 15, 2005). Search terms included chiropractic, hip, knee, ankle, foot, with Medical Subject Heading terms for each region. Inclusion criteria included studies with a lower extremity diagnosis, and the treatment was performed by doctors of chiropractic. Articles were excluded if pain was referred from spinal sites and if there was a duplicate publication; articles published in non-peer-reviewed literature and abstracts in conference proceedings were also excluded. Of the articles identified, an analysis was conducted assessing those including peripheral and/or spinal treatment. Clinical trials were assessed for quality using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale. RESULTS: There was a total of 1652 citations. Of these, 76 were deemed relevant; 24 were related to the foot, 10 to the ankle, 25 to the knee, and 17 to the hip. Twenty-nine citations included spinal treatment, 47 solely peripheral, and 2 solely spinal. Ten citations were clinical trials and scored on the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale. CONCLUSIONS: Literature on the chiropractic management of lower extremity conditions has a large number of case studies (level 4 evidence) and a smaller number of higher-level publications (level 1-3 evidence). The management available in the peer-reviewed literature is predominantly multimodal and contains combined spinal and peripheral components. Future chiropractic research should use higher-level research designs, such as randomized controlled trials.

Ankle↗
PubMed2006

Golf injuries: a review of the literature.

Golf is one of a few activities that people of all ages and skill level can play. Injury as with all sports can occur. The low back is the most common injury sustained whilst playing golf, and the dynamic action of the golf swing is a major contributing factor to injury. The golf swing is a complex movement that utilises the whole body in a coordinated fashion and when repeated frequently can result in injury. Injury can be overuse or traumatic in nature. Overuse injuries predominate in the professional golfer, and amateur golfer injury tends to occur secondary to an incorrect golf swing. Upper limb injuries are also common due to their role in linking the fast moving golf club with the power-generating torso. Fortunately, injury from a club or ball strike is rare. More common are the overuse injuries associated with the back, neck and shoulder. Most golf injury data have been collected retrospectively and further epidemiological study of a prospective nature is required to determine injury incidence and factor relating to the onset of injury.

Arm Injuries↗
PubMed2005

A multi-modal treatment approach for the shoulder: a 4 patient case series.

BACKGROUND: This paper describes the clinical management of four cases of shoulder impingement syndrome using a conservative multimodal treatment approach. CLINICAL FEATURES: Four patients presented to a chiropractic clinic with chronic shoulder pain, tenderness in the shoulder region and a limited range of motion with pain and catching. After physical and orthopaedic examination a clinical diagnosis of shoulder impingement syndrome was reached. The four patients were admitted to a multi-modal treatment protocol including soft tissue therapy (ischaemic pressure and cross-friction massage), 7 minutes of phonophoresis (driving of medication into tissue with ultrasound) with 1% cortisone cream, diversified spinal and peripheral joint manipulation and rotator cuff and shoulder girdle muscle exercises. The outcome measures for the study were subjective/objective visual analogue pain scales (VAS), range of motion (goniometer) and return to normal daily, work and sporting activities. All four subjects at the end of the treatment protocol were symptom free with all outcome measures being normal. At 1 month follow up all patients continued to be symptom free with full range of motion and complete return to normal daily activities. CONCLUSION: This case series demonstrates the potential benefit of a multimodal chiropractic protocol in resolving symptoms associated with a suspected clinical diagnosis of shoulder impingement syndrome.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Cervical stenosis in a professional rugby league football player: a case report.

BACKGROUND: This paper describes a case of C7 radiculopathy in a professional rugby league player after repeated cervical spine trauma. The report outlines the management of the patient following an acute cervical hyperflexion injury with chiropractic manipulation and soft tissue therapies. It also presents a change in approach to include distractive techniques on presentation of a neurological deficit following re-injury. The clinical outcomes, while good, were very dependent upon the athlete restricting himself from further trauma during games, which is a challenge for a professional athlete. CASE PRESENTATION: A 30-year old male front row Australian rugby league player presented complaining of neck pain after a hyperflexion and compressive injury during a game. Repeated trauma over a four month period resulted in radicular pain. Radiographs revealed decreased disc height at the C5-C6 and C6-C7 levels and mild calcification within the anterior longitudinal ligament at the C6-C7 level. MRI revealed a right postero-lateral disc protrusion at the C6-C7 level causing a C7 nerve root compression. CONCLUSION: Recommendations from the available literature at the present time suggest that conservative management of cervical discogenic pain and disc protrusion, including chiropractic manipulation and ancillary therapies, can be successful in the absence of progressive neurological deficit. The current case highlights the initial successful management of a football athlete, and the later unsuccessful management. This case highlights the issues involvement in the management of a collision sport athlete with a serious neck injury.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Are chronic low back pain outcomes improved with co-management of concurrent depression?

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the role of depression in chronic lower back pain and comment on appropriate methods of screening and co-management. DATA SOURCES: The current scientific literature was investigated using the online web databases CINAHL, Medline/PUBMED, Proquest, Meditext and from manual library searches. DATA EXTRACTION: Databases were searched from 1980 to the present (2005). Articles were searched with the key words "depression" and "low back pain". Over three hundred articles were sourced and articles were then selected on their relevance to the chronic spinal pain states that present to manual therapy practitioners. DATA SYNTHESIS: Pain is a subjective awareness of peripheral nociceptive stimulation, projected from the thalamus to the cerebral cortex with each individual's pain experience being mediated by his or her psychological state. Thus a psychological component will often be associated with any painful experience. A number of studies suggest (among other things) that the incidence of depression predicts chronicity in lower back pain syndromes but that chronic lower back pain does not have the reciprocal action to predict depression. CONCLUSION: The aetiology of chronic pain is multifactorial. There is sufficient evidence in the literature to demonstrate a requirement to draw treatment options from many sources in order to achieve a favourable pain relief outcome. The treatment should be multimodal, including mental and emotional support, counseling and herbal advice. While a strong correlation between depression and chronic low back pain can be demonstrated, an apparent paucity of literature that specifically addresses the patient response to chiropractic treatment and concurrent psychotherapy identifies the need for prospective studies of this nature to be undertaken. It is likely that multimodal/multidisciplinary treatment approaches should be encouraged to deal with these chronic lower back pain syndromes.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

The biopsychosocial model and hypothyroidism.

This paper comments on the role and emergence of the biopsychosocial model in modern medical literature and health care settings. The evolution of the biopsychosocial model and its close association with modern pain theory is also examined. This paper seeks to discuss the place of this model with respect to the management of hypothyroidism. This discussion represents a forerunner to a randomised control trial that will seek to investigate the effect of a biopsychosocial-based treatment regime on hypothyroidism.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Interexaminer reliability of the deltoid and psoas muscle test.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if 2 practitioners of differing skill levels could reliably agree on the presence of a weak or strong deltoid or psoas muscle. STUDY DESIGN: Interexaminer reliability study of 2 common muscle tests. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cohen kappa (unweighted) scores, observer agreement, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: The results showed that an experienced and a novice practitioner have good agreement when using repeated muscle test procedures on the deltoid ( kappa 0.62) and the psoas ( kappa 0.67). CONCLUSIONS: The manual muscle test procedures using the anterior deltoid or psoas showed good interexaminer reliability when used by an experienced and a novice user. These techniques may be used between practitioners in multidoctor assessment/management programs.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Labral injuries of the hip: a review of diagnosis and management.

OBJECTIVE: To report the current knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of acetabular labral tears. METHODS: A search of the MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Science Direct indexing systems (1966 to September 2004) was conducted using the following key indexing terms: labrum, labral, hip, acetabulum, injury, and treatment. One hundred eighty-six publications were sourced using this methodology and were considered in this review. The literature was sorted according to publication date and relevance. RESULTS: There is a small amount of literature on the topic of labral lesions. This is particularly true of the use of conservative (manual therapy) methods for the treatment of labral lesions. The literature on surgical diagnosis and management is more mature; however, longer-term follow-up studies are required to conclusively show the benefit of surgical intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Early diagnosis is important as labral tears may be linked to the progression of hip osteoarthritis. Initial treatment consisting of partial weight-bearing may respond if initiated early. Arthroscopy currently represents the gold standard in both the diagnosis and treatment of labral tears. Future research must investigate the long-term outcomes of partial labrectomy, as well as the efficacy of conservative approaches to care.

Acetabulum↗
PubMed2005

The management of hamstring injury--Part 1: Issues in diagnosis.

Hamstring injuries are the most prevalent muscle injury in sports involving rapid acceleration and maximum speed running. Injury typically occurs in an acute manner through an eccentric mechanism at the terminal stages of the swing phase of gait. Biceps femoris is most commonly injured. Re-injury rates are high and management is a challenge given the complex multi-factorial aetiology. The high rates of hamstring injury and re-injury may result from a lack of high-quality research into the aetiological factors underlying injury. Re-injury may also result from inaccuracy in diagnosis that results from the potential multi-factorial causes of these conditions. Inaccuracy in diagnosis could lead to multiple potential diagnoses that may result in the implementation of variable management protocols. Whilst potentially useful, such variability may also lead to the implementation of sub-optimal management strategies. Previous hamstring injury is the most recognized risk factor for injury, which indicates that future research should be directed at preventative measures. Much anecdotal and indirect evidence exists to suggest that several non-local factors contribute to injury, which may be addressed through the application of manual therapy. However, this connection has been neglected in previous research and literature. This paper will explore and speculate on this potential connection and offer some new contributive factors for hamstring injury management. This first paper of a two part series on hamstring injury will explore diagnostic issues relevant to hamstring injury and the second will investigate various established and speculative management approaches.

Athletic Injuries↗
PubMed2005

Hamstring injury management--Part 2: Treatment.

The management of hamstring injuries can be described as vexed at best. One reason for this may be because of a lack of high-quality research into the methods of treatment, rehabilitation and prevention. As a result, an evidence-based approach to injury management does not exist. Management is based on clinical experience, anecdotal evidence and the knowledge of the biological basis of tissue repair. Previous hamstring injury is the most recognized risk factor for injury, which indicates that treatment approaches may be suboptimal under certain conditions. The identification of these risk factors and the methods best designed to manage them should be addressed with future research efforts. Much anecdotal and indirect evidence exists to suggest that several non-local factors contribute to injury. Despite the knowledge that these factors may exist, the literature appears almost devoid of research investigating their possible identification and treatment. Treatment has traditionally been in the form of altering the muscle repair process through the application of electrophysical therapy and various soft-tissue-based and exercise-based techniques. Little research has investigated the role of other forms of manual therapy particularly when directed at non-local structures. This paper will explore and speculate on this potential connection and offer some new contributive factors for hamstring injury management.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Rotator cuff impingement.

OBJECTIVE: To present a case of shoulder impingement syndrome managed with a conservative multimodal treatment approach. CLINICAL FEATURES: A patient had anterior shoulder pain and a diffuse ache in the right upper arm, with tenderness in the shoulder region on palpation. Shoulder range of motion was limited with pain and catching, coupled with limited and painful cervical motion. After physical and orthopedic examination, a clinical diagnosis of shoulder impingement syndrome was made. INTERVENTIONS AND OUTCOME: The patient underwent a multimodal treatment protocol including soft tissue therapy, phonophoresis, diversified manipulation; and rotator cuff and shoulder girdle muscle exercises. Outcomes included pain measurement; range of motion of the shoulder, and return to normal daily, work, and sporting activities. At the end of the treatment protocol the patient was symptom free with all outcome measures normal. The patient was followed up at 4 and 12 weeks and continued to be symptom free with full range of motion and complete return to normal daily and pre-treatment activities. CONCLUSION: This case report shows the potential benefit of a multimodal chiropractic protocol in resolving symptoms associated with shoulder impingement syndrome.

Adult↗