PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J L Quintner

Publications and source records attributed to J L Quintner.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

The Australian RSI debate: stereotyping and medicine.

The vehement scientific debate which took place in Australia in the 1980s over the epidemic of the chronic cervicobrachial pain syndrome known as repetition strain injury (RSI) was remarkable for the accompanying social commentary offered by many of the medical participants. This commentary was to have a profound effect on relationships between individual doctors and their patients with RSI. It reflected and reinforced the prevailing stereotypes within Australian society, not only of working women, but also of recipients of workers' compensation payments. On the other hand, some of the medical responses to the epidemic were severely criticized by social scientists who analysed the epidemic. In the process of such criticism, a number of stereotypes of doctors were also reinforced.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Referred pain of peripheral nerve origin: an alternative to the "myofascial pain" construct.

The theory of myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) has been constructed around the trigger point (TrP), a region within a muscle from which local and remote pain can be evoked by palpation. Although their pathophysiology is obscure, TrPs have been regarded as the cause of myofascial pain. Spread and chronicity of pain are attributed to the activation of latent, secondary, and satellite TrPs. Although it lacks internal validity, this tautological concept has given rise to a system of empirical treatment that has been uncritically accepted by many. However, not only does the anatomical distribution of pain referred from TrPs bear a close relationship to the course of peripheral nerves, but the pain of MPS is also similar to nerve trunk pain, which is an example of somatic referred pain. Pain of peripheral nerve origin can be present without neurological deficit and with normal findings on conventional electrodiagnostic examination. In contrast to the theory of MPS, which considers the TrPs to be sites of primary hyperalgesia, this article argues that all MPS phenomena are better explained as secondary hyperalgesia of peripheral neural origin.

Humans↗
PubMed1993

Fibromyalgia syndrome, a problem of tautology.

Fibromyalgia syndrome is generally taken to denote a clinical state of widespread musculoskeletal pain, stiffness, and fatigue but its pathophysiology, physical and psychological, is unknown, and the nature of the diagnostically mandatory "tender points" remains obscure. Diagnostic criteria convey no pathophysiological insight and they have been "validated" via a circular argument in which the evidence on which the construct is based is taken as proof of its veracity. The concept of fibromyalgia syndrome is valid only in the sense that it includes all possibilities. An alternative approach to this very real clinical presentation is via secondary hyperalgesia.

Fibromyalgia↗
PubMed1989

A study of upper limb pain and paraesthesiae following neck injury in motor vehicle accidents: assessment of the brachial plexus tension test of Elvey.

The brachial plexus tension test (BPTT) appears to offer a means of examining the extensibility and mechanosensitivity of the neural tissues related to an upper limb. This test was used to evaluate possible cervical or brachial plexus neural involvement causing arm pain syndromes in 37 patients presenting for assessment following neck injury in motor vehicle accidents. The BPTT was considered positive in 55 of the 61 symptomatic arms. There were no false-positive responses in the 13 asymptomatic arms although a slight loss of extensibility was evident in five arms. Twenty patients without clinical evidence of current or previous neck pathology were similarly examined. There were no reports of pain on BPTT in this group. In 36 of the 40 arms a full range of extensibility was present. In the other four arms the loss of extensibility was slight. This study suggests that arm pain and paraesthesiae which follow neck injury in motor vehicle accidents arise from irritable cervical neural tissues. The study also highlights the persistent nature and widespread distribution of the pain in these patients.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1989

The pain of 'RSI'. A historical perspective.

The author explains that the arm pain syndrome known in Australia as repetition strain injury (RSI) has also been described in the medical literature of other countries. Different nomenclatures describing this syndrome have been used by authors over the past 120 years. Occupation Neurosis became the generally accepted term during the last century.

Cumulative Trauma Disorders↗
PubMed1989

The pain of RSI. The central issue.

In this paper RSI (repetition strain injury) is used to refer to those diffuse neck and arm pain syndromes that appear to be directly related to occupational factors; for example, occupational overuse syndrome (OOS) and occupational cervicobrachial disorder (OCD). The author examines the clinical evidence that suggests the involvement of neural tissues in the pathogenesis of these conditions. He also speculates on the possible underlying pathophysiological mechanisms that may explain their development and persistence.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗