Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25047652›Full record

Trial reportEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2015

The prognostic value of electrodiagnostic testing in patients with sciatica receiving physical therapy.

Nathan J Savage, Julie M Fritz, John C Kircher, Anne Thackeray

Abstract readComparative StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 27% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. The Michel Benoist and Robert Mulholland yearly European spine journal review: a survey of the "surgical and research" articles in the European spine journal, 2015.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2016
    Article
  6. Poena, the goddess of divine retribution.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2015
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Nathan J SavageTotal Rehab, Inc., 5957 South Fashion Point Drive, Suite 102, South Ogden, UT, 84403, USA, nathan@totalrehabclinics.com.
Julie M Fritz
John C Kircher
Anne Thackeray
University of Utah · USTotal Rehab · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTo investigate the prognostic value of electrodiagnostic testing in patients with sciatica receiving physical therapy.

methodsElectrodiagnostic testing was performed on 38 patients with sciatica participating in a randomized trial comparing different physical therapy interventions. Patients were grouped and analyzed according to the presence or absence of radiculopathy based on electrodiagnostic testing. Longitudinal data analysis was conducted using multilevel growth modeling with ten waves of data collected from baseline through the treatment and post-treatment periods up to 6 months. The primary outcome measure was changes in low back pain-related disability assessed using the Roland and Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ).

resultsPatients with radiculopathy (n = 19) had statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in RMDQ scores at every post-treatment follow-up occasion regardless of treatment received. The final multilevel growth model revealed improvements in RMDQ scores in patients with radiculopathy at the 6-week (-8.1, 95 % CI -12.6 to -2.6; P = 0.006) and 6-month (-4.1, 95 % CI -7.4 to -0.7; P = 0.020) follow-up occasions compared to patients without radiculopathy. Treatment group was not a significant predictive factor at any follow-up occasion. An interaction between electrodiagnostic status and time revealed faster weekly improvements in RMDQ scores in patients with radiculopathy at the 6-week (-0.72, 95 % CI -1.4 to -0.04; P = 0.040) through the 16-week (-0.30, 95 % CI, -0.57 to -0.04; P = 0.028) follow-up occasions compared to patients without radiculopathy.

conclusionsThe presence of lumbosacral radiculopathy identified with electrodiagnostic testing is a favorable prognostic factor for recovery in low back pain-related disability regardless of physical therapy treatment received.

Indexed as

ElectromyographyPhysical Therapy ModalitiesAdultAgedFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansLow Back PainMaleMiddle AgedPain MeasurementPrognosisProspective StudiesRadiculopathySciaticaSingle-Blind Method

Identifiers

PMID25047652
OpenAlexW2150717231

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.