Browsing by Author "Grande Alonso, Mónica"

Background and Objectives: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the most common occupationaldisorder due to its associated disability and high risk of recurrence and chronicity. However,the mechanisms underlying physical and psychological variables in patients with CLBP remain unclear.The main objective of this study was to assess whether there were differences between physicallyactive patients with nonspecific CLBP compared with asymptomatic individuals in sensorimotor andpsychological variables.Materials and Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional design with anonprobabilistic sample. The sample was divided into two groups: individuals with nonspecific CLBP(n=30) and asymptomatic individuals as a control (n=30). The psychological variables assessedwere low back disability, fear of movement, pain catastrophizing, and self-efficacy. The sensorimotorvariables assessed were two-point discrimination, pressure pain threshold, lumbopelvic stability,lumbar flexion active range of motion, and isometric leg and back strength.Results: Statisticallysignificant differences between the groups in terms of catastrophizing levels (p=0.026) and fear ofmovement (p=0.001) were found, but no statistically significant differences between groups werefound in self-efficacy (p>0.05). No statistically significant differences between the groups in anyof the sensorimotor variables were found (p>0.05).Conclusion: No sensorimotor differences werefound between patients with asymptomatic and chronic low back pain, but differences were found inthe psychological variables of catastrophizing and fear of movement.

Schwannoma is a benign tumor located in the Schwann cells of the nerves. A 36-year-old white man underwent surgery after being diag-nosed with radial nerve schwannoma of the upper right extremity be-tween the triceps brachii muscle and brachioradialis muscle, after which a complete axonotmesis of the aforementioned nerve trunk oc-curred. The symptomatology presented by the patient included a loss of both motor and sensory function of the fingers, hand, and right forearm. The treatment was a biobehavioral physiotherapy approach that includ-ed therapeutic exercise, neuro-orthopedic manual physical therapy, therapeutic education, and sensitivity retraining. The biobehavioral ap-proach in physiotherapy includes a multimodal approach that encom-passes biological aspects, along with cognitive-evaluating and motiva-tional-affective components. Two weekly sessions were held for 6 months, resulting in a total of 48 sessions. Using multimodal physiother-apy based on a biobehavioral approach, after 6 months of treatment, the symptoms improved. The motor function of the upper limb improved considerably due to the recovery of increased activity of the superficial musculature dependent on the radial nerve. However, the functions de-pendent on deep forearm and hand musculature recovered to a lesser extent. At the sensory level, the retraining of sensitivity allowed the pa-tient to regain an important sensitivity. This case report explains the treatment used and the findings obtained, given a large percentage of the functionality that had been lost was recovered.