Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Exercise Therapy For Chronic Low Back Pain, Jeanmarie Dahl

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is currently ranked as the 13th most frequent diagnosis in family practice (DynaMedPlus, 2017). The severe nature of the pain in this condition often leads providers to prescribe narcotics. While effective in the short term, opiates have significant side effects when used chronically. Other forms of management for CLBP need to be identified and utilized. The purpose of this review was to determine the role exercise therapy plays in the management of CLBP.

Four databases were searched in order to find high quality systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and randomized controlled trials (RCT) looking at exercise therapy …

Predictors Of Prolonged Recovery From Concussion, Patrick W. Riley

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

• Sport-related concussion has been thrust to the forefront of medicine in recent years.

• A high degree of variability in clinical presentation and length of recovery has made management of this condition difficult.

• This review examines whether pre-existing risk factors or sign and symptom based variables exist to reliably predict a patient’s likelihood to experience a protracted recovery from concussion.

• The review of literature revealed heterogeneous results.

• This is due, in part, to the variability in the definition of prolonged recovery, ranging from seven to 90 days. Despite this variability, several factors emerged as having useful …

Helmet Therapy Vs. Conservative Therapy For The Treatment Of Positional Skull Deformations, Whitney Thompson

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

• Plagiocephaly and brachycephaly are skull deformations that occur in nearly half of all infants. These deformities are present at birth or can develop shortly after birth due to head positioning while lying supine. Depending on the severity of the deformity, infants may develop negative long-term developmental outcomes. There are generally two ways to treat such patients; repositioning or with use of orthotics (helmet therapy).

• A study of systematic reviews and cohort studies was completed to determine if orthotics (helmet) therapy is significantly more effective than repositioning therapy.

• The study indicated that infants diagnosed with moderate to severe …

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Comparing And Contrasting Operative Versus Non-Operative Treatment Abstract, Ethan Morris

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

• Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common form of scoliosis. It affects 2-4 percent of adolescents aged 10-16 years. Although most adolescents diagnosed with scoliosis will not develop clinical symptoms, ten percent will progress and require medical intervention due to the potential for rib deformity and respiratory compromise as well as significant emotional distress due to aesthetic changes in appearance. Primary care providers should be prepared to evaluate and recommend treatment when idiopathic scoliosis is discovered or addressed by the patient. Three major factors that determine whether scoliosis will progress are patient gender, magnitude of curve on presentation, …

Effectiveness Of Treatments For Low Back Pain, Angela K. Salveson

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

Low back pain with or without radiculopathy symptoms is increasingly becoming a common complaint for patients. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the most effective treatment for patients experiencing low back pain with or without radiculopathy symptoms with the goal of pain reduction/elimination and positive long term results. The review of literature explores studies that discuss treatment options of surgical intervention or conventional treatment such as physical therapy. This information supplies health care providers with the tools to educate patients on treatment options and possible outcomes in hopes to offer the best treatment for the individual. Results show …