Background: Osteotomies aimed at correcting adult spinal deformity are associated with higher complications and perioperative morbidity. Recently, oblique lumbar interbody fusion (OLIF) was introduced for degenerative lumbar diseases. The aim of our study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of OLIF on the management of adult degenerative lumbar deformity (ADLD). Materials and Methods: Patients with ADLD who underwent deformity correction and decompression using OLIF and posterior instrumentation were enrolled. For radiologic evaluation, Cobb's angle (CA), sagittal vertical axis (SVA), lumbar lordosis (LL), thoracic kyphosis (TK), pelvic tilt (PT), sacral slope (SS), and pelvic incidence (PI) were evaluated. Visual analog scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), and perioperative parameters were recorded for clinical evaluation. Results: Fifteen patients with a mean age of 67 years (63–74 years) were enrolled prospectively and an average of 3 OLIFs (range 1–4) was performed. Posterior instrumentations were done at average of six levels (range 4–8). The mean operative blood loss was 863 ml (range 500–1400 ml) with a mean surgical duration of 7 h (range 3–11 h). SVA, TK, LL, CA, PT, and SS showed significant correction ( P < 0.05) in immediate postoperative period and all parameters except TK were maintained at final followup. At the end of 24 months of average followup, 86% (13/15) showed fusion. VAS (leg pain), VAS (back pain), and ODI improved by 74% (range 40–100), 58% (range 20%–80%), and 69.5% (range 4%–90%), respectively. There were two major complications requiring revision (1 infection and 1 adjacent vertebral body fracture). Transient hip weakness present in two patients (13%) recovered within 6 weeks. Conclusions: OLIF gives favorable short term clinical and radiological outcomes in patients of ADLD. It could potentially reduce the need for morbid pelvic fixation and posterior osteotomies in patients with degenerative lumbar deformity.

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There are limited reports on the effect of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) on meniscus healing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of leukocyte-rich PRP (L-PRP) on potential healing of the horizontal medial meniscus tears in a rabbit model. A horizontal medial meniscus tear was created in both knees of nine skeletally mature adult rabbits. Left or right knees were randomly assigned to a L-PRP group, or a control group. 0.5 mL of L-PRP from 10 mL of each rabbit's whole blood was prepared and injected into the horizontal tears in a L-PRP group. None was applied to the horizontal tears in a control group. The histological assessment of meniscus healing was performed at two, four, and six weeks after surgery. We found that there were no significant differences of quantitative histologic scoring between two groups at 2, 4, and 6 weeks after surgery (p > 0.05). This study failed to show the positive effect of single injection of L-PRP on enhancing healing of the horizontal medial meniscus tears in a rabbit model. Single injection of L-PRP into horizontal meniscus tears may not effectively enhance healing of horizontal medial meniscus tears.

Heel raise is widely prescribed to patients with chronic ankle instability in order to strengthen the Peroneus Longus muscle (PL) which supports the weakened lateral collateral ligaments. While the exercise itself is intuitive, ankle orientation is of particular importance because heel raises performed with inversion do not well recruit the PL. This implies that proper execution is imperative and a means to assess heel raise training sessions is needed. In this study we present a smart insole system capable of identifying heel raise events and its corresponding rise, hold and drop phases, which allows for a more descriptive analysis. The results from our heel raise sessions, which consist of four different variants performed by five healthy subjects, suggest that medial–lateral foot pressure distribution and foot orientation are needed to differentiate heel raises performed with ankle eversion and inversion. We go further and substantiate that proper execution, detected by our system, indeed leads to increased PL activation by analyzing the electromyography signals. We believe that the proposed system may provide clinicians with invaluable information regarding onsite as well as at-home training and possibly, with biofeedback, serve as foundation for software as a medical device.

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An FDA-approved soft wearable robot, the Myosuit, which was designed to provide hip and knee extension torque has recently been commercialized. While studies have reported reductions in metabolic costs, increased gait speeds, and improvements in clinical test scores, a comprehensive analysis of electromyography (EMG) signals and joint kinematics is warranted because the recruitment of appropriate muscle groups during physiological movement patterns facilitates effective motor learning. Here, we compared the lower limb joint kinematics and EMG patterns while wearing the Myosuit with that of unassisted conditions when performing level overground and incline treadmill gait. The level overground gait sessions (seven healthy subjects) were performed at self-selected speeds and the incline treadmill gait sessions (four healthy subjects) were performed at 2, 3, 4, and 5 km/h. In order to evaluate how the user is assisted, we conducted a biomechanical analysis according to the three major gait tasks: weight acceptance (WA), single-limb support, and limb advancement. The results from the gait sessions suggest that Myosuit not only well preserves the users’ natural patterns, but more importantly reduce knee extensor demand during the WA phase for both level and incline gait.

Heel raise is widely prescribed to patients with chronic ankle instability in order to strengthen the Peroneus Longus muscle (PL) which supports the weakened lateral collateral ligaments. While the exercise itself is intuitive, ankle orientation is of particular importance because heel raises performed with inversion do not well recruit the PL. This implies that proper execution is imperative and a means to assess heel raise training sessions is needed. In this study we present a smart insole system is capable of identifying heel raise events and its corresponding rise, hold and drop phases, which allows for a more descriptive analysis. The results from our heel raise sessions, which consist of four different variants performed by five healthy subjects, suggest that medial-lateral foot pressure distribution and foot orientation are needed to differentiate heel raises performed with ankle eversion and inversion. We go further and substantiate that proper execution, detected by our system, indeed leads to increased PL activation by analyzing the electromyography signals. We believe that the proposed system may provide clinicians with invaluable information regarding onsite as well as at-home training and possibly with biofeedback serve as foundation for software as a medical device.