This study demonstrates the superiority of the neck stabilization exercises, with some advantages in the pain and disability outcomes, compared with isometric and stretching exercises in combination with physical therapy agents for the management of neck pain.

In patients with AS, the most significant variables associated with QoL were BASDAI, BASFI, fatigue and pain. ASQoL was noted to be a short, rapid and simple patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument and strongly correlated with SF-36 subscales.

All scales were reliable, valid and sensitive instruments, with similar psychometric properties. The scale that most adequately reflects the patient should be chosen.

In a Turkish League Against Rheumatism (TLAR) project, evidence-based recommendations for the management of knee osteoarthritis (OA) was developed for the first time in our country in 2012 (TLAR-2012). In accordance with developing medical knowledge and scientific evidence, recommendations were updated. The committee was composed of 22 physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists (4 have rheumatology subspeciality also) and an orthopaedic surgeon. Systematic literature search were applied on Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane and Turkish Medical Index for the dates between January the 1st 2012 and January the 29th of 2015. The articles were assessed for quality and classified according to hierarchy for the level of evidence, and the selected ones sent to committee members electronically. They were asked to develop new recommendations. In the meeting in 2015, the format of the recommendations was decided to be patient-based and considering the grade and the severity of the disease. By the discussion of the each item under the light of new evidences, the final recommendations were developed. Each item was voted electronically on a 10-cm visual analogue scale (VAS) and the strength of recommendation (SoR) was calculated. In the light of evidences, totally 11 titles of recommendations were developed; the first 7 were applicable to each patient in every stages of the disease, remaining were for defined specific clinical situations. The mean SoR value of the recommendations was between 7.44 and 9.93. TLAR-2012 recommendations were updated in a new format. We think that, present recommendations will be beneficial for the physicians who manage, as well as the patients who suffer from the disease.

The goal of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of hyaluronan (HA) with/without corticosteroid in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). In a 1-year, randomized, single-blind trial, 24 patients were treated with HA weekly for 3 weeks, then three injections on the 6th month for a total of six injections. Sixteen patients were treated the same but with the addition of 1 ml triamcinolone acetonide prior to the first and fourth HA injection. The treatment was repeated at the sixth month. The patients were evaluated with the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and the visual analog pain scale (VAS). After 1 year, progression of OA was evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). During the study, pain relief was marked in patients who received combined treatment with respect to WOMAC pain and VAS (p<0.05). At the first year, no progression was observed in either treatment group. Although all patients had improvement for both pain and function, HA together with corticosteroid was superior to HA alone for early pain relief. The MRI findings showed that neither treatment showed a progression on the damage of the cartilage.

In this clinical trial, we examined the efficacy of intra-articular hyaluronic acid (HA) treatment in 38 patients with reducing displaced disc of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Subjects received two unilateral upper space injections of HA or physiological saline solution with 1 week apart. Efficacy was based on the following measurements: pain and sound intensity of the joint measured by visual analogue scale (VAS), modified Helkimo's clinical dysfunction index and the intensity of joint vibration during opening and closing the mouth measured by accelerometers. These measurements were performed before the first injection and 1 and 6 months after the last injection. In the treatment group (n=19), all measurements improved significantly at month 1 and at month 6 compared with the baseline (P < 0.01). The same measurements, in the placebo group (n=19), did not show any change, except for the pain intensity which improved at month 1 and month 6 (P < 0.05). The change in baseline measurements of all of the efficacy criteria at month 1 and at month 6 in the treatment group was significantly better compared with the change obtained with placebo at the same time intervals. This study demonstrates that intra-articular sodium hyaluronate (Orthovisc) injection into the TMJ is an effective treatment for a reducing displaced disc.

The present study demonstrated that all assessment parameters significantly improved in all groups without a significant difference. This result suggested that therapeutic US provided no additional benefit in improving pain and functions in addition to exercise training.

This is the first randomised study including a control group to demonstrate that weekly ALN was able to significantly increase BMD in patients with OLT when compared with Ca and calcitriol alone. However, ALN did not appear to offer protection against fractures.