TUESDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- In osteoporosis patients with spinal fractures, vertebroplasty provides significant pain relief and helps decrease disability, according to a new study.

Vertebroplasty involves injection of medical-grade bone cement into a fractured vertebra to shore up the fracture and provide pain relief. It's used to treat painful vertebral compression fractures that don't respond to conventional medical therapy with analgesics or narcotics.

The study followed 884 patients for five years who were assessed before and after vertebroplasty. Their average pre-treatment pain score on an 11-point scale decreased from 7.9 (+/- 1.5) before treatment to an average of 1.3 (+/- 1.8) after treatment.

The patients' ability to manage everyday tasks such as washing and dressing was measured using the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire. The patients' scores went from an average of 69.3 percent (+/-13.5) a month before treatment to 18.8 percent (+/- 6.9) a month after treatment.

"These data provide good news for physicians and osteoporosis patients. Many osteoporosis patients with compression fractures are in terrible pain and have a greatly diminished ability to perform basic daily activities, such as dressing themselves," Dr. Giovanni C. Anselmetti, an interventional radiologist at the Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment in Turin, Italy, said in a prepared statement.

The study also found that vertebroplasty didn't increase the risk of fracture in nearby vertebra.

"Vertebroplasty is already known to be a safe and effective treatment for osteoporotic vertebral fractures. Osteoporosis patients remain susceptible to new fractures, which often occur in the contiguous vertebra to an existing fracture. Our large-scale study shows that vertebroplasty does not increase the risk of fracture in the level contiguous to previously treated vertebra and that these new fractures occur at the same rate as they would in osteoporosis patients who did not have vertebroplasty," Anselmetti said.

The study was to be presented Tuesday at the annual scientific meeting of the Society of International Radiology.

Osteoporosis affects about 10 million Americans and causes about 1.5 million vertebral fractures each year, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Multiple vertebral fractures can cause chronic pain, disability, loss of independence, stooped posture, and compression of the lungs and stomach.

More information

The American College of Radiology/Radiological Society of North American has more about vertebroplasty  .

MONDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- Women with knee pain are less likely than men to be recommended for total knee replacement surgery, says a Canadian study that suggests gender bias may be a factor.

The University of Toronto study included a woman and a man with moderate knee osteoarthritis (OA) who reported the same pain symptoms and sought assessments from 67 doctors (38 family physicians and 29 orthopedic surgeons) in the province of Ontario. Overall, doctors were twice as likely to recommend total knee replacement surgery (arthroplasty) for the male patient (67 percent) as for the female patient (33 percent).

The study, published in the March 10 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is the first to demonstrate gender bias in an actual clinical setting, according to the researchers.

"Disparity in the use of medical or surgical interventions is an important health-care issue, and this research suggests a gender bias in the treatment of patients who may need orthopedic surgery," study author Dr. Cornelia Borkhoff said in a prepared statement.

The study is based on her doctoral thesis, which she conducted while in the clinical epidemiology program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine's Department of Health Policy Management and Evaluation.

"Physicians may be at least partially responsible for the sex-based disparity in the rates of total arthroplasty," Borkhoff said. "Physicians are susceptible to the same social stereotyping that affects all of our behavior. Decisions that stem from unconscious biases are not deliberate -- physicians would be unaware of their unconscious biases affecting their decisions."

The findings "support the need for clinician education programs to better inform physicians of the true risks of total joint arthroplasty, when and for whom to consider surgery, as well as the potential benefits of early treatment," Borkhoff concluded.

"Acknowledging that a gender bias may affect physicians' decision-making is the first step toward ensuring that women receive complete and equal access to care. The next step is to develop creative interventions that address these disparities in health care," principal investigator Dr. James Wright, a professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine's Department of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, and Surgeon-in-Chief at The Hospital for Sick Children, said in a prepared statement.

More information

The Arthritis Foundation has more about osteoarthritis  .

(HealthDay News) - Lifting objects -- sometimes even light ones -- is a common cause of back strain and injury.

To help prevent injury when lifting things, follow these techniques suggested by the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons:

• Don't try to lift or move heavy objects in a hurry. Take your time and plan what you need to do.
• Bend at the knees right in front of the object. Don't stand too far from it.
• Make sure your feet are positioned shoulder-width apart.
• With your stomach muscles tightened, lift with your leg muscles instead of with your back as you stand up.
• If the object seems too heavy, ask for help.