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Purpose: The Cervical Spine Research Society Europe (CSRS-E) actively promotes scientific activities, the annual meeting being the most evident of them. The publication rate of oral and poster presentations at the annual meeting could be a measure for the success of the promotional activities. The publication rates of abstracts presented at the annual European meetings of the CSRS are unknown. The quality of the abstracts presented at a conference is reflected by the publication rate. A high publication rate is usually interpreted as representative of high scientific value of the conference., Methods: Poster and podium presentations from the 2007 to 2012 annual meetings were identified. Pubmed was used to search for the abstract title and/or the combination of authors to verify whether the data were published in a peer-reviewed journal. Abstracts were considered published if the data presented at the meeting were identical to that in the publication. The journals in which the data were published were identified, as well as the origin of the research centre., Results: From 2007 to 2012 826 abstracts were featured at the CSRS Europe annual meetings. There were 236 podium presentations and 590 poster presentations. 42 % of the podium presentations resulted in a publication, and 28 % of the poster presentations led to a publication. Overall, 32 % of accepted abstracts effectuated a publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Abstracts from European research groups had a publication rate of 29 % compared to 34 % for abstracts from non-European research groups. Spine, European Spine Journal, Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques and J Neurosurgery Spine were the most common publication journals for the abstracts. The mean impact factor of the journals in which was published was 2.2., Conclusion: 42 % of the abstracts that were accepted for podium presentation at the CSRS Europe resulted in a publication in peer-reviewed MEDLINE indexed journals. Publication rates are at the high end of the publication rate spectrum of abstracts accepted for European scientific meetings.

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of neck pain (NP) in the world population and to identify areas of methodological variation between studies. A systematic search was conducted in five databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, OSH-ROM, and PsycINFO), followed by a screening of reference lists of relevant papers. Included papers were extracted for information and each paper was given a quality score. Mean prevalence estimates were calculated for six prevalence periods (point, week, month, 6 months, year, and lifetime), and considered separately for age, gender, quality score, response rate, sample size, anatomical definition, geography, and publication year. Fifty-six papers were included. The six most commonly reported types of prevalence were point, week, month, 6 months, year, and lifetime. Except for lifetime prevalence, women reported more NP than men. For 1-year prevalence, Scandinavian countries reported more NP than the rest of Europe and Asia. Prevalence estimates were not affected by age, quality score, sample size, response rate, and different anatomical definitions of NP. NP is a common symptom in the population. As expected, the prevalence increases with longer prevalence periods and generally women have more NP than men. At least for 1-year prevalence Scandinavian countries report higher mean estimates than the rest of Europe and Asia. The quality of studies varies greatly but is not correlated with the prevalence estimates. Design varies considerably and standardisation is needed in future studies.

Unexpected loads, which often occur in the working environment, can lead to high forces in the spine and, thus, may be a cause of low back injury. This paper discusses the effect of "sudden load" on the erector spine reaction and amplitude. Muscle responses were mediated by several factors, including fatigue, posture, expectation and rehabilitation, in chronic low back pain patients. The subjects were fatigued by holding a 20% maximum voluntary contraction for 1 min. A functional restoration program was tested for its efficacy in reducing reaction time and EMG amplitude in chronic low back pain patients. Reaction time was longer and EMG amplitude lower in patients than in their matched controls. EMG reaction time and magnitude decreased in patients after a 2-week rehabilitation program, including specific training of coordination and posture control. The results of the modelling showed higher spinal compressive load and lower shear forces when the load was expected than when the load was unexpected. The effect of sudden loads can be exacerbated if a worker is not standing on a flat surface or is fatigued. Chronic low back pain patients have less ability to protect themselves from sudden loads, but they can be trained to improve their response by means of an appropriate rehabilitation program.