The use of lumbar spinal instrumentation - a technique where adjacent vertebrae are induced to fuse, facilitated by devices - has sharply increased in the USA in recent years. But is there evidence that using instrumentation improves patient outcomes? Dr Maya Babu, from the Mayo clinic, Rochester, USA, tells us more.

We also delve into the neurological conditions associated with air travel. Dr Araceli Alonso-Cánovas, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain, describes the pattern of referrals her hospital received from their local airport and what could be done to reduce them.

See also:
A review of lumbar spinal instrumentation: evidence and controversy
Neurology at the airport

Movement disorders following head trauma are well recognised, but we know much less about those occuring after a peripheral injury. Diana van Rooijen, Leiden Medical Center, the Netherlands, tells us what her review on this group of conditions reveals (0.58).

Clinicians are used to seeing ALS patients who are or have been athletic. So is there a link, and if so, could exercise have a direct effect on the condition? Dr Martin Turner, John Radcliffe University Hospital, Oxford, talks us through his investigations (8.58).

See also:
Concordance between site of onset and limb dominance in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Peripheral trauma and movement disorders: a systematic review of reported cases