Source - DailyRx
Injuries are a potential risk athletic kids face. Concussions may be getting a lot of press lately, but injuries to the knee may be just as important.
A new study found that young athletes who needed ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) surgery were likely to re-injure their knees over a 15-year period.
Source - Ivanhoe
10-million Americans have osteoporosis and 18-million more are at risk. The bone disease leads to an increase in fractures in the hip, spine and wrist accounting for one-point-five million painful fractures each year and one woman's harrowing story of recovery is inspiring.
Source - Healio
Researchers from Denmark have uncovered a potential link between oral contraceptive use and instances of ACL injuries that required surgical intervention in women. The researchers evaluated 4,497 women who were treated operatively for an ACL injury between July 2005 and December 2011 and 8,858 age-matched, uninjured controls.
Source - Science Daily
Prompt and appropriate treatment of a dislocated shoulder -- when the head of the upper arm bone is completely knocked out of the shoulder socket -- can minimize risk for future dislocations as well as the effects of related bone, muscle and nerve injuries, according to a literature review.
Source - Science Daily
Regular mental imagery exercises help preserve arm strength during 4 weeks of immobilization, researchers have found. Strength is controlled by a number of factors -- the most studied by far is skeletal muscle. However, the nervous system is also an important, though not fully understood, determinant of strength and weakness. In this study, researchers set out to test how the brain's cortex plays into strength development.
Source - Healio
Shoulder arthroplasty can be performed for the treatment of the sequelae of an infected shoulder with low risk of reinfection, according to study results.
Twenty-four shoulders underwent shoulder arthroplasty for postinfectious glenohumeral arthritis between 1977 and 2009. Researchers monitored 23 shoulders for a minimum of 2 years or until reoperation and documented complications and clinical and radiographic results at the most recent follow-up.
Source - Science Daily
A “therapy car” is being used by physical and occupational therapists to help patients recovering from hip and knee replacement surgery simulate getting in and out of a real vehicle without falling or injuring themselves.
Concurrently, Virginia Mason's application for a patent on this invention is being reviewed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Source - Healio
Studies dating back nearly 20 years have shown a correlation between surgeon volume and the rate of complications in total hip arthroplasty, with higher-volume surgeons yielding lower complication rates.
“There are a fair number of studies now that establish pretty clearly that volume matters — independent of the volume done by the hospital,” said Jeffrey N. Katz, MD, MSc, professor of medicine and orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Source - Science Daily
A simplified frailty index created by surgeons at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Mich., is a reliable tool for assessing risk of mortality and serious complications in older patients considering total hip and knee replacement procedures, according to new study findings presented at the 2014 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons.
As more seniors stay healthier longer, elective operations such as hip and knee replacements are becoming more common. Traditionally, a person's eligibility for surgery has been based largely upon biological age. In recent years, however, a person's level of frailty (under-stood as a general decline in functional status) has come to be recognized as an independent risk factor for adverse health outcomes.
Source - Ivanhoe
It’s a surgery that is becoming increasingly more common. Ankle replacements usually are needed because of a bad accident or arthritis. But artificial ankles have come a long way and not all of them are the same.
David Sander believes he is a walking medical marvel and told Ivanhoe, “It’s really a miracle.”
The miracle is that he's walking at all after he slipped on an icy city sidewalk in the middle of winter. Sander said, “I lifted up my leg and my foot was backwards, and I said to myself oh my god.”
After his initial surgery David knew it would eventually come to a replacement, his cartilage was gone leaving him with painful, debilitating arthritis. But he worried failure rates were high for artificial ankles.
