News updates
Ask well: exercises for shoulder pain
Source: NY Times
You are certainly right that sore shoulders are common, especially as a person ages. About half of all middle-aged tennis players suffer from shoulder pain, according to a 2012 study in The British Journal of Sports Medicine, and youngsters aren’t immune either. The same study reported that about a quarter of competitive tennis players under 20 hurt their shoulders every year.
Many of these injuries involve the rotator cuff, the group of muscles and tendons at the back of the shoulder that stabilize the joint. Studies show that forces equivalent to at least 120 percent of a person’s body weight slam through the rotator cuff during a typical tennis serve or baseball pitch. To withstand that pounding, the rotator cuff needs to be strong.
Outcomes in tennis elbow significantly improved by PRP
Source: Medical News Today
Eighty-four percent of patients suffering from chronic tennis elbow (lateral epicondylar tendinopathy) reported significantly less pain and elbow tenderness at six months following platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment, according to results from the largest, multi-center study, to date, on PRP and tennis elbow, presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
Tennis elbow is a common, painful condition affecting approximately 1 to 2 percent of the population. In this study, 230 patients suffering from chronic tennis elbow who had failed traditional therapies were treated at 12 U.S. medical centers. Patients were randomized and received either an injection of PRP made from their own concentrated blood platelets, or a placebo, administered with an analgesic at the site of pain.
Teen baseball players benefit from docking technique to repair torn elbow ligament
Source: Medical News Today
A study at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) found that a surgical procedure known as the “docking technique” to repair a torn elbow ligament in teenage athletes yielded favorable results. The outcomes were better than those in previously published reports on reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), also known as Tommy John surgery, in this age group and may be attributed to technique-specific factors, according to the study authors.
The paper, titled, “The Docking Technique for Elbow Ulnar Collateral Ligament Insufficiency: Two-Year Follow Up in Adolescent Athletes,” was presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Chicago.
Toss the vitamin D and calcium?
Source: DailyRx.com
Preventing the risk of fractures as you grow older is important. Previously, vitamin D and calcium supplements were thought to help reduce that risk – but recommendations have changed.
The Task Force actually recommends against vitamin D in daily doses of 400 IU or less and calcium in daily doses of 1000 mg or less because it can increase the risk of kidney stones. At those doses, supplements do not prevent fractures in younger men and women.
However, the Task Force continues to recommend vitamin D supplements to prevent falls in adults 65 and older who are at higher risk for falls.
Why so idle with knee OA?
Source: DailyRx.com
Being obese or overweight can make osteoarthritis worse. Staying physically active is one of the best ways to avoid putting on extra pounds. However, many osteoarthritis patients remain inactive.
These findings suggest that there may be a serious need to improve physical activity among patients with knee osteoarthritis. According to the authors, increasing physical activity among these patients will likely involve weight management, healthy diet and improving pain and disability.
Treatment with platelet-rich plasma shows potential for knee osteoarthritis
Source: Medical News Today
Several treatments for osteoarthritis exist, including exercise, weight control, bracing, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, Tylenol, cortisone shots and viscosupplementation, a procedure that involves injecting a gel-like substance into the knee to supplement the natural lubricant in the joint. A new treatment that is being studied by a small number of doctors is PRP injections. PRP, which is produced from a patient’s own blood, delivers a high concentration of growth factors to arthritic cartilage that can potentially enhance healing.
Vitamin K for healthy knees
Source: DailyRx.com
Vitamin K supports bones and cartilage. So researchers wanted to know if low vitamin K was linked to joint damage and osteoarthritis.
The study found that people who had low levels of vitamin K in their blood were about 33 percent more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis.
Also, people with low vitamin K levels were about two times more likely to show signs of damaged cartilage in their knees.
The authors suggested that vitamin K may be important for keeping knees healthy.
ACL insurance insight
Source: Ivanhoe.com
ACL injuries have increased 400% in teens and adolescents in the last ten years. They’re also on the rise among baby boomers. To make sure you don’t have to pay out-of-pocket to fix the injury, doctors are using a new tool to show surgery works.
That’s where the gait-rite system comes in. This 26 foot carpet contains sensors to assess gait after injury and again after surgery to show how patients are doing.
Dr. Maloney says that, “We will have seen that their gait has been restored to what we consider normal and safe and allow them to progress.”
FDA clears Soft Tissue Regeneration’s STR GRAFT
Soft Tissue Regeneration, an early stage orthopedic device company that has developed a breakthrough tissue engineering platform used to regenerate ligaments and tendons, announced today that it has received FDA clearance to market its STR GRAFT, a biodegradable scaffold used for soft tissue augmentation and rotator cuff repair.
Developed by Cato T. Laurencin , M.D., Ph.D., an orthopedic surgeon and the company’s founder, the STR GRAFT is a three-dimensional braided engineered matrix that Laurencin likens to a patch. During surgery, surgeons can drape this biodegradable patch over the tendon that sits on the shoulder bone, anchoring it with sutures to keep it in place while the tendon, bones and nearby tissues heal. Unlike currently available devices, which are made of weaker cadaver or animal tissue that can cause sutures to pull, the STR GRAFT is thinner—about 1 millimeter—and stronger, which lessens pain, speeds recovery time and drastically reduces surgical failure rates.
Heavy loads on the shoulders can cause nerve damage in the hands and fingers
Source: Medical News Today
Trudging from place to place with heavy weights on our backs is an everyday reality, from schoolchildren toting textbooks in backpacks to fire fighters and soldiers carrying occupational gear. Muscle and skeletal damage are very real concerns. Now Tel Aviv University researchers say that nerve damage, specifically to the nerves that travel through the neck and shoulders to animate our hands and fingers, is also a serious risk.