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‘Oil for the Joints’ Offers Hope for Osteoarthritis Sufferers
A team of researchers led by a Boston University Biomedical Engineer has developed a new joint lubricant that could bring longer lasting relief to millions of osteoarthritis sufferers. The new synthetic polymer supplements synovial fluid, the natural lubricant in joints, and works better than comparable treatments currently available.
According to Professor Mark W. Grinstaff (BME, MSE, Chemistry), the best fluid supplement now available offers temporary symptom relief but provides inadequate lubrication to prevent further degradation of the cartilage surfaces that cushion the joint. To achieve both objectives, Grinstaff, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School orthopedic surgeon Brian Snyder and a team of Boston University chemistry and engineering students, fellows and clinicians have advanced the first synthetic synovial fluid. They describe the unique polymer and its performance in Journal of the American Chemical Society.
The most common form of joint disease and a leading cause of disability in the elderly, osteoarthritis (OA) affects about 27 million Americans and 200 million people worldwide. Characterized by pain and swelling, the disease emerges in hand, hip, knee and other commonly used joints where degradation of cartilage and synovial fluid results in bone-on-bone abrasion. Treatments range from anti-inflammatory drugs to total joint replacement. While there's no cure for OA, one treatment -- injection of a polymer to supplement synovial fluid in the joint -- promises to relieve symptoms and slow the disease's progression by reducing wear on cartilage surfaces.
Full story of oil for the joints at Science Daily
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Should Your Health Be For Sale to the Highest Bidder?
You have pain in your knee, or your hip or shoulder. You choose a doctor recommended by a friend or relative who accepts your insurance. You make contact for an appointment. If it is not urgent and the appointment can wait, you wait. After your physical examination, the doctor orders an imaging test, an X-ray, a CT, an ultrasound and/or an MR. At that point, one or two things can happen.
First, your doctor may have imaging equipment, an X-ray, CT, MR or US machine in his/her office. The convenience of having the imaging examination at his/her office seems right and to refuse may be considered rude. As an informed consumer, you ask questions such as: Who owns this equipment? Who will be interpreting my imaging studies? If the answer to both of these questions is the ordering doctor him/herself, then this is self-referral. As a patient, it is important to know that self-referral is when the ordering doctor profits by ordering and performing examinations. Self-referring physicians may or may not have training in ionizing radiation or MR safety and/or experience in image interpretation. The certification process for image interpretation for non-radiologists is much less stringent than that for radiologists and is extremely light with regard to limiting ionizing radiation dose and/or MR safety. Also, by finding "something," but it is inconclusive on the imaging examination such that another imaging examination or a more invasive test or surgical exploration is required, that same doctor may further benefit financially.
Full story of health for sale at Huffington Post
Photos courtesy of and copyright PhotoPin, http://photopin.com/
They won’t let pain, injury stop them from their passions
Friction and gravity, oh that darling couple that waltzes with pain, agony and suffering. And the joints, the nerves, and the bones can't help but twist and shout.
Perhaps not the last tango of aging, relentless physical affliction certainly limits the hip and the hop for most.
Pain? Sure, it's there. Some chronic. Some that would make a weight-lifting biker in San Quentin call for Mommy.
But they push on. It's the love of the game. Or the concert. Or canvas.
Musician Bryan Girard has played saxophone for 30 years, yet is writhing in pain just to email. He suffers from tendinitis in both forearms and temporomandibular joint disorder, better known as TMJ.
Robb De Simone has been a youth umpire for 15 years. Yet he faces hip replacement after bobbing behind home plate for more than 1,500 games.
Full story of living in pain at Times Herald
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Strengthening beats stretching when it comes to this common running injury
They call it the “other” runner’s knee injury. Iliotibial band syndrome was the topic of a special session at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine earlier this month, and for good reason: While it’s less familiar than the cartilage problems that cause the classic “runner’s knee,” it remains the second most common running injury , accounting for about 25 per cent of overuse injuries, and also afflicts many cyclists.
The results presented at the meeting suggest a new approach to dealing with iliotibial band pain. While traditional rehab has focused on lengthening and loosening the stubborn band, early results from a study by the University of Calgary’s Running Injury Clinic show that strengthening the hip muscles may be more effective – not only for rehab, but for preventing the injury in the first place.
The iliotibial (IT) band is a tendon-like length of connective tissue that runs along the outside of the leg from the hip to the knee. The classic symptom is pain on the outside of the knee that gets worse after you’ve been running for a while, caused by the IT band pressing in and irritating fat tissue underneath it. Pain at the hip is also possible. The problem is usually blamed on a short, tight IT band, so the typical first line of defence is to relieve pressure by stretching the IT band to lengthen it. One stretch involves thrusting the bad hip outward while balancing on the bad leg and crossing the good leg in front of you – a complicated move that produces equivocal results.
Full story of strengthening over stretching at The Globe and Mail
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Physio: Cost of standing on two feet
Osteoarthritis is the most common disease affecting the joints of our body, particularly the hip joint.
We commonly see people in the clinic with complaints of morning or late afternoon stiffness and achy pain that increases at night.
Arthritic changes in the hip usually results in pain in the groin and buttock region that has gradually built up with no specific time of injury. Do you fit this description?
The ability to stand and walk on two feet gives us humans one of the most efficient ways of traveling out of any mammal on earth.
However, this genius is not without its side effects.
The hip joint is heavily used in daily life when we are walking, running, squatting, lifting, jumping and basically any other movement requiring the use of our legs. Therefore, you can imagine the amount of pressure put on our hips with the weight of our torsos bearing down on them with every movement.
Full story of osteoarthritis at Lake County Calendar
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Ask the Doctor: Running and Knee Pain
The featured question of the week comes from Nikki—
I have some pain on the outside edge of my knee when I run longer distances. It can be pretty sharp at times, but is usually achy. Any clue what it might be and how to help it?
This is a little tougher question without actually looking at the knee and doing some orthopedic tests. There are a lot of things that could be going on: damaged or strained ligaments, torn meniscus, and arthritis to name a couple things.
If arthritis and damage to the ligaments and meniscus is ruled out through X-rays and an MRI, what might be the culprit are tight quads, hamstrings, and/or ITB (iliotibial band), or tendonitis of those very same muscle groups.
Full story of runing and knee pain at Clawson Patch
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Hip and knee pain: Steps toward better mobility
Murray Ginsburg started running for his high-school team and has not stopped exercising daily in more than 70 years.
When he turned 75 and his knees began to give him problems, he stopped jogging and switched to 13-mile-long walks in the surrounding areas of his home in Coral Gables.
Last year, however, he began to have pain in his right hip. Initially, he could handle it, but it increased gradually. When Ginsburg, now 85, found that he couldn’t walk eight miles without pain, he decided it was time to get help.
Ginsburg is one of 1.1 million patients each year in the United States who, according to the National Center of Health Statistics, undergo hip- or knee-replacement surgery.
Full story of hip and knee pain at The Miami Herald
Photos courtesy of and copyright Free Range Stock, www.freerangestock.com
Straighten up to stay strong, avoid pain
They are reminders often spoken by mothers. Good posture and balance begin in our younger years and can be nurtured or neglected as we age. Many of the posture issues that develop from not listening to Mom eventually become bad habits. And, as muscles and ligaments gradually go awry, so goes proper posture.
When you are in poor alignment, you create muscle imbalances. Some muscles weaken and others become tight. But it is never too late to begin replacing some of those bad habits with good ones and, in the process, decrease back and neck discomfort.
Introducing small daily changes can make a difference for the better.
Benefits of good posture
Fewer aches and pains because unnecessary pressure on joints and muscles that can lead to pain is eliminated. Good posture keeps bones and joints in correct alignment, minimizing stress on the body.
Arthroscopic procedure defeats hip pain
By Estela Villanueva
Dave Moench didn’t have arthritis, but standing for long periods as well as waking up in the morning had become painful. Thinking the pain was a pulled groin from playing basketball, he saw his physician, who referred him to physical therapy for a pulled hip muscle. When the pain continued, he sought help at Iowa Ortho.
There, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Steven Aviles immediately diagnosed hip impingement, which had resulted in a torn labrum, or the soft tissue lining the pelvis. An MRI confirmed that Moench’s hip could be saved through hip arthroscopy. If he waited, Aviles told him he’d need a hip replacement in 10 years.
“That’s what prompted me to trust him. Every step I was taking was further aggravating it,” said Moench, 34.
Through the hip scope procedure, Aviles was able to shave the bone down and repair the soft tissue to correct the problem and eliminate the pain.
Medical advances lessen joint injuries among active seniors
By Leighton Ginn
Dr. Raj K. Sinha says the advancements in joint-replacement surgeries have come so far in the past decade that the results are exciting.
For active seniors, such as the ones who regularly play United States Tennis Association national events, getting joint replacements, particularly hips and knees, have been a Godsend.
Richard Doss, a highly accomplished tennis player who competes in the 80s age group, has replaced both knees and says they are the “best part of my body.”
“Everything else is wearing out rapidly, but the knees are like new,” Doss said. “That's the advantage of stainless steel and titanium.”
Doss had his knees replaced six years ago, and he's been coming along well. Last year, Doss won four national titles and reached the finals in three others.