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Lead Stories: Sunday, July 20, 2008

Athletes and Other Active Individuals Found to Prefer Athletic Doctors

Posted January 16th, 2008 at 3:33 PM by Megan Hueter

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

People can be very selective about which doctor to seek. Some seek certain specialties, some (actually many of us) seek whatever our insurance will pay for, and some seek whatever is easiest and most convenient in terms of location. But—as an athlete—would you prefer doctor who is personally athletic? A recent article from the NY Times analyzed this exact question.

While it may not be proven that athletic doctors are better for athletes, a study of 4,000 female doctors found that those who are at least moderately active are much more comfortable giving advice about exercise to patients, and their advice would be more meaningful, since the active doctor sets the example about a healthy lifestyle. Athletic doctors are less likely to take off-the-wall conservative approaches to pain, such as, “Running destroys the cartilage in the knees.”

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HesFit.com

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Strong Legs For Strong Knees

Posted November 27th, 2007 at 8:30 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Doctors have known for many years that having weak quad muscles (in the front of your upper legs) increases risk for damage to the cartilage in your knees. A study from Purdue University shows that strengthening these muscles slows down knee cartilage damage and may even improve knee function (Arthritis & Rheumatism, October 2006).

The researchers placed 221 adults in their sixties and seventies either on a program of strengthening their muscles in their upper legs or just moving their knees in a series of range-of- motion exercises. The subjects exercised three times per week (twice at a fitness facility and once at home) for 12 weeks. This program was followed by a transition to home-based exercise for 12 months. Older people weaken naturally with aging, but the range of motion exercisers lost more strength than those who exercised against progressive resistance. The strength training helped retain joint space, signifying that this group had less loss of cartilage.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

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Partial Knee Replacements …
… are they worth it?

Posted September 10th, 2007 at 8:00 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

As every athlete knows, properly functioning knees are a critical aspect of virtually any form of exercise. Walking, running, lifting, kicking - seems obvious to say, but without your knees your body would be at a severe loss. So what do you do when you sustain an injury to your knee?

Though accidents and injuries are an unavoidable part of the world of sports, certain types are undeniably worse for your body to endure. Take, for instance, damage caused to knee cartilage. Cartilage, once damaged, can never heal. Rather, it continues to break down until it is completely gone, leaving the knee in constant pain and the person unable to participate in many normal activities.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HesFit.com

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Partial Knee Replacement: Less Pain, but Not for Everyone

Posted September 4th, 2007 at 9:35 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

The ends of bones are soft, so they must be covered with a thick white gristle called cartilage. Many people suffer from knee pain because the cartilage is damaged. They may have osteoarthritis in which the cartilage wears away, or they may have damaged cartilage in an accident or by playing sports. Once damaged, cartilage can never heal; the person spends the rest of his life losing cartilage until the cartilage is completely gone and the knee hurts 24 hours a day.

Until recently, the only effective treatment has been to cut out the ends of the bones of the knee and replace the entire knee joint. Now for some people, a simpler procedure may be effective: partial knee replacement, called unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. The surgeon removes just part of the cartilages and bones on the upper and lower legs on one side of the knee.
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Strengthen quad muscles to help your knees

Posted May 7th, 2007 at 11:30 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Doctors have known for many years that having weak quad muscles (in the front of your upper legs) increases risk for damage to the cartilage in your knees. A study from Purdue University shows that strengthening these muscles slows down knee cartilage damage and may even improve knee function (Arthritis & Rheumatism, October 2006).

The researchers placed 221 adults in their sixties and seventies either on a program of strengthening their muscles in their upper legs or just moving their knees in a series of range-of- motion exercises. The subjects exercised three times per week (twice at a fitness facility and once at home) for 12 weeks. This program was followed by a transition to home-based exercise for 12 months. Older people weaken naturally with aging, but the range of motion exercisers lost more strength than those who exercised against progressive resistance. The strength training helped retain joint space, signifying that this group had less loss of cartilage.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Osteoarthritis in athletes

Posted March 2nd, 2007 at 4:00 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Former elite athletes are at high risk for degenerative arthritis requiring eventual hip and knee replacements (1), but that doesn’t mean that you should stop exercising!

Elite athletes often train through pain and compete when they are injured. You should never do that. Your body talks to you. If your hip or knee hurts when you exercise, stop exercising. If the pain returns every time that you run, stop running and find another sport. Most former athletes who end up with joint replacement surgery had major injuries that came from exercising when they should have rested, or traumatic injury that damaged cartilages.
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How can I rehabilitate
a knee injury?

Posted January 4th, 2007 at 7:00 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Many sports injuries cause a progressive permanent osteoarthritis that will prevent a person from exercising to cause the very diseases that a regular exercise program is supposed to prevent. Sports medicine surgeon James Garrick, writing in the medical journal Lancet (Dec 2005), explains why.

You are supposed to exercise. It makes you stronger, faster, healthier and may even prolong your life. However, every time you exercise, you risk injury and many sports injuries last forever.
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Exercise, but don’t run, with arthritis

Posted November 24th, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

When you have arthritis, your joints hurt you wake up, but you force yourself to get out of bed and as you keep on moving, the pain lessens. Is your body trying to tell you something when you feel better after you start to move? Many studies have shown that bed rest worsens the pain of arthritis, and a strength training program can help to control it.

Most people with arthritis think they should rest their muscles and joints, but resting is the worst thing you can do. When you move around, the cartilage in your joints acts like a shock absorber. Resting weakens cartilage and increases its likelihood to break. Resting also weakens muscles so they can’t control the joints, allowing more wobble of the joints with each movement and increasing cartilage damage. Read the rest of this entry »

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Arthroscopic knee surgery to remove cartilage is usually useless

Posted November 14th, 2006 at 3:41 PM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

I have said repeatedly that surgery to trim cartilage in the knee is worthless. I have seen many patients who have had cartilage removed by surgeons for an average charge of $5000 and then they must have a knee replacement several years later. The surgeon must know about the harm he is doing because he has to see his patients for followup, when many of them require knee replacement surgery.

Now a report in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that knee surgery to remove cartilage is worse than doing nothing. The headline from Baylor Medical School, where the landmark study was performed, is that “Study Finds Common Knee Surgery No Better Than Placebo.” Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who underwent placebo arthroscopic surgery were just as likely to report pain relief as those who received the real procedure. The researchers say their results challenge the usefulness of one of the most common surgical procedures performed for osteoarthritis of the knee. Read the rest of this entry »

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