December, 2011
Ask The Doctors: December 2011
Subscribers Only Preparation for a total joint replacement is an important part of your overall care. It includes a complete health evaluation, laboratory studies, a nutritional assessment, a session with a physical therapist, and patient information concerning your surgery. You’ll learn about total joint replacement and why postoperative care is important in achieving good results. A physical therapist will familiarize you with post-operative exercises prior to surgery. After surgery, you’ll receive pain medications and physical therapy procedures.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Is Not Just a Joint Disease
Heightened cardiac risk is just one consequence of RA. Others include osteoporosis, breathing problems, and eye complications.
Subscribers Only Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is best known as a disease that causes pain and swelling in the joints, but its reach doesn’t end there. RA is characterized by increased inflammatory cells in your joints. These cells can spill over into your general circulation and can have harmful effects on your heart, blood vessels, bones and other bodily systems.
Online Medical Advice: Can You Trust It?
Subscribers Only There’s no shortage of medical Web sites today promising to relieve or cure your ills. But how can you be sure that the information they deliver is reliable? Here are a few questions to ask: Who runs the site? Any bona fide health-related Web site should make it easy for you to learn who is responsible for the site and its information.
OA Knee Pain: 6 Steps to Relief
Subscribers Only Recent research suggests that knee osteoarthritis (OA) causes disabling symptoms in 10 percent of people over age 55. Millions more have milder symptoms that still impact quality of life. And many others have knee OA along with some other knee ailment, such as a meniscus tear. Yet, even though arthritis and some knee injuries can result in knee pain, inflammation and stiffness, in most cases the solution is not surgery, according to Santhosh A. Thomas, DO, MBA, medical director at the Center for Spine Health and co-director of the Medical Spine Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic’s Neurological Institute.
Take Protective Steps Now to Avoid Holiday Back Pain
Subscribers Only Holidays can be hazardous to your back health. Shopping, standing in lines, traveling, overeating, watching too much television, and the stress that comes with getting out of a normal routine all combine to create a perfect storm for a backache. “Stress can often increase the intensity of pain,” says Ian Stephens, P.T., a Cleveland Clinic physical therapist. “Start planning what you have to get done during the holidays as early as possible. Allot a certain amount of work each day or week leading up to that time of year instead of trying to knock it all out at the last minute.”
In The News: December 2011
Subscribers Only A new approach to delivering drugs may allow morphine and other strong medications to be targeted directly to the central nervous system. Researchers at the University of Washington, who have developed and tested a “pressurized olfactory device” (POD) in mice, say a similar technique used in humans might provide an effective technique for the administration of opioid drugs. The result, they claim, would be improved pain control with fewer side effects and faster action. The POD is designed to deliver morphine with greater accuracy to the olfactory region of the nasal cavity, a tiny area between the nose and brain that is an attractive target for drugs targeting the central nervous system (CNS).
Bracing: R&R for Painful Joints
Left to right: Semi-rigid knee brace shifts weight away from the most painful parts of the joint. Splinted brace relieves wrist pain from carpal tunnel syndrome. Strap-on ankle brace stabilizes a weak ankle joint. Counterforce elbow brace compresses forearm muscles, reducing strain on sore elbow tendons.
Subscribers Only Nearly 21 million Americans say that arthritis limits their usual activities in some way, and hundreds of thousands of people regularly use devices such as braces to help relieve arthritis-related pain and to improve function, according to the Arthritis Foundation. “If arthritic joints are painful, braces can offer support and allow you to do more without the same degree of pain,” says Susan Joy, MD, director of Women’s Sports Health at Cleveland Clinic. “Examples include walking or exercising with a knee sleeve or while wearing an ankle support, or typing with a wrist brace. The key is to use an appropriate brace if you need it, and stop wearing it when you don’t.”