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For Meniscus Tear, Exercise Therapy Outperforms Surgery

For Patients With Meniscus Tear, Exercise Therapy Outperforms Surgery in Key Muscle Strength Measure

Meniscus-Injury, young girlIn a study that turned the tables on common research that uses exercise therapy evaluate the effectiveness of arthroscopic surgery, used a surgery group as a control to measure improvements in quadriceps strength and neuromuscular function. They write that such improvements, “can provide functional improvements, pain relief, and possibly also a delay in the onset of osteoarthritis (OA)” in individuals with the tears.

Exercise therapy can improve certain functions to a degree not possible through arthroscopic surgery for middle-aged patients with degenerative meniscus tears, according to a new study from Denmark. Researchers believe the improvement in function through exercise—more than 16% greater than improvement experienced by the surgery group—may lead to better long-term outcomes.

To read more on this subject, click here.

 

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To Blow or Not to Blow, That is the Question

Should you blow your nose? What is the  alternative? Gross? Yup, but good info nonetheless.

Blow Your Nose?

Unless you are a small child, letting snot run down your face isn’t an option. But what if blowing your nose was bad for you or even dangerous? What to do? Uuuuggghhh.

But resent research is pointing to evidence that blowing away your boogers isn’t helpful. When you blow your nose hard, some of your mucus actually flies back into your sinuses, causing problems and exposing you to more bacteria and worsening health.

The thing about stuffy noses is they’re rarely stuffed with snot. If cold, flu, or allergies have you feeling congested, chances are your nose is blocked up not with mucus, but with swollen blood vessels. The case against blowing one’s nose – by which we mean the good, hard, blast that one unleashes when one means serious business – is two fold: First, it generates a lot of pressure in one’s nasal cavity. Second, that pressure can trigger a kind of otolaryngological blowback, blasting dollops of mucus not out the nose, but backwards and into the sinuses.

So are we supposed to, ew, swallow? Well, that is up to you. Best practice however for obvious reasons, is to blow gently.

Read more here: http://io9.com/should-you-really-be-blowing-your-nose-like-that-1644812732?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

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Walking 6,000 steps a day might protect adults at risk of knee osteoarthritis

6,000 steps a day can prevent osteoarthritis of the kneeWalking 6,000 steps or more each day might protect adults at risk of knee osteoarthritis from developing mobility issues, such as difficulty getting up from a chair and climbing stairs, according to a new study.

Even though walking is a common daily activity for older adults, research has found two-thirds of adults with arthritis walk less than 90 minutes per week.

“Walking is an inexpensive activity and despite the common popular goal of walking 10,000 steps per day, our study finds only 6,000 steps are necessary to realize benefits,” White said in the release. “We encourage those with or at risk of knee OA to walk at least 3,000 or more steps each day and ultimately progress to 6,000 steps daily to minimize the risk of developing difficulty with mobility.”

To read more and see the study click here.

 

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Effective Therapy for Golfer’s Elbow

Researchers from the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma  found a simple exercise using an inexpensive rubber bar is effective at reducing pain associated with golfer’s elbow, according to a news release.

young woamn swings a golf club“The success and popularity of the Tyler Twist led us to develop and evaluate an exercise for golfer’s elbow,” lead research author Timothy Tyler, PT, MS, ATC, said in the release. “The Tyler Twist, a novel exercise using the TheraBand FlexBar, was shown to significantly improve strength and reduce pain for individuals with chronic tennis elbow. This new golfer’s elbow exercise, dubbed the Reverse Tyler Twist, also employs a FlexBar and was found to be effective at reducing the pain for patients suffering from golfer’s elbow.”

“Additional benefits of this treatment are many,” Tyler said in the release. “It can be performed as part of a home exercise program, it doesn’t involve continued medical supervision or expensive equipment, and treatment dosage is not limited by the patient needing to come to a clinic. All of these greatly reduce the costs associated with treatment.”

 TheraBand FlexBar

available online at Amazon.

For exercise instructions visit

www.thera-bandacademy.com/tba-exercise/FlexBar-Tyler-Twist-for-Tennis-Elbow

Exercise video

http://youtu.be/vZsa0bBCAf0

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Chikungunya

Chikungunya virus is transmitted to people by mosquitoes. The most common symptoms of chikungunya virus infection are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash. Outbreaks have occurred in countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In late 2013, chikungunya virus was found for the first time in the Americas on islands in the Caribbean. There is a risk that the virus will be imported to new areas by infected travelers. There is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat chikungunya virus infection. Travelers can protect themselves by preventing mosquito bites. When traveling to countries with chikungunya virus, use insect repellent, wear long sleeves and pants, and stay in places with air conditioning or that use window and door screens.

Mosquito

Prevention

  • No vaccine exists to prevent chikungunya virus infection or disease.
  • Prevent chikungunya virus infection by avoiding mosquito bites (see below).
  • The mosquitoes that spread the chikungunya virus bite mostly during the daytime.

Protect Yourself from Mosquito Bites

  • Use air conditioning or window/door screens to keep mosquitoes outside. If you are not able to protect yourself from mosquitoes inside your home or hotel, sleep under a mosquito bed net.
  • Help reduce the number of mosquitoes outside your home or hotel room by emptying standing water from containers such as flowerpots or buckets.
  • When weather permits, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
  • Use insect repellents.
  • Repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, and oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol products provide long lasting protection.
  • If you use both sunscreen and insect repellent, apply the sunscreen first and then the repellent.
  • Do not spray repellent on the skin under your clothing.
  • Treat clothing with permethrin or purchase permethrin-treated clothing.
  • Always follow the label instructions when using insect repellent or sunscreen.
  • More information about insect repellents can be found on the CDC West Nile virus website, “Insect Repellent Use & Safety”.
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How Arm Fatigue Affects Legs (and Vice Versa)

Can there be “nonlocal” effects of fatigue. Does arm exercise make your legs tired? And does leg exercise make your arms tired? The overall answer, under the right circumstances, seems to be yes. It’s still exactly clear how or why.

Arm & Leg fatigue study

This is a big topic of research these days, because if we can understand how nonlocal fatigue works, we’ll be a lot closer to understanding how plain old local fatigue works too. There has been studies and the basic result was this: Whether you fatigue an arm or a leg, the opposite leg will be tired in a subsequent bout of exercise. Conversely, whether you fatigue an arm or leg, the opposite arm will not be tired in a subsequent bout of exercise.

Now that is weird. Really weird. Read More:

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Stay Healthy by Playing Less? Dr. Andrews thinks so. You should listen.

Dr. James Andrews is the undisputed rock star of orthopedic surgeons. His personal statistics regarding number of surgeries are mind-numbing. The list of who’s who in professional and collegiate sports he has repaired is unparalleled. The contracts his patients have signed post surgery exceeds a billion dollars. To put it succinctly, Dr. Andrews is the authority on sport injuries.  Now he wants you to stop playing sports so much. Read on.

Dr.Andrews

The crux of Dr. Andrews new book, Any Given Monday: Sports Injuries and How to Prevent Them, for Athletes, Parents and Coaches — Based on My Life in Sports Medicine, and personal goal is to stop treating child athletes like they are adults. “I hate to see the kids that we used to not see get hurt. … Now they’re coming in with adult, mature-type sports injuries. It’s a real mess. Maybe this book will help make a dent,” states Dr. Andrews.

His advice is simple. First, kids need a rest between seasons. He advises against specialization where a child plays a sport year round exposing them to more traumatic and repetitive injuries. And second, a child shouldn’t be worked out as if they are a adult. Training for children should be geared towards the child’s age.

For more in depth information on Dr. Andrews and sports medicine click here:
Or watch the video here:

 

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Scapulothoraticic Bursitis, or as most people call it, “My shoulder hurts.”

The shoulder is a complicated and often over-used joint prone to various pain-causing issues. Between swelling of the bursa, bony abnormalities and insufficient musculature, the shoulder can become a painful and noisy joint. Sound familiar? The first step to healing and returning to pain-free movement is see your P.T.

Ther are many types of shoulder injuries and pain. In Kauai go to Action PT

Motion in the shoulder depends on adequate coordination of the concave scapula on the convex thoracic wall by the periscapular musculature. Incongruence, which has several possible causes, such as bony abnormalities, insufficient muscular control and the thickening and scarring of connective tissue may result in a painful grating sound or sensation produced by friction between bone and cartilage during movement.

If you are interested in learning more read here or contact Action PT today.

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Soreness from Your Workout Doesn’t Mean You’re Getting Stronger.

Muscle soreness caused from working out doesn’t make you stronger. Soreness just makes you hurt. Lifting heavier weights makes you stronger, because that is what stronger means–the ability to produce more force.

Man and woman with hand weights.

In the article, “Why Being Sore Doesn’t Mean You’re Getting Stronger,” posted on PJMedia.com, we learn that soreness doesn’t mean progress. There are three modes of muscle contraction: Concentric, Eccentric, and Isometric, but it is only eccentric muscular contractions that will create muscular soreness. This article breaks down the three types of muscular contractions and explains what is happening to your muscles to make you feel sore. This soreness is a normal part of training, but chronic systemic inflammation is a very bad thing for your health.

Click here to read this interesting article on PJMedia.com

PJMedia is a blog that sheds light on issues important to Americans through insightful reporting, commentary and analysis.

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Why Do Joints Pop and Crack?

Do you crack your knuckles? Have you ever wondered why they make a popping, cracking, grinding, or snapping sound? SciShow explains what really causes those popping sounds your joints.

Hand X-Ray

The space between the joints increases, causing the gases dissolved in the synovial fluid to form microscopic bubbles.  These bubbles merge into large bubbles which then get popped by additional fluid which rushes in to fill the enlarged space.

Click here to watch a short video we found through the Richard Dawkins Foundation Web Site.

What to learn more about SciShow? Click here to help support Subbable.com. Subbable is a subscription service that allows audiences to connect with and fund the creators they love in a sustained, ongoing way.

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