Healthcare News
Smoking is bad to the bone
The body is designed to heal after breaking a bone. But it may not be designed to heal a broken bone while processing cigarette smoke and nicotine.
A recent study looked at the differences between smokers and non-smokers when healing from a broken bone. Results showed that smokers took several extra weeks to heal from a fracture.
Smokers also had higher odds of the fracture not healing properly.
Cartilage damage helps detect osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder and affects about one-third of older adults. New research suggests that cartilage damage from exercise may aid in early detection of osteoarthritis.
"We discovered that GAG-depleted tissue is most vulnerable to high rates of loading and not just the magnitude of the load. This finding suggests that people with early degradation of cartilage, even before such changes would be felt as pain, should be careful of dynamic activities such as running or jumping,” Grodzinsky was quoted as saying.
A new approach to hip surgery
Larry Kufel had always been an active man, tall and rangy, who worked out regularly and picked up basketball games at the gym. But age was taking a toll on his joints, and it had become clear that he needed a hip replacement.
The procedure that Mr. Kufel received is called anterior hip replacement. The surgeon makes the incision at the front of the hip instead of through the buttocks or the side of the hip. This approach permits the doctor to reach the hip socket without cutting through major muscle groups. Proponents claim that the procedure results in less pain and fewer complications for patients than standard hip replacement.
Hip surgery flip! Direct Anterior Hip Replacement
The numbers are sky-rocketing. There were more than 300 thousand total hip replacements in 2010, that’s up 135 thousand compared to just ten years earlier. As more and more people need help to relieve the pain, there’s an option that’s becoming popular with patients and surgeons.
New technique revolutionizing hip-replacement surgery
“It’s a ‘micro-invasive’ technique,” says Grandic.
And it offers myriad advantages over other techniques.
“All muscles, tendons, ligaments and soft tissue are spared, and the hip socket is never twisted into unnatural positions during surgery,” Grandic explains.
Thus, he says, patients experience little or no post-operative discomfort; are able to walk immediately, with no restrictions; and are usually discharged from the hospital within 24 to 48 hours.
