Like many runners, former BYU track star Katy Andrews Neves has had her share of injuries. Unlike most runners, one of those injuries has been witnessed by millions of people around the world.
A prototype of a robotic glove has been developed which stroke suffers can use in their own home to support rehabilitation and personal independence in receiving therapies. At the chronic stages of stroke, patients are not likely to be receiving treatment but they continue to live with some impairments — the glove’s goal is to provide therapies to target these impairments.
Exercise doesn’t have to be complicated. Even simple walks with friends may improve your health.
A recent study found that adults who joined outdoor walking groups had improved overall health. These patients had better heart health and were less likely to be depressed than those who didn’t exercise regularly.
Three Austrian men have become the first in the world to undergo a new technique called “bionic reconstruction”, enabling them to use a robotic prosthetic hand controlled by their mind, according to new research published in The Lancet. All three men suffered for many years with brachial plexus injuries and poor hand function as a result of motor vehicle and climbing accidents.
A prosthetic hand, which provides a sense of touch acute enough to handle an egg, has been completed and is now exploited by the NEBIAS project after 10 years of research. The world’s most advanced bionic hand was tested with the help of amputee Dennis AaboSørensen who was able to grasp objects intuitively and identify what he was touching, while blindfolded.
While osteoporosis prevention and treatment efforts have historically been focused on post-menopausal women, a new study suggests that critical opportunities are being lost by not focusing more attention on bone loss and fracture risk in older men.
Arm pain is common among supposedly healthy young baseball players and nearly half have been encouraged to keep playing despite arm pain, the most in-depth survey of its kind has found. The findings suggest that more detailed and individualized screening is needed to prevent overuse injury in young ballplayers.
Following a distal radial fracture, significantly fewer men received evaluation for osteoporosis compared with women, and evaluation rates were significantly below those established in published guidelines, according to study results.
Researchers retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 95 men and 344 women older than 50 who were treated for a distal radial fracture during a 5-year period, and assessed whether the patients had received a dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan and osteoporosis treatment within 6 months following the injury. Using multivariate analysis, the researchers then identified independent predictors of bone mineral density testing and osteoporosis treatment.
Shoulder arthroplasty can be performed for the treatment of the sequelae of an infected shoulder with low risk of reinfection, according to study results.
Twenty-four shoulders underwent shoulder arthroplasty for postinfectiousglenohumeral arthritis between 1977 and 2009. Researchers monitored 23 shoulders for a minimum of 2 years or until reoperation and documented complications and clinical and radiographic results at the most recent follow-up.
Elbow flexion can be restored in infants with neonatal brachial plexus palsy who have neurotmesis of C5 and avulsion of C6 with supraclavicular intraplexal reconstruction with use of C5 as the proximal outlet, according to study results.
Of the 421 patients with neonatal brachial plexus palsy who underwent nerve surgery from 1990 to 2008, 34 infants who had a neurotmetic lesion of C5 and avulsion or intraforaminalneurotmesis of C6, irrespective of C7, were included in the study.
Intraoperative injection of gentamicin may be a cost-effective way to reduce deep infection stemming from shoulder arthroplasty, according to recently published data.
Researchers retrospectively evaluated 507 shoulder arthroplasties performed by a single surgeon between 2005 and 2011. Although all patients received systemic prophylactic antibiotics, those who underwent surgery after June 2007 also received 160 mg of gentamicin in the glenohumeral joint to prevent surgery-related deep infection. Patients who received gentamicin (group B) and those who did not receive gentamicin (group A) were compared and evaluated for preexisting medical conditions, type of surgery and presence of infection. Minimum follow-up was 1 year.
Compared with patients who underwent hemiarthroplasty or total shoulder arthroplasty, patients who underwent reverse total shoulder arthroplasty had higher readmission rates, according to study results.
Using the State Inpatient Database from seven different states, researchers identified 26,218 patients who underwent hemiarthroplasty, total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) or reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) from 2005 to 2010. The researchers determined the 90-day readmission rate, causes of readmission and risk factors for readmission. Additionally, factors and risk for readmission were measured using multivariate modeling and a Cox proportional hazards model.
The common elbow surgery made famous by Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, Tommy John, definitely does its job to return pitchers to the mound, but risks for having the surgery may be able to be recognized earlier in a player’s career, say researchers presenting their work at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting. The study was the largest cohort of MLB pitchers, to date, that have undergone UCL reconstruction.
A computer software concept has been developed that will enable clinicians with no experience in Computer Aided Design (CAD) to design and make custom-made 3D printed wrist splints for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. The 3D printed splints are not only more comfortable and attractive but potentially cheaper than the current ones that are ‘ugly, bulky, and can make a patients arm sweat’.
New data presented at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) show that ultrasound-guided injections of growth factors-containing platelet-rich plasma (PRP) are no more effective in treating recently developed epicondylitis than injections of saline.
Do you work out for health benefits and feel you are exercising more than enough? You might be among the many Canadians who overrate how hard they work out or underestimate what moderate intensity exercise means, according to a recent study out of York University’s Faculty of Health.
Anatomic features associated with the severity of atraumatic rotator cuff tears are not associated with pain level, according to a study published in the May 21 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
Although arthroscopic capsular release is a known treatment for shoulder stiffness, posterior extended capsular release might not be necessary in arthroscopic surgery, according to study results.
Researchers enrolled 75 patients who underwent arthroscopic capsular release for shoulder stiffness. The patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups: those in whom capsular release, including release of the rotator interval and anterior and inferior capsule, was performed (n = 37), and those in whom capsular release was extended to the posterior capsule (n = 38).
The researchers used American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores, Simple Shoulder Test, VAS pain scores and range of motion (ROM) for evaluation before surgery, at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively, and at the last follow-up. Mean follow-up was 18.4 months.
ROM increased significantly among both groups at the last follow-up compared with preoperative scores (P < .05). However, there were no statistical differences between the two groups in American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores, Simple Shoulder Test and VAS pain scores at the last follow-up (P > .05), according to the researchers.
Among patients with atraumatic rotator cuff tears, shoulder activity was not associated with severity of the tear, but was affected by patients’ age, sex and occupation, according to study results.
Researchers prospectively enrolled patients with an atraumatic rotator cuff tear on MRI in the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network shoulder study of nonoperative treatment. Patients were asked to complete a previously validated shoulder activity scale; 434 patients completed the scale and were included in the analysis. Mean patient age was 62.7 years.
The researchers performed a regression analysis to assess the association of shoulder activity level to rotator cuff tear characteristics, including tendon involvement and traction, as well as patient factors such as age, sex, smoking and occupation.
Shoulder activity was not associated with severity of the rotator cuff tear, according to the researchers. However, shoulder activity was negatively associated with age and female sex. According to the regression model, 69-year-old patients with rotator cuff tears were 1.5 points less active on the 20-point scale vs. identical 56-year-old patients; female patients were 1.6 points less active vs. similar male patients. Occupation was also a significant predictor of shoulder activity level, with unemployed patients predicted to be 4.8 points less active compared with employed patients.
Shoulder instability is a common injury in football players but the rate of return to play has not been regularly determined following surgery. A new study, discussed at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting, details that return rates for NFL players is approximately 90 percent no matter what the stabilization procedure (open vs. arthroscopic).
