One-Sixth of Knee Cartilage Treatments Need Redoing
More than one in six patients who receive an implant of their own tissue to repair knee cartilage damage must undergo repeat surgery, a recent study found.
Doctors conduct the well-established surgical procedure, known as autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), by removing cartilage cells from the patient, growing them in the lab and then grafting the new tissue into the patient's injured knee.
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Synthetic Bone May Assist Implant Surgery
British scientists have created a dissolvable ceramic bone substitute that, through a technique for building automobile catalytic converters, can be made highly porous so that natural bone cells can infiltrate it and use it as scaffolding for regrowing actual bone.
The new material, which is expected to be especially helpful to patients facing bone-implant surgery, was developed at the University of Warwick by Kajal Mallick, assisted by postgraduate researcher James Meredith.
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How to Save Your Knees From Arthroscopic Surgery
If you have osteoarthritis of the knees, with all of the pain and loss of flexibility that entails, chances are your doctor has recommended arthroscopic surgery. This is a procedure in which the surgeon inserts a scope into the knee and cleans out bits of loose bone and smoothes rough cartilage.
But there are ways to avoid this invasive, expensive surgery and actually alleviate the arthritis.
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Cutting-Edge Knee-Replacement Gadgets
Medicine is ever advancing - and that includes orthopedic medicine, which has now developed gender-specific artificial knees that match the subtle anatomical differences between men and women. Technicians have also produced a computer program to assist orthopedic surgeons in correctly positioning replacement knees.
These two elements - gender-specificity and computer-navigated surgery - are being hotly discussed these days whenever orthopedic surgeons come together in professional gatherings.
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Alternative to Knee Replacement
For 25 years Robert Reid kept active by practicing karate, playing football, softball, and basketball. But, his love for sports took a toll on his body. Robert developed arthritis in his knees and would need surgery.
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ACL Injuries with NFL Players | Orthopedics
If you're at all a sports fan, or an athlete yourself, you've probably heard of the anterior cruciate ligament.
It's commonly injured.
Now a new study shows what happens to NFL players who are sidelined by their acl's, and it's not good news for players or fans and the owners.
Now, a ligament is a strong piece of connective tissue that connects bone to bone across a joint. The anterior cruciate ligament crosses with the posterior cruciate ligament in the center of the knee.
They control the backward and forward motion of the knee. The ACL in particular restrains excessive forward motion of the knee as well as the inward twisting or rotation of the knee.
In fact, the ACL is frequently injured in severe twisting injuries of the knee or with a sudden stop.
This new research in the American Journal of Sports Medicine looking specifically at ACL injuries in NFL players found those who suffer one of these injuries will likely never be the same player again.
Essentially, total yards and touchdowns were markedly diminished when they returned after surgery.
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Sports Injuries and Children
Summer is now here, and it’s an opportunity for kids who are involved in one, two, maybe three sports to get a bit of rest. But a lot of kids go year round in their athletics now; it’s one reason for the rise in sports injuries in kids.
More than three and a half million kids under the age of 14 receive medical care for sports injuries each year.
But overuse injuries are responsible for nearly half of all sports injuries in middle and high school students. And experts are saying the problem is getting out of hand.
Jessica Godfrey of the eagles soccer team was forcibly grounded because of an injury earlier this season. “I was trying to get the ball and this really big girl hit my foot and it hurt really bad,” says Jessica.
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Computer Aided Surgery
“It is burning and tingling that is how it feels all the time and then there are other pains where it is shooting pains and you feel like someone is stabbing you,” says Diana Baez.
Diana Baez is about to have computer aided knee surgery that she’s hoping will turn her life around. 51 year old Diana has severe osteoarthritis and has lost significant cartilage in her knee. She’s tried everything from pain-killers to physical therapy, nothing gave her relief. “I can’t deal with this pain anymore.”
Dr. Elton Strauss, Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma at Mount Sinai, will be using global positioning system-like technology to help him operate on Diana’s knee. “In our business if you are off by a millimeter or two degrees it can affect the outcome of the patients. When I am actually looking inside somebody’s leg whether it is the hip or the knee I see the bones I see the ligaments but I don’t know how those bones actually work when the person walks on the leg, crouches down, lies down, gets out of bed does athletic events what this computer does it replicates the function of the patient and also tells me whether or not I have recreated that person’s anatomy,” explains Dr. Strauss.
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CHILDREN BREAKING BONES
Children’s playground safety is an issue that requires more attention to ensure that children’s broken bones don’t lead to complications that trouble them for the rest of their lives.
10 year old Renee Novelli is a bundle of energy. When she’s not doing gymnastics, she’s playing on her jungle gym set or riding her bike. But, all of this activity has cost her several trips to the emergency room.
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TRAMPOLINE INJURIES
The backyard trampoline is a common sight in the suburbs. But is it completely safe?
You would think that if kids can play on hard ground and concrete surfaces, that a soft surface like a trampoline would be very safe.
But the fact is, there are many injuries associated with trampoline, and experts are saying that parents should educate themselves about the dangers of trampoline injuries before putting one in the backyard.
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