June 2016 – San Diego Orthopedic Surgeon | Elbow Surgery – Knee Surgery

Further Useful Information on Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow isn’t just for tennis players, or even athletes for that matter. It’s not just for day laborers or bodybuilders either.

Tennis elbow can strike anyone, and can turn quotidian tasks into formidable challenges. Many people who suffer from lateral epicondylitis (medical name) find themselves struggling with very basic things that the rest of us take for granted:

It often gets worse when people lift or bend their arm, grip small objects, such as a pen or when twisting the forearm – such as turning a door handle.

It’s true: you can become trapped in a room with a heavy door if your tennis elbow prohibits a strong pulling motion.

The key to avoiding any repetitive stress injury such as this one is to stem the activity that’s causing it – or mix it up. If you’re lifting things all day, switch hands, or adjust your posture. If you’re playing sports, try a different way, or take more frequent breaks to stretch and adjust while you practice.

And if you have chronic elbow pain in San Diego and want to visit the best orthopedist for tennis elbow? Contact the American Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center today.

Welcome to the Age of Selfie Elbow

It was only a matter of time. As our phones have morphed into our mirrors, and thence our windows to the world, the science of selfie-taking has grown ever more elaborate. Front-facing cameras have gotten sharper, clearer, brighter, and better. And that’s before you add the hobby shop of dedicated hardware you can buy to nail just the right angle.

But all this selfie sharing comes with a downside. (No, not that one.) The very act of holding the phone out at an odd angle while framing up frequent shots can take a toll on your elbow, as Hoda Kotb recently relayed:

“When you take the picture, your arm is up, bent in a weird way and you just click, click, click — think about how many you take: 20, 30, or 40. Selfie elbow, everyone has it!” she told Elle. . . .

I hear you asking these questions, so I’ll remind you that a UK study last year showed that young women spend five hours a week taking selfies.

This is in one sense repetitive stress like any other, but it seems we humans have found another new way to torture our elbows and joints in unnatural positions. Try it for a few minutes and you’ll see the problem: strain on the elbow and tendons creates instability and pressure, which can lead to chronic elbow pain.

What’s the answer? Turn the phone around and photograph the great world beyond your face. Or, failing that, make sure to rest and stretch often in between shots.

Hand Surgery for a Sports Injury

Hand surgery can be as exotic and involved as a full transplant, or as commonplace as repairing torn tendons. Whatever kind of hand surgery is required, you want to find an experienced orthopedic hand surgeon to do the job for you.

A great variety of injuries may require surgery down the line, including repetitive stress, fractures, sprains and traumatic blows. This last case applies to the recent news that a Major League Baseball player will undergo surgery following an excruciating injury that bent his entire hand back at an odd angle following a diving catch.

But this tweet from the team tells you everything you need to know about this kind of procedure:

Tampa Bay Rays centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier will have left hand surgery on Tuesday, the team announced.

He is expected to miss 8–10 weeks with the injury.

Once again, we see a short timeline for recovery from a major surgical procedure. It is yet more evidence that sports medicine and orthopedic surgery have advanced by leaps and bounds in the last generation, creating opportunities through minimally invasive surgery that never existed before.

Want to see the best hand doctor in San Diego? Contact The American Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center today.

When Your Elbow Swells Up

Waves were made last month when NBA MVP Stephan Curry banged his elbow and was forced to finish out a game with a sizable goose egg on the joint – an injury some compared to a tennis ball. Miraculously, he recovered almost immediately and went on to win that series. Curry has continued to play at or near his gargantuan potential ever since.

In fact, this recovery wasn’t so miraculous – it was the common response to an injury known as olecranon bursitis:

Olecranon bursitis – which is common although the exact incidence is unknown – happens when the bursa, which is a slippery sac over the elbow which allows the skin to slide easily across the bone when it is flexed, becomes damaged. This causes it to secrete a much greater than normal volume of fluid into the closed cavity of the bursa which makes it inflate like a balloon.

Olecranon bursitis looks bad, but it’s not terribly serious. Given some time to rest and heal, the fluid drains of its own accord and most people can return to their regularly scheduled activities without any lasting injury. Although infections may arise or the condition may become chronic, the vast majority of these cases are transitory at best.

Want to understand elbow injuries better, and get the best treatment for elbow pain in San Diego? Contact my offices today.

When Your Elbow Swells Up

In fact, this recovery wasn’t so miraculous – it was the common response to an injury known as olecranon bursitis:

Olecranon bursitis – which is common although the exact incidence is unknown – happens when the bursa, which is a slippery sac over the elbow which allows the skin to slide easily across the bone when it is flexed, becomes damaged. This causes it to secrete a much greater than normal volume of fluid into the closed cavity of the bursa which makes it inflate like a balloon.

Want to understand elbow injuries better, and get the best treatment for elbow pain in San Diego? Contact my offices today.

More Progress on Chronic Pain and Orthopedic Care

Managing chronic pain is one of the great challenges of modern medicine, and arguably one of its great failures.

Despite decades of progress mapping the pain receptors in our body and our minds, as well as the physiology of phantom pain and other idiopathic issues, we seem permanently unable to relieve the suffering of millions through any but the crudest of measures, including opioids such as oxytocin.

At least one clinic is starting back at square one, intentionally forgetting the conventional wisdom of pain management and revisiting some of the discarded approaches which fell out of favor a generation or more ago:

For patients with common types of acute pain — migraines, kidney stones, sciatica, fractures — doctors first try alternative regimens that include non narcotic infusions and injections, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, laughing gas, even “energy healing” and a wandering harpist.

In its fearless energy and courage to try new things, St. Joseph’s is helping to galvanize a field that has ossified around a few choices, none of them good. It’s a great reminder that doctors don’t know everything, and that often the things we think we do know are colored by many years of inertia.

For outstanding pain management here in San Diego, please contact AOSM for a full diagnostic workup and conversation.

An Important Perspective on Treating Knee Pain

Knee pain and osteoarthritis go hand in hand, and each goes hand in hand with aging. Although the Web is rife with advice about the best way to prevent, manage, and resolve knee pain, few rigorous studies have ever compared the most common methods head to head.

Enter Consumer Reports, which recently launched a clear and helpful study explaining why some of the most popular approaches to knee pain may also be the least effective:

The study focuses on two supplements in particular – glucosamine and chondroitin – which are widely recommended for knee pain despite scant clinical evidence behind them. Supplements generally tend to represent a Wild West in medicine, and this is one case where some of these unregulated pills may be doing more harm than good.

Bottom line: if you want the best knee pain treatment in San Diego, talk to the experts. AOSM is widely hailed throughout Southern California for its cutting edge approach to orthopedic treatment of knee pain.

Pediatric Orthopedic Treatment for a Star Athlete

I enjoy sharing stories such as this one, which help to underline the many ways that pediatric orthopedists such as myself can improve the lives of young athletes.

Watch the video and you’ll see how the young patient in question managed to excel despite a significant curvature in his spine, a condition known as adolescent scoliosis. With the help of digital mapping and modern surgical techniques, the patient underwent a precision orthopedic surgical procedure and came out on the other side with improved symmetry – and greater comfort.

It’s just one example of the positive effects that expert orthopedic care can have on young athletes and injured children here in San Diego and across the country.

If your child has suffered an injury or disease that has left a lasting mark on their bone development or musculature, it’s wise to speak with an experienced orthopedist sooner rather than later. Contact my practice today for a full diagnostic session.

Help for Autistic Children Undergoing Orthopedic Surgery

As a San Diego pediatric orthopedist, I spend a lot of time with parents and their children to create a calm environment, build clear expectations and establish a bedrock reservoir of trust.

Although some children face surgery unafraid, many struggle with anxiety. Generally autistic children fall into the latter group, which is why it is edifying to see articles like this one helping to spread the word about better methods for calming these kids:

The studies also recommended including caregivers as “interpreters” of patients’ needs because the children often cannot communicate for themselves.

Doctors can make changes to the surgical or pre-surgical setting to match patients’ specific needs and preferences, the study also concludes. For example, hospitals can bring in a service dog to calm the patient the first time they’re introduced to the surgical setting.

It may also be helpful to let the patient get used to the staff and the setting before surgery as a type of “rehearsal” and to give the patient as many choices and distractions as possible, the study team writes.

There’s lots more in the article, including good ideas about removing unnecessary equipment, dimming the lights, and working out a narrative that makes sense of the procedure within a more appealing and decodable story.

For the best pediatric orthopedist in San Diego, don’t hesitate to contact the AOSM offices today.

Managing Pain in Shoulder Surgery

Rotator cuff surgery is often necessary to relieve the pain of a tear, but that doesn’t mean the surgery itself ends the pain right away. Recovering from surgery like this can be slow and difficult, especially given the many moving parts required to make this joint work.

Now some researchers are treating rotator cuff surgery as a laboratory for new pain management techniques, testing whether non-opioid medical care could be just as effective as some of the tried and true – and habit-forming – alternatives:

The techniques might include injecting a nonaddictive anesthetic at the base of the neck to block pain signals, or sending a patient home with a catheter implanted under the skin to deliver doses of anesthetics for several days. Wearable icing devices and mechanical stimulation of the surgical site can reduce pain and swelling during physical therapy. And drug regimens seek to steer patients within a few days toward common medications such as Tylenol.

It is an intriguing avenue and an overdue science-based approach to pain – one which many orthopedic surgeons would like to see analyzed and formalized across the board.

If you want the very best rotator cuff treatment and aftercare in the San Diego area, please contact my offices today.