Newsletter #7
June 1, 2008 
1 Comment
Hi everyone, I know it’s been a few weeks since the last newsletter but good things come to those that wait! I have even more great links and info for you below:
Reader Question
Mike-
I love your website, I always get something out of it. I’m starting to see more and more OA patients be prescribed unloading braces to help them deal with their OA pain, and was wondering if you had any thoughts on OA bracing. I’ve also seen some meniscal patient get unloading OA braces prior to surgery or after a meniscal repair.
Any thoughts you can share?
Thanks for everything you write.
OA bracing is actually one of those effective, but infrequently used type of braces. I have even seen patients with immediate pain relief when applying the brace for the first time. I have used them many many times in the past, and I could be wrong but last I fitted a patient, Medicare covered them. The braces work to offset the load of the knee in the varus/valgus moment of the knee. What this means is that if you have multicompartment DJD, it wont work. They work best for the bowlegged-type patient with medial sided joint OA. Because of the mechanism of unloading, they have been recommended in meniscus and articular cartilage repair patients. I have recommended them in my past papers on rehab following articular cartilage repair procedures, such as ACI or OATS. Just like anything else, they work great in some people and not at all in others.
There are many great references that discuss the efficacy. DonJoy’s website does a good job accumulating them.
Plays of the Week
- Kind of off topic but a good read for everyone: The 5 Habits of Happy Families from Parenting.com.
- Michael Boyle has a good video clip of how he uses the Shuttle. I have always liked the Shuttle.
- WOW! NBA player fractures arm from an exploding Physioball! You dont see that everyday! Safe to say that 240 pound people should not be doing heavy dumbbell pressing on a physioball. Do the math.
- Brian Schiff has some info on PRP injections for chronic elbow tendonitis
- Mike Robertson discusses why he came up with the idea behind his new educational DVD with Eric Cressey, Assess and Correct. I just received a copy and will discuss after I go through it.
- Speaking of Cressey, he has some really nice videos produced of “exercises of the week.” Here is a nice demo of foam rolling for hip adduction.
- Patrick Ward has a series on training for golf performance.
- The newest edition of Neumann’s Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System: Foundations for Rehabilitation is coming out soon and available for preorder now, should be another gem!
- 9 in 10 teens don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. No one to blame but ourselves on this one.
- You may remember Harrison Vaughan who contributed to the website in the past with an article on the QUADAS tool. Harrison is starting a new blog too, check it out: http://intouchpt.wordpress.com/.
- MSN and MensHealth dispel the Acai berry once and for all.
- MSNBC Health reports that scientists are working on “healthy” ice cream! Can’t wait.
Nominated for Top Health Blogger
You may have seen on my blog that I was nominated as a top health blogger on Wellsphere.com. So far so good with the voting, I’ve been holding 3rd place for the last week or so with a little over a month. We are very close to 2nd place but will need over a 100 votes to get to the top spot! If you haven’t already, please take 30 seconds of your day to place your vote! If everyone on this newsletter votes, we’ll win in a landslide! Click the image below:
Video of the Week
Fun video I saw on Brian St. Pierre’s blog lately. How to make exercise more fun! For those in Boston, reminds me of the old stairs at the Museum of Science… Wonder if those are still there???
Thanks for the link Mike!
Hope everyone enjoys the new blog at http://intouchpt.wordpress.com/
Harrison