When college-age people come to see me with severely damaged joints, it’s a challenge. High school kids with the same issues are depressing. There are solutions, but they simply are not being applied widely enough. The downward slide to a young arthritic joint most often starts with the first of several ACL ruptures, compounded by the removal of part of...

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Diets come and go. Advice on water, supplements, energy drinks, and food choices vary like the wind. There are two key principles, however, that have withstood the test of time in our clinic: Protein and water should make up most of your diet. Here is why. Fats and carbohydrates (sugars) are also essential parts of diets, yet almost everyone gets...

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The increasing number of injuries in all sports for all ages begs the question: Is the risk worth it? Can the risks be decreased? How do we increase the fun/time ratio without the injury cost? If you run athletes long enough, they eventually break down. The risk of injury increases with time, fatigue, and intensity. This is true across all...

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Athletes become patients when they get hurt. If and when they need surgery, it becomes obvious which athletes have cared for their bodies well and which have not—in which case trying to sterilize the injured area can be a challenge. Here are some tips to keep you clean from toe to head. Toes: The nails should be kept short. The...

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I often get this question: "Doc, does running hurt my knee?" The answer is no. Injury hurts your knee. If you have healthy knees, you can run forever. If you have a cartilage injury, a torn meniscus, or an unstable knee joint, it will wear out faster than usual. If you're a runner or considering taking up running, the following...

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The ruptured Achilles tendon heals when repaired and doesn't need open surgery to fix it. Here is why. The Achilles is a broad tendon that connects the calf muscles to the heel. The tendon is covered in a thin and essential sheath of tissue that permits it to contract and lengthen smoothly with each step. This sheath, or synovium, is...

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Almost all orthopedic injuries are best repaired immediately. The old “wait-and-see” for most joint injuries has been proven to lead to scar tissue, loss of motion, and arthritis. However, under the ever-changing conditions of COV-ID19, you may be confused about your options and the best approach for the treatment of your injured joint. While we suggest contacting your orthopaedist or...

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Injuries happen to all athletes. The best ones use the injury to return to sports fitter, faster, and stronger than they were before they got hurt. Our job is to help them do that. Here is how we counsel our wounded athletic warriors at our Clinic. Let’s find the cause: Most injuries start with a mental error: not having your...

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“To be a high school recruit in any major sport, you have to play that sport year-round.”This statement has been the dogma for many youthful athletes during the past 10 years. Those of us who treat high schoolers—and counsel their worried parents—talk endlessly about the old days of three-sport athletes. Those were days of building well-rounded attitudes, not just bodies;...

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You can exercise for fun, or for training, or both. Exercise wisely, in ways that help you in sports or your daily life. But don’t do exercises that are useless, or potentially injury-generating. Here are a few doozies that should definitely not find their way into your program.1. Wall SquatsAt no time in daily life does anyone sit stationary against...

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