Lower Extremity Review
Everyone has days when we just go through the motions—at our jobs, in social situations, at the gym—and tell ourselves it isn’t a big deal. But as clinicians you know that when patients just go through the motions of complying with prescribed treatments, their…
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
Recent efforts to reduce utilization of opioid pain medications for lower extremity joint injuries and surgical rehabilitation have mostly focused on reducing the risk of addiction. But there’s another important reason to be concerned about the use of opioids in these patients—and other popular pain medications as well.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
Anyone watching the injuries accumulate during the most recent National Football League (NFL) preseason might be encouraged by the league’s plans to shorten the preseason from four weeks to three. But the medical literature suggests a much better way to reduce the incidence of preseason injuries.
Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
The farther you go up the kinetic chain, the more some things about evidence-based medicine stay the same. The spine differs in many ways from most of the lower extremity segments of the kinetic chain. Obvious differences include the shape and function of the bony structures, the complex roles of the adjacent muscles, and how the spine responds to the demands of movement.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
A person’s testimony doesn’t always agree with objective evidence—that’s why some defense attorneys won’t allow their clients to take the stand during a trial, even in their own defense. Similarly, as most clinicians know, patient-reported outcomes aren’t always consistent with objective measures of function.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
Healthcare practitioners and artists wouldn’t seem to have much in common, other than perhaps an appreciation of anatomy. But a new book has made me think the two professions also share an appreciation of people.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
A recent study reported that National Football League (NFL) running backs with more than 300 carries in a season are not more likely to miss time with an injury the following season than those with considerably fewer carries. For fantasy football players, this is great news. But for sports medicine experts, it’s a reminder that injury risk rarely can be boiled down to a single parameter.
Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
Researchers and clinicians who work with unilateral lower limb amputees are increasingly exploring the effects of prosthetic devices on gait asymmetries and joint loading. What’s less well known is that prostheses designed for use above the waist can also have positive effects on gait.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
It’s more difficult to assess the effects of head impacts in female lacrosse players than in their male counterparts. But it’s no less important, particularly with regard to lower extremity injury prevention.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
We hear a lot about various comorbidities associated with knee osteoarthritis (OA), and how addressing those additional conditions can help improve knee pain and function. But a growing body of research suggests one set of comorbidities that knee OA experts may be overlooking are those involving the foot and ankle.
Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
The concept of foot-strike pattern during running—something rarely discussed a decade ago, even in research circles—is now pervasive among runners as well as biomechanics experts and lower extremity clinicians. But that’s not necessarily a good thing.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
Obese individuals often spend their entire lives telling themselves how much better their lives would be if only they were thin. But losing massive amounts of weight following bariatric surgery doesn’t automatically make a person a better candidate for total knee arthroplasty (TKA)—any more than it automatically makes a person happy—if underlying issues have been ignored.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
National Football League (NFL) players say they worry more about lower extremity injuries than concussions. But a growing body of evidence suggests the latter injury actually increases the likelihood of the former.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
One of the interesting things about LER’s multidisciplinary perspective is being able to follow a new idea as it is examined and embraced by one specialty after another, each with its own therapeutic goals and challenges.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
Patellofemoral pain’s subgroup situation just got a lot more interesting, thanks to study findings presented in June at the annual meeting of the National Athletic Trainers Association in Baltimore, MD.
By Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
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