Lower Extremity Review
Smartphones have revolutionized clinical practice through enhancement of communication with colleagues and patients, information access, and workflow efficiency for healthcare providers. With the continuous evolution of technology, smartphones have increasingly been used for assessing gait—providing a convenient and accessible way to monitor mobility, balance, and walking patterns.
By Sarah A. Curran, PhD
11 Readers offer their thoughts on the greatest innovations of the last 15 years. The dictionary defines innovation as the introduction or use of new ideas or ways of doing things. But it’s really much more than that: In What Customers Want, innovation expert Anthony Ulwick wrote, “Innovation is not the result of thinking differently. It is the result of thinking deliberately (in specific ways) about existing problems and unmet needs.” Others have added that innovation is a corporate mindset of continuous quality improvement that encourages improving processes or revising products in response to customer needs.
Posterior malleolus fractures have been associated with ankle instability because the ligament pull that follows such fractures can lead to movement of the fracture fragment and consequently disrupt the weight-bearing surface’s integrity. Falls are a multifactorial phenomenon and a cause of increasing rates of mortality and morbidity in older adults, and are significant contributors to disability or early institutionalization.
By Alex Rizzato, Matteo Bozzato, Luca Rotundo, Giuseppe Zullo, Giuseppe De Vito, Antonio Paoli, and Giuseppe Marcolin
Background: Ninety-seven percent of people in the United States (US) own a cell phone. Consequently, millions of people are at risk of cell phone-related injury, including when using or carrying a cell phone while walking. This study described cell phone-related lower extremity injuries while walking that were treated at US hospital emergency departments (EDs).
By Mathias B. Forrester, BS
These study findings suggest you can improve patient trust and satisfaction with telehealth visits by minding your video background. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted rapid adoption of telemedicine. Most physicians had no training on effective webside manner, including their physical environment.
By Nathan Houchens, MD; Sanjay Saint,MD, MPH; Latoya Kuhn, MPH; David Ratz, MS; Jason M. Engle, MPH; Jennifer Meddings, MD, MSc
Most people don’t have to think about walking—they just walk. But for those of us living with foot drop, walking requires focus because we know from experience how just 1 distracted step can quickly manifest into a painful fall. Foot drop, also known as drop foot, is a condition characterized by difficulty or inability to lift the front part of the foot. It is typically caused by weakness or paralysis of the muscles responsible for lifting the foot, often due to nerve damage or injury.
By Lainie Ishbia, MSW
Innovation comes in many flavors and knocks on your door in many ways. Sometimes it looks like a great idea, and other times, you want to slam that door immediately. But then, you often want to take a peak. That’s true for some of our readers who took the challenge to write on what they thought the greatest innovation has been over the last 15 years. Why 15 years?
By Janice T. Radak, Editor
Balance Health, a comprehensive lower extremity–focused physician practice, has announced that it will be offering a free webinar on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 (8PM ET/7PM CT/6PM MT/5PM PT) to help residents and fellows position themselves in the best way to find their ideal job.
Over the past several decades, technology has effectively changed how global communities interface with one another. Travel is more affordable and efficient, and immigration has made cultural diversity a constant in all aspects of life. The internet literally transformed how we acquire information across the…
By Robert Lin, CPO
Ankle fractures can potentially limit an individual’s mobility, autonomy, and quality of life, making them devastating injuries for geriatric patients. Researchers from the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, in Hempstead, NY, wanted to better understand the functional outcomes and…
In a recent invited commentary in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, a multidisciplinary expert panel of applied sport scientists identified recent trends in the evolving world of elite sport. Among the trends they identified…
Can we predict community participation after amputation? Researchers from the Delaware Limb Loss Studies, Department of Physical Therapy, at the University of Delaware in Newark, sought to answer that question using a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional data set to identify factors that may predict community…
The processes that interfere with the normal healing process in people with diabetes remain incompletely understood. Recently, interest has grown in the role of exosomes in wound healing. Exosomes are nanosized, fluid-filled sacs released from cells that can carry cargo like proteins, peptides, and messenger RNA.
Falls and fall-related injuries are common in older adults, have negative effects on functional independence and quality of life and are associated with increased morbidity, mortality and health-related costs. Current guidelines are inconsistent, with no up-to-date, globally applicable ones present.
Increased sedentary time is associated with an increased risk of polypharmacy according to a recently published large national study of adults (>20 yrs) in the United States. Research has shown that there is an inverse relationship between participation in physical activity and polypharmacy (use of 5 or more medications).
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