Lower Extremity Review
Currently defined as “biological substances found naturally in the body that help injuries heal more quickly,” orthobiologics come in many flavors (see Table). With post-traumatic osteoarthritis and tendinitis dominating the orthopedic care space, use of orthobiologics is getting a lot of attention, but raising a lot of questions as well.
A method to turn human stem cells into cartilage cells shows promise for repairing damaged joint tissue in a pig model of knee cartilage injury. The findings, funded in part by the National Institute on Aging and published in Regenerative Medicine, provide a potential new therapeutic strategy that may help repair damaged cartilage and prevent osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, is commonly known as wear-and-tear arthritis. It is a growing epidemic as the world’s population ages. In Taiwan, nearly 40% of Taiwanese individuals over age 50 have OA of the knee; that number rises to 55% in women over age 80. OA is a known risk factor for falls in older adults, making OA management a public health goal.
Recent publications from 2 locations in Germany used different techniques to look at muscle mass and outcomes in SARS-Co-V2 patients during the height of the pandemic. Both found associations between loss of muscle mass and mortality. Both were published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle.
A recent systematic literature review, published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, suggests there is strong evidence for a short-term increase in ankle dorsiflexion range of motion after a single application of foam rolling (FR) in a healthy population. Furthermore, some of the evidence suggests that FR may be a…
Orthopedic footwear is often prescribed to improve postural stability during standing and walking in individuals with Hereditary Motor Sensory Neuropathy. However, supporting evidence in the literature is scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of orthopedic footwear on quiet standing balance, gait speed, spatiotemporal parameters…
Plantar heel pain (PHP) is a common cause of foot complaints, for which treatment with custom-made insoles is frequently applied. So far, few studies have investigated patient characteristics that predict response to these treatments. The aim of this secondary exploratory analysis was twofold; firstly, to identify patient characteristics that predict prognosis in…
Fear of falling (FoF) and frailty often go hand-in hand for today’s older adults. In particular, FoF can lead to a self-limitation of activities. Such limitations are then followed by further decline in physical capacities which may predispose to frailty. But the exact nature of the relationship between the 2 conditions has never been clearly delineated.
New SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to evolve and prolong the COVID-19 pandemic. The surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is covered with spike proteins. These latch onto ACE2 receptors on human cells, allowing the virus to enter and infect the cells. Mutations in spike allow the virus to evade the immune system as well as…
KAFO is sometimes used for gait training in stroke patients. The impact of the time of wearing a KAFO on ADL recovery has not been clarified. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the days from onset to KAFO wearing and functional prognosis in patients after stroke.
Patients with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorder (hEDS/HSD) have significant ankle and foot problems, which impact daily functioning. In this study, researchers in Belgium sought to identify alterations in multisegment ankle and foot kinematics during gait to better assess foot function and pain in these patients.
Newly formulated trehalose-hyaluronic acid (T-HA) has proven to be more stable in vitro to the effects of hyaluronidase enzyme. To compare clinical outcomes of T-HA with standard non-trehalose (NT-HA) hyaluronic acid when administered as infiltrative therapy in patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.
Classic anatomy textbooks describe the hamstring muscles from a traditional mechanistic view as being isolated from the adjacent structures. However, recent research has changed this perspective, proposing a connective tissue link between the active components of the movement system to form an extensive network of myofascial chains…
The focus of this research should be on outcomes-based best practices through analysis of the merits of clinical options currently available, not on the development or improvement of new and existing technology. Applications must address at least one of the FY22 Strategic Goals.
Socks are of fundamental importance in reducing friction and in controlling the temperature and humidity of the foot, thus preventing the appearance of blisters. However, the influence of sock fibers (synthetic vs. natural) on blistering during long-distance hiking has received little research attention.
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