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.
November 2024
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Cover Story
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
Patient Perspective
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
Features
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
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
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
ShortTakes From the Literature
Researchers from Arizona State University and Carnegie Mellon University have found that modern smartphone usage can negatively impact standing postural balance—and that impact varies by the type of ground condition. They had 16 healthy young individuals perform 2 tasks on their smartphones while standing on 4 different types of ground surfaces...
This study aims to examine the possible effects of mobile phone use on plantar pressure and spatiotemporal parameters during walking. Materials and methods: Thirty volunteers (18 males and 12 females) participated in the study. A 10-m walking path was prepared, and a messaging connection was established. Volunteers were asked to write 3 posts without word or character mistakes and to walk on the path as much as...
Aerobic exercise effectively reverses the decline in endurance capacity and mitigates muscle atrophy in aged mice. It inhibits CCN2 secretion from senescent muscle stem cells, thereby enhancing skeletal muscle regeneration and preventing fibrosis in aged mice. AICAR supplementation mimics the beneficial effects of aerobic exercise.
Prevalence of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) is growing, and the use of thermography has sparked interest in this non-invasive diagnostic method for early DFU risk assessment and management. The systematic review, conducted by an international research team, sought to explore the use of thermography to predict DFU risk in patients with DM. The research question was...
Surgical wound dehiscence (SWD) can affect up to one-third of foot-related surgeries, making it a major complication and potential threat to patient outcomes. One key reason: delayed diagnosis, which has been attributed to varying definitions. In 2018, the World Union Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) presented a consensus-based definition and classification for SWD in 2018 to address this issue, see Figure 1.
In a new study from Brazil, researchers developed an Internet-of-Things (IoT)-based gait analysis system employing insole pressure sensors to assess gait kinetics. The system integrates piezoresistive sensors within a left foot insole, with data acquisition managed using an ESP32 board that communicates via Wi-Fi through an MQTT IoT framework (MQTT is messaging protocol for machine-to-machine communication).
A recent scoping review of the literature sought to understand the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the care of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). While the research team is from Ireland, they review literature from around the globe. Specifically, they analyzed data from 19 published studies, most on single site populations.
As the population of those age 80+ increases, surgeries for femur fractures will rise as well. A new 2-year retrospective cohort study in 479 patients (mean age 86 years) looked at the incidence and risk factors for common postoperative pulmonary complications—pneumonia, atelectasis, pulmonary edema, pleural effusion, and venous thromboembolism (VTE), as well as respiratory failure and 9-day mortality form a single hospital.
Microvascular permeability in diabetic muscle was investigated using our original 2-photon scanning laser microscopy method. Compared with controls, the leakage volume was increased in diabetic muscle, which was atrophic with smaller capillary diameter, endothelial cell thickening, and the appearance of more endothelial intercellular gaps or clefts, and large vesicles.
Shoes affect the evolved biomechanics of the foot, potentially affecting running kinematics and kinetics that can in turn influence injury and performance. An important feature of conventional running shoes is heel height, whose effects on foot and ankle biomechanics remain understudied. Here, we investigate the effects of 6–26 mm increases in heel height on ankle dynamics in 8 rearfoot strike runners who ran...
Although footwear can improve pain and function in individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA), perspectives about footwear in this population have not been explored. This qualitative study explored preferences, attitudes and beliefs about footwear in adults with knee OA.
An easy-to-use and reliable tool is essential for gait assessment of people with gait pathologies. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the OneStep smartphone application compared to the C-Mill-VR+ treadmill (Motek, Nederlands) among patients undergoing rehabilitation for unilateral lower extremity disability.
In 2022, a report in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy found that college athletes who suffered a concussion possessed a 58% greater risk of sustaining a lower extremity musculoskeletal injury than those who did not have a history of concussion (RR = 1.58[1.30, 1.93]). Now, a new study by Gardner et al reports that for college male football players the odds of upper extremity injury in the...
15 Years of Healthcare Innovation
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.
As part of LER’s 15th anniversary celebration, we asked readers to weigh in on the many facets of innovation that have helped improve patient outcomes in lower extremity care. Here, we share some of their thoughts.
- Smartphone Clinical Practice in Gait Analysis
- 3-D Printing Allows For Anatomically Precise Products
- MPFF Introduced into U.S. for Venous & Lymphatic Disease
- Continuous Topical Oxygen Therapy for Wound Care
- Smartphone Scanning for Orthotics
- Advancements in Surgical Solutions and Patient Rehabilitation
- PCR Testing for Podiatric Nail & Skin Disorders
- Reducing Falls with Remote Motion Analysis
- Accessibility of Technology for Real World Care
- Technology Advances in Environment of Continuous Quality Improvement
- When Sneakers and Science Collide: Game-Changing Tech at the 2024 Olympics
Industry News & Updates
An interdisciplinary team of medical specialists, engineers, and computer scientists at Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany, are developing smart implants that can continuously monitor and actively promote bone healing—by, for example, micro-massaging the fracture site. The team of engineers led by Stefan Seelecke, Prof. Dr.-Ing., iMSL, chair of intelligent material systems and...
John Horne lost his right leg to bone cancer when he was a freshman in high school. This personal experience spawned his career and passion for advocating for those with limb loss. The president of Independence Prosthetics-Orthotics on the University of Delaware’s (UD) Science, Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus has seen prostheses improve significantly since...
TWIN is a new robotic exoskeleton for lower limbs, designed and developed by Rehab Technologies IIT – INAIL, the joint laboratory between the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT, Italian Institute of Technology) and the Prosthetic Center of INAIL (the prosthetic unit of the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work). The motorized exoskeleton is an external structure capable of...
People with chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) could soon have a new way to treat their wounds for faster healing and fewer hospital stays. Researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) and South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, Massachusetts, have found that the combination of 2 common diabetes drugs—injectable insulin and orally-administered metformin—increases the amount of...
Natural materials like bone, bird feathers, and wood have an intelligent approach to physical stress distribution, despite their irregular architectures. However, the relationship between stress modulation and their structures has remained elusive. A new study that integrates machine learning, optimization, 3D printing, and stress experiments allowed engineers to gain insight into these...
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