Is Orthopedic Treatment the Answer?

It is very common for people to start feeling back pain and have joint problems sometime within their lifetime. Suddenly many questions start coming up when this occurs: Do I Need Professional Treatment? Is an Orthopedic treatment the right choice? The simple answer is to go and get an evaluation or opinion by a Professional Orlando Orthopedic Specialist. 

Orthopedics is not only about bone related injuries. An orthopedic specialist deals with all injuries and illnesses affecting the musculoskeletal system. This is the system that comprises all the muscles and bones in your body. Therefore an orthopedic surgeon will deal with any damages that affect the bones and muscles in your body.

Back Pain is the most common reason people seek an orthopedic specialist. Pain and certain injuries can be caused due to excessive stress to the body at work or strenuous physical activities. These injuries usually are the result of high-risk activities, sports or accidents. Injuries such as: torn ligaments, pulled or strained muscles and joint injuries require orthopedic care. An orthopedic expert can help you get back on your feet, improve muscle strength, posture, and overall spinal health.

Depending on a person’s fitness and flexibility certain exercises or movements can cause different traumas. It’s your body, so you will know the difference between normal body aches and a potential injury better than anyone.

If you do experience an injury, Dr. Andrew Appel, from the Sea Spine Orlando Orthopedic branch suggests that you do the following:

Stop all activity immediately and do not “fight through ” the pain.

Follow the R.I.C.E. method:

• Rest the injury
•  Ice it
• Compress with a bandage
• Elevate it

If the injury does not improve in a few days, seek an orthopedic physician for assistance. Remember Orthopedics works to uncover and cure your health conditions, not merely cover up your symptoms. 

Even though age and physical fitness does affect risk of injury, children are still prone to suffer accidents. If a young one in your family has an injury, seek an orthopedic specialist for help. This is very important because children’s bones are developing as they grow. To ensure that the effects of the injuries are not long term, a specialist’s analysis is required.

Without knowing the specifics of a particular case it really is impossible to determine the best path for you to take. Most of the time a qualified orthopedic specialist will have a solution for your specific problem.

Many people who struggle with pain and injuries to the musculoskeletal system prefer to deal with it in their own or look for inadequate solutions. These injuries could worsen and cause serious problems. If you find yourself in such a situation, seek the advice of professional and experienced high-rated Florida orthopedic specialist to ensure that you get proper treatment for your condition. Contact Sea Spine Orthopedic Institute today at http://www.seaspineortho.com/ or call  866-816-ORTHO.

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Taking care of your Knees

Did you know that the knee is one of the largest and most complex joints in the human body? Knees are designed for both mobility and stability. However, it’s also one of the most common injuries seen at Sea Spine Florida Orthopedic Institute.

Knee problems can occur from a fall, collision, or from awkward repetitive movements over a relatively long period of time, which result in injuries. Due to the high risk for knee problems, one should take special precautions to keep their knees healthy. Taking care of your knees can be easy if certain preventative actions are taken.

Watch your weight

Being over weight can put a lot of strain on the knees. So by staying fit and at a healthy weight your knees, and many other parts of your body, will appreciate it. Every extra pound adds about 4 extra pounds of pressure on the knees when walking. The risk for developing knee injury is 50% greater for people overweight than those without weight problems. If you feel pain, keeping a healthy weight helps minimize symptoms and can sometimes alleviate the pain altogether.

Walk Correctly

Something as simple as walking correctly can prevent future knee injuries. Example, Running up and down the stairs can put significant stress and strain on the kneecaps if you’re not in great shape. So walk, don’t run. Awkward surfaces like grass and cobblestone pathways can cause extra strain for those who suffer from past knee injuries. Choosing to walk on sidewalks or worn paths can help with stability and minimize the chances of tripping too.

Wear the right Shoes

It's amazing what a difference a good pair of shoes can make. Make sure the shoes you are wearing are right for the activity you are undertaking. Shoes for aerobics offer a different type of support than running shoes. Many people don't realize the importance of wearing the right athletic shoes. If you can’t afford shoes for every activity, use special inserts, such as arch supports.

Exercise properly

Exercising improperly or overdoing certain routines can inadvertently cause you to overextend the knee.  Warm up before working out and start off slow.  Cold muscles are more prone to cause injuries. Even if you're just going for a walk, you should begin at an easy pace before picking up speed.

After a workout apply ice packs to your knees to help keep reduce any pain and swelling from inflammation. Keep the ice pack wrapped in a towel and take it off after 20 minutes.

Consult an Expert.

If you are a very active person you may want to see a physician who's a specialist in sports Medicine. You don't have to be an athlete or a professional dancer to benefit from this type of doctor. Sports medicine focuses on getting you healed properly and back to an exercise routine.

If you have knee problems: heard a pop or a tear when you injured it, if it swells or if you just know you've hurt it badly, see a doctor. With new technologies like MRI scans and arthroscopy, experts can diagnose and treat knee problems quicker, easier, and better. If you feel uncomfortable, or sharp pains seek a professional’s help without delay.

Use common sense and listen to your body. Aim for prevention whenever possible and seek out help when appropriate. Your body does communicate to you. You just need to listen.  If you're looking for professional and experienced high-rated Florida orthopedic surgeons, contact SeaSpine Orthopedic Institute today at (http://www.seaspineortho.com/) or call  866-816-ORTHO.

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The Benefits of Stretching

As you age, your muscles tighten and the range of motion in your joints diminishes. This can limit your active lifestyle or make normal day-to-day activities harder. People notice that tasks that were simple before, now become extremely difficult.

Florida orthopedic specialists,  Sea Spine Orthopedic Institute say that stretching is just about the simplest of all physical activities. Children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens can improve their body’s health by stretching.

“Stretching is one element of fitness that is often neglected until pain or discomfort set in, yet a small investment of time every day can lead to improved flexibility and greater performance in all aspects of life. Says Dr. Griffes Author of Stretching for Life Today's sedentary lifestyle leads to lack of movement, which in turn, leads to adaptive shortening of your muscles. This muscle shortening can influence your balance and coordination, along with strength and agility. Daily or nightly stretching of muscles helps alleviate muscular aches and pains and reduces the risk of injury. Stretching different muscle groups throughout the day helps keep you relaxed and alert. Consider adding stretching into your daily diet of health and fitness”. The benefits of stretching for your wellbeing include:

Increases Flexibility

Flexibility is the point in which an individual’s muscle will lengthen to. Lack of flexibility makes your movement slower and less fluid.  Lack of flexibility makes you more susceptible to muscle strains, and other soft tissue injuries. Stretching can avoid this.

Balance and Coordination.

The increased flexibility that occurs from adequate stretching improves balance and coordination. Improved balance and coordination lowers your risk for falls,  better agility and quicker reflexes.

Better circulation

Stretching increases blood flow to your muscles. Blood flowing to your muscles brings nutrition and gets rid of unwanted byproducts from the muscle tissue. Better circulation can help shorten recovery time,  if you've had muscle injuries.

Lower Cholesterol
Prolonged stretching exercises will help reduce the cholesterol in your body. Of course this must be supplemented  with a healthy diet. This  could prevent and even setback the clotting of the arteries, allowing you to avoid heart problems.

Improving Posture

Poor posture, which has developed over time, can be attributed to muscle imbalances. A good example is, people who hunch over a computer for long periods of time tend to shorten the chest muscles. Stretching these muscles can help to improve posture. Stretching is also beneficial in reducing lower back pain and future injuries.

Stress relief

Muscle tightness is often linked to stress. Our body tends to tighten up when stressed. Stretching relaxes these muscles. A good example of this is the neck muscles.

Reduces Fatigue

When muscles are tight one becomes tired more quickly. This fatigue decreases mental and physical performance. Stretching can help with this. You may have notice that if you have been sitting in a particular position for a long time, you stretch unconsciously, this is the body fighting fatigue.

Audrey Phillips Green, fitness professional says “I must confess that stretching is not my favorite thing to do. I would rather perform an intense cardio routine than stretching. Do I skip stretching due to the fact that I do not enjoy it? Of course not, and I will give you the reasons why. Stretching increases the body’s range of motion; therefore a person’s athletic performance is increased. Moreover, the risk of injury is greatly reduced when one incorporates stretching into their daily routine. During a stretch, the muscle fibers are lengthened which creates greater ease of movement; thereby, improving coordination and posture and decreasing muscle soreness and lower back pain. Not only is stretching awesome for your muscles; it has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety. The perfect example I can give is my dog. The first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is stretch, and he lives a totally carefree life. So, get to stretching people and enjoy your life!”

If you have an injury or any type of recurring soreness see a doctor or back professional quickly. Stretching is not intended to cure serious problems. If you have pain of a repetitive strain injury, some damage has already been done.

If you're looking for professional and experienced high-rated Florida orthopedic surgeons, contact Sea Spine Orthopedic Institute today at    

http://www.seaspineortho.com/ or call  866-816-ORTHO.

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Pain Killer Addiction

Unless you are Bruce Willis’ character from Unbreakable it’s impossible to go through life without getting injured, hurt, or eventually one day needing an orthopedic surgeon.  Whether it is from playing sports, working out, or falling out of your chair, many people have to deal with recurring pain.  How we deal with that pain is up to the individual and the advice you get from a specialist.  Depending on where you are hurt there are a lot of alternatives to deal with pain like surgery or physical therapy, but the majority of us rely on pain killers.  The problem with that is that they are highly addictive, and once on them it can be very hard for some people to stop taking them. 

      

The first recorded use of a pain killer was over six thousand years ago in ancient Sumeria.  However, over the last fifty years modern medicine has introduced a wide spectrum of drugs that are mass produced for people around the world. The CDC reported that in 2010 one in twenty people in the United States, ages 12 and older, used prescription painkillers non-medically (without a prescription or just for the "high" they cause). This huge use in pain killers has attributed to a huge increase in accidental overdoses every year.  Most of these addictions come from past use that continues well after the reason the took the meds in the first place is gone.  This has become an epidemic, and people that have these addictions aren't as easy to spot as other drug addictions.

First of all, you can buy these drugs anywhere as long as you have a prescription.  There are many cases of people that go to numerous doctors at the same time to obtain a bunch of prescriptions.  Then they have the so-called pill mills that just sell pills to anyone off the street complaining of pain.  Luckily, law enforcement has been cracking down on these places in recent years, but the problem still persists.  An addiction is an addiction and where there is a need people can find a supply.

    

Secondly, there is no odor or paraphernalia negatively associated with taking prescription pills. They come in an orange prescription bottle so someone is less likely to be alarmed if they see you taking one in public.  Behaviorally speaking you could tell someone is on them all the time if you personally know the person for a long time and know their personality.  However, approaching someone that you suspect is addicted to them is a difficult task.  Denial, denial, denial is all that you will get.  Just like any other addiction the self-awareness of its destructive nature is not always so apparent.       

As I have stated in previous blogs, I myself have dealt with a serious injury and I was prescribed painkillers to help cope with the constant pain.  For me it was an uncomfortable feeling to lapse into a dull haze, but I can see how that can become addictive for someone.  The biggest problem I experienced was when I tried to stop taking them.  Luckily, I was told by a good friend of mine that you just cannot stop taking them cold turkey once you start feeling better.  Little did I know the amount of withdrawals you would have if you did so.  Even when I began to reduce the amount I would take over time I would still experience hot flashes and nausea.   And this was only after taking them for a few months.  I can’t imagine the amount of withdrawals someone would go through if they were taking them for years.

Then you have the weird side effects that come along with pain killers.  Not having the ability to go to the bathroom was a surprise.  For those of you who read this and have never taken them before, even when you have the urge to go to the bathroom this kind of medication prevents you from going.  It's a scary feeling when you haven't gone to the bathroom in a few days.  For me it ended up being a few weeks and I was scared for my life.  Soon enough I started to go once I slowed down the rate of how much I took, but I will never forget those two weeks and the fright I had of not being able to do something newborn babies could do. 

In conclusion, if you suspect a friend, family member, or co-worker is abusing pain killers the best thing to do is to contact other people in their lives who they trust and would be open to listening too.  A one man front so to speak is difficult, but a united front brought before the person in question is a much better approach and will have more positive results.

 

If you're looking for professional and experienced high-rated orthopedic surgeon in Florida, contact Sea Spine Orthopedic Institute today at 866-816-ORTHO.


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Getting a Second Opinion

Going to see a doctor can be a very traumatic experience for many people, especially if it is followed by a negative diagnosis that requires some kind of surgery or treatment.  If you are anything like me you have always trusted your doctors and their opinions.  However, as I have learned not every doctor has all the answers and even though it does not always happen doctors can give the wrong diagnosis.  After all they are only human, just like the rest of us they can make mistakes.  In 1999 the Institute of Medicine conducted a survey that came up with results that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year in hospitals from errors that could have been prevented.  The scary part is that does not include medical errors that kill patients once they leave the hospital. 

Not all diagnosis, however, require a second opinion.  Some diagnoses are conclusive. For example, a fasting plasma glucose (FPG) test measures blood glucose in a person who has not eaten anything for at least 8 hours. This is the test they use detect diabetes and pre-diabetes in a person and does not require a second opinion because those tests are always conclusive. 

Where these conclusive diagnoses are few and far between what you really have to be mindful of are conclusions that are followed by an invasive surgery or some kind of aggressive treatment like chemotherapy.  Not only could these surgeries and treatments be dangerous themselves but they can cause complications on their own if not done properly.  

I find that peace of mind is reason enough for some people to get second opinions.  The surety of what you are diagnosed can always be in question, but sometimes getting that second opinion may help you accept your condition and move forward. 

The flip side of this debate is the fact that second opinions can be very costly.  Especially to those who do not have health insurance.  “The Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey of U.S. Adults finds that one-quarter of adults ages 19 to 64 experienced a gap in their health insurance in 2011, with a majority remaining uninsured for one year or more.”  That is a lot of people without health insurance, and unfortunately a lot of people that do not have the luxury of getting second opinions.

Another reason not to get a second opinion might be that your doctor or specialist might be the best in their field, or what they tell you might make a lot of sense to you.  If you assumed you had specific allergies and you doctor confirms that, more than likely you would not seek a second opinion.  Maybe the treatment itself is minor and does not require a surgery.  If there would not be any side effects to the treatment would you consider the treatment more? Of course you would, but if it came down to cancer I bet you would most assuredly want a second opinion before you proceeded forward with any surgeries or chemo.

It is important to understand when you are in need of a second opinion.  Whether it be a minor or major diagnosis a second opinion could save your life, or be a total waste of time and money.  A second opinion will always be a personal preference.  As we get older and are faced with the eventual decline of health it is detrimental to understand these differences when making the choice of getting a second opinion.  After all when it comes to your own health what could be more important.


For more information on Sea Spine Orthopedics Institute please click on the link to visit our website.


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