Rehabilitation News

Playing professional football at higher altitudes can reduce the likelihood of concussions among players based on recent data that investigators collected from the 2012 and 2013 NFL schedule and analyzed.

Two million fractures per year are attributed to osteoporosis, and with an increasing elderly population, this number is expected to double by 2040. Despite these numbers and the increasing economic burden of these fractures, published studies show that only 20% of patients with osteoporosis are receiving proper treatment and prevention measures.

Results of a randomized, double-blind controlled study in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery supported the use of human mesenchymal stem cell for meniscal regeneration and the control of knee pain. “There was evidence of meniscus regeneration and improvement in knee pain following treatment with allogeneic human mesenchymal stem cells,” C. Thomas Vangsness Jr., MD, and colleagues wrote in the study. “These results support the study of human mesenchymal stem cells for the apparent knee-tissue regeneration and protective effects.” The study followed 55 patients at seven institutions who underwent partial medial meniscectomy and received the study treatment 7 days to 10 days after meniscectomy via a superolateral knee injection.

WAILEA, Hawaii — Communication and teamwork between orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists and occupational therapists are essential to maximize clinical outcomes after shoulder surgery.

Physicians should stop dispensing or prescribing drug products with more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dosage unit due to the potential for severe liver damage or death, the FDA recommended.

Regenesis Biomedical Inc. announced that the FDA has approved removal of the contraindication for use of the company’s Provant Therapy System in patients with metallic implants in the area of treatment.

Whether bracing after ACL reconstruction supports better outcomes is an ongoing question and one that Hermann O. Mayr, MD, PhD, of Freiburg, Germany, and colleagues studied after ACL reconstruction with patellar tendon autograft in patients with 4-year follow-up evaluations.

The use of free rehabilitation after meniscus repair does not lead to increased failure rates in patients who undergo meniscal repair compared to a more restricted rehabilitation program, according to researchers from Denmark.

Geriatric patients who received extra care after a traumatic injury had improved functional recovery and return to daily living activities compared with patients who did not receive extra care, according to a study in Journal of the American Medical Association Surgery.

Researchers in this study found a 6-week prehabilitation program for patients before undergoing ACL reconstruction improved knee function and self-reported outcomes after surgery.