Research

Hip Arthritis Getting Worse? New Research Says It Could Be the Bone

Is your hip arthritis getting worse? In addition to cartilage breakdown, your bone could also be deteriorating. A bright spot (or dark spot depending on the imaging sequence used) on the bone on MRI is called a bone marrow lesion (BML, also called a BME which means bone marrow edema). It’s an area in the…read more

New England Journal of Medicine: R.I.P. Back and Neck Fusion Surgery

There has been an explosion in low back and neck fusion surgeries in the past two decades. However, I often tell my patients that “fusion is a dog with big fleas.” After they have a spinal fusion and are seen in the office and have more pain somewhere else, I tell them that they’re now…read more

Our Annual Stem Cell Research in Orthopedics Update—2016 Edition

Every year for the last few, I’ve created an infographic summarizing stem cell research in orthopedics. Every year, the list gets bigger and the number of patient results represented grows. This year is no different! (Click here for a larger view) How Is This Created? I searched the US National Library of Medicine under several…read more

Beer Drinkers at Greater Risk for Knee and Hip Arthritis

Barley, hops, and yeast—these are the main ingredients that are processed to create that perfect bottle of beer, but there’s one problem: when you take a drink of beer, you’re basically taking a drink of liquid white bread and all the processed carbohydrates that entails. A typical 12-ounce bottle of beer has 10–15 carbohydrates or…read more

Is IV Stem Cell Therapy a Good Idea?

I got an e-mail yesterday from a physician colleague asking about whether IV stem cell therapy for knee arthritis was for real. It hit me that this would be a great blog topic as the number of physicians offering IV stem cell therapy has exploded in recent years. So is this a good idea? Is…read more

Interventional Orthopedics Training – What Patients Should Know About Their Doctor

Recently, we’ve noticed several physicians advertising that they have completed “stem cell fellowship training”. So what is this and is it a real medical fellowship in the same way your cardiologist or other specialist went through fellowship training, or is it something else? What is Fellowship Training? A fellowship is usually a dedicated 1-2 year…read more

Cyplexinol Review 2: More of the BMP Shuffle…

Last year I was contacted by a marketing agent on Twitter about the “research” supporting a new supplement called Cyplexinol. When I dug into this supplement, what I found was very disturbing. Yesterday a physician who uses stem cells sent me a copy of the company’s most recent e-mail ad campaign which looks as factually…read more

Is Drinking Beer Trashing Your Joints? Is Wine Better?

People tend to be in one of two big camps on the topic of alcoholic beverages – beer or wine. Beer drinkers tend to be hearty and fun loving souls focused on the moment, where as we wine drinkers love our pretty labels and snob appeal. Now a new study shows that these two drink choices…read more