Side effects

Steroids for Asthma Now Associated with Brain Atrophy

High-dose corticosteroids are the most commonly used substance in medicine. There are literally hundreds of clinical diagnoses from asthma to joint pain to chronic skin rashes that will cause you to leave a doctor’s office with a steroid shot or prescription. Despite this common use, we’ve known for many decades that these drugs are trouble.…read more

The NSAID Apples to Apples Dilemma

One of the things we often do to help patient outcomes before, during, and after a regenerative medicine procedure is to restrict certain medications we know can hurt healing or the cells we’re using. One of the more common things we do is to take patients off NSAID drugs. However, that often creates a conundrum…read more

1 in 8 Orthopedic Surgeries Lead to Heart Damage

Sometimes a paper comes along that breaks my brain. This is one of those research studies which is in the form of a position paper published by the American Heart Association. It basically says that some people are getting heart damage during routine surgery. So let’s dig in because when I first read it yesterday,…read more

ANOTHER Study Shows Fusion Is an Expensive Tip

What if a very invasive spine procedure became common to treat degenerative disease despite a high complication rate and multiple studies showing it was ineffective? This would make little common sense, right? However, that’s what has happened with Lumbar Fusion. Now yet another new study shows it doesn’t work. Let’s dig in. What Is DDD…read more

Stem Cells and SCI: Placebo or the Next Best Thing Since Sliced Bread?

I have gotten many emails through the years from patients who know someone who has a spinal cord injury (SCI) and who ask if we could help. My answer has always been the same. We only treat orthopedic injuries. However, a study on stem cells and spinal cord injury was just published in February that’s…read more

Shoulder Replacement Side Effects Are Far Worse than We Thought…

Should you get a shoulder replacement? This is one of those surgeries that has a bad rap. Now new research shows why many patients complain about the results and complications of shoulder replacement. Understanding a Shoulder Replacement The shoulder joint is an intricate ball-and-socket structure. It’s complexity in structure allows for a range of motion…read more

Biceps Tenodesis Side Effects: They Did What to You?

I have a running list that I keep of the dumbest surgeries. One of my criteria to make the list is when I first hear about the procedure from a patient I am shocked enough to say out loud, “They did what to you?” While I’ve known about the concept of tenodesis for many years,…read more

RIP Hip Impingement Surgery?

OK, let’s be honest here. The research base behind the world’s most common orthopedic surgical procedures is blowing up or, more accurately, falling down. It’s been an absolutely awful run for common procedures like knee debridement, meniscectomy, rotator cuff repair, and other common surgeries that make up many billions in annual healthcare spending in the U.S. Frankly,…read more