Knee ACL Surgery Failure-Startling Rate of Graft Rupture in Young Athletes

How frequently does knee ACL surgery failure occur? The number of ACL surgeries in young people, especially in young female soccer players, is exploding. These kids are often treated like professional athletes trying to eek out a multi-million dollar contract extension. However, is this a good idea? A new study shows that despite the huge surgery…read more

So this is Hip PAO Surgery Recovery? This Patient’s Hip Socket Is Still Disconnected from her Body 9 Months Later

This week I spoke to a patient over the phone who went to the gym about a year ago and felt like she had a groin pull. In the end, she ended up getting Hip PAO surgery. I’ve blogged on this procedure in the past, which involves disconcerting the hip socket from the pelvis, rotating…read more

The Cholesterol Drug Problems Two Step: Or How the Tail Wags the Dog in Medicine

For years, I’ve been an ardent critic of the Madison avenue message that we all desperately need to lower our serum cholesterol by taking cholesterol drugs (statins). First, we have observed that these drugs tend to hurt adult stem cells. Second, I’ve had to research them for my own use. In that research, I was…read more

Why I Avoid Drug Reps in My Office Like the Plague

There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t see them lurking near our medication samples closet, but I walk by at double step and haven’t talked to one in many years. They are drug reps, a fixture of modern medicine. The last one I spoke to was from the maker of Oxycontin and it wasn’t…read more

General Anesthetics and Dementia: Do You Know Which One Is Less Likely to Fry Your Brain?

Is there a link between the use of general anesthetics and dementia risk?  General anesthesia is the type where they put a patient to sleep with a tube in the throat. This topic has a personal interest for me as my father started a serious cognitive decline after hip surgery, so I’ve always wondered if…read more

More Hip and Knee Replacement Side Effects: Significant Increases in Bleeding Stomach Ulcers

Hip and knee replacement side effects are in the news again.  Most patients believe that a knee or hip replacement surgery is like getting a new part in their car… nothing could be farther from the truth. Recent research has shown that knee and hip replacement procedures are associated with a dramatic increase in stroke…read more