Sea Crest Health Care Center

By Ruth Folger Weiss

A few months after undergoing routine hip replacements, a number of patients of  a well known LA orthopedic surgeon started suffering from excruciating pains. The surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Dorr, was stymied until he discovered one factor they all had in common; the same replacement joint, manufactured by Zimmer Holdings, was implanted in all of them. Several needed to have their replacement replaced in another bout of surgery. When Zimmer was first contacted about this problem, they just brushed it off. It took a year of more complaints and pressure from doctors until they pulled this device off the market. In the interim many more patients unknowingly had their joints replaced with a faulty Zimmer “Durom Cup” with crippling results.

This upsetting scenario could have been avoided, and many patients could have been spared the agony, if the U.S. would have a Joint Registry in place. A Joint Registry is a national database that tracks the well being of patients with artificial hips and knees. Countries such as Australia, Britain, Norway and Sweden have such a system in place and the benefits are numerous. Tracking the success rates of the different joints available results in the faulty ones being pulled from the market much quicker. The registry data puts pressure on manufacturers to explain why their products perform poorly and the registry alerts surgeon to stop using flawed joints.

Monitoring devices like artificial joints supposedly falls under the domain of the The Food and Drug Administration but they are often overwhelmed by the vast number of products it monitors and because doctors often do not report problems.

Nearly one million hips and knees were replaced in the U.S. alone last year, about half of the world’s total. As the world’s leader in joint replacement, the U.S. should take the initiative and be the leader in follow-up too.  So far all efforts to establish a database here have failed due to the many hurdles, financial and practical, of our fragmented and decentralized health care system, as well as a lack of support from Medicare.

By Donna Lampa

About  50%-90% of people with asthma also suffer from a common form of indigestion – gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). No one had been able to unravel the mysterious link between these two conditions, but now new studies have shed some light on this relationship.

According to a recent study published by the European Journal of Clinical Investigation, the act of inhaling small amounts of stomach acid back up into the esophagus and lungs, a hallmark of GERD, slowly produces changes in the immune system that may lead to the development of asthma.
Although the rising cased of reflux  may be causing increasing cases of asthma, the good news is that by modifying one’s lifestyle one can minimize gastric reflux thus reducing the risk of developing asthma.

You can avoid the risk factors of GERD by:

* Eating smaller meals
* Eating several hours before going to bed
* Raising the head of your bed a few inches
* Maintaining a healthy weight
* Limiting fatty foods, coffee, tea, caffeine, and alcohol because they can relax the esophageal sphincter and make reflux more likely.

By Neil Bekker

Flip flops, the standard beachwear, are now the hottest form of footwear worn throughout the long hot summer days. They may be stylish, comfortable and cool, but wearing them all the time is a recipe for foot pain.

Since they offer no arch support, heel cushioning, or shock absorption, according to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) they should not be used for extensive walking or for playing sports. Wearers can suffer foot pain, tendinitis, and even sprained ankles if they trip, and are also at greater risk for stubbed toes, glass cuts, puncture wounds, or having a heavy object smash their foot due to their exposed toes.

People with diabetes should choose their footwear with care since any foot injury can become serious, even leading to amputation. They should be vigilant to have a protective covering on their toes and they should stay away from flip-flops and sandals.

Orthopedic surgeons  have treated many people who ran or jumped in flip-flops and suffered sprained ankles, fractures, and severe ligament injuries that required surgery. If you use your flip-flops to play Frisbee or backyard football you’re asking for trouble.

Insect and snake bites are another danger. Emergency room physicians on both sides of the country report seeing adults and children with snake bites to the feet while wearing flip-flops or sandals.

Flip flops are also a driving hazard. If they are loose enough to pop off your feet, you’re in trouble since they get stuck under the brake and gas pedal.

One more thing, when you do wear them – don’t forget to smear sunscreen on your exposed toes.

By L. Gordon

Back pain – something most Americans experience a few times a year. Wouldn’t it be nice to know why, and how to prevent it?

One good reason for back pain is lack of muscle strength. When back muscles are weak, they tire when supporting your back, and lose their ability to support you in more straining positions. Exercising three times a week strengthens the muscles and can actually reduce the risk of chronic back pain by 43%, according to researchers in the Samsung Medical Center in Korea. Exercise also has a myriad of other benefits, which don’t bear listing, including weight loss. Even 5 pounds can increase the risk of spinal injury, the study found.

Poor technique is another leading cause of back injury. Never bend over to pick up heavy things; always crouch, and lift with the item close to your body. Don’t twist over to lift something that’s fallen off your chair or desk; twisting your back while lifting even a pen is a great way to strain the cartilage discs in your spine.

There are some old myths about back pain that need to be discarded. Hard mattresses and sitting straight are two to forget immediately. The spine isn’t straight, so a hard mattress is actually pushing your spine out of line. A soft mattress, though, isn’t much better, allowing your spinal column to sag out of shape. Choose a mattress with a medium amount of give.

While good posture is great, sitting upright actually puts weight on your spine, which over the course of the day, can strain it. Leaning back, forward, standing, walking, and stretching throughout the day relieve the tension.

Back pains aren’t all physical. Possibly half of lower back pains in the United States can be traced to stress or other psychosomatic reasons. Take a warm bath, meditate, or get a massage. It could make that pain go away. Heat relaxes muscles, but so can sniffing relaxing scents, or visiting the chiropractor or acupuncturist.

By L. Gordon

What do you get when you combine an aging population with a gaining population?

Hip and knee replacements.

As baby boomers age and acquire arthritis, and as obesity continues to rage among the younger population, knees and hips are wearing out at an unprecedented rate. And as they wear out, they are being replaced at an unprecedented rate.

Arthritis is usually associated with aging, and the grinding down of cartilage at the joints. But cartilage can also be ground down by excessive weight placed on the joint by obesity.

Today, both populations of arthritis patients are growing, as baby boomers hit retirement and obesity grows in the general American population.

Arthritis can cause stiffness, swelling, and general joint pain, restricting, or even severely limiting, patient mobility. When pain-killers cease to help, join replacement surgery is a popular option. Titanium joints can last 10 or so years before they need to be replaced, and drastically reduce pain and increase mobility close to ordinary activity levels.

Between 2000 and 2004, there was a 53% increase in knee replacements and a 37% increase in hip replacements. According to a report by Dr. Sunny Kim at the Florida International University, if these trends persist, there will be 1.4 million knee replacements performed in the year 2015 alone. The cost to health care providers would be enormous.

By Ruth Folger Weiss

I’m going out to have a good time and incorporate some exercise while I’m at it.
I decided it was time to leave the desk after reading the latest studies on how crucial exercising (alright, particularly in midlife) is in warding off dementia and Alzheimer’s disease decades later.
In a study of more than 1,400 adults involved in the “Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia ” (CAIDE) project, which involved 1,449 men and women in Finland, those who were physically active in their free time during middle age were 52% less likely to develop dementia 21 years later than their sedentary counterparts. Their chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease was slashed even more, by 62%, and even stronger in those carrying the ApoE e4 gene, which is associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

“Free Time” is the definitive term here; exercise done as occupational activity, such as heavy lifting, didn’t have the same protective effect as leisure-time exercise have the same effect.

Suvi Rovio, MSc, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, concurs. “By being physically active in midlife, people who carry the ApoE e4 gene can lower their risk of Alzheimer’s to the same level as someone not carrying the gene.”

But Maria Carrillo, PhD, director of medical scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association, says that physical exercise “does not have to be strenuous or even require a major time commitment. It is most effective when done regularly, and in combination with a brain-healthy diet, mental activity, and social interaction.

“We know that physical exercise is essential for maintaining good blood flow to the brain as well as to encourage the development of new brain cells. “It also can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes, and thereby protect against those risk factors for Alzheimer’s and other dementias.”

Common medical wisdom has it that you should wait as long as possible before getting a knee replacement. After all, even titanium doesn’t last forever, and you don’t want a second replacement in your twilight years.

But that wisdom is getting old fast. Knee replacements routinely last 20 or more years, which means they’re likely to last the average candidate’s lifetime.

There’s good reason not to wait until joint pain becomes unbearable. By the time all the cartilage has worn out and walking becomes agony, the average person has become an invalid. The worse off you are going into a surgery, the worse you’ll be coming out.  Entering as a cripple is a guaranteed way to ensure that you don’t make a complete recovery or regain full use of the limb.

If your doctor keeps telling you to wait, don’t be afraid to get a second opinion, or insist that he recommend a replacement. “Wait until you can’t bear it anymore,” isn’t a good recommendation. If you’re hobbling with a walker, you deserve a replacement. In addition, men tend to get a replacement recommended faster than women, so if you’re female, don’t take “no” for an answer when you think you deserve a “yes.”