Research Articles

This is an interesting paper for anyone who treats tendon injuries. Most practitioners are aware of the strong connection between fluoroquinolone antibiotics and tendon ruptures, and the connection between type II diabetes and tendon injuries, but more often than not patients presenting for treatment and evaluation of tendon tears do not have their vitamin D levels checked. This is unfortunate because this paper confirms that hypovitaminosis D plays a significant role in the development of...

The authors of this study point out that nearly 1 million Americans get their knees replaced every year, and this number is going to jump to 3.5 million knee replacements annually by 2030. The authors state “the morbidity and mortality due to disuse associated with this is profound.” The authors took 5 severe osteoarthritis patients who were about to get their knees replaced and had them perform blood flow restriction training 3 times a week for 4 weeks and followed each workout by ingesting...

I like this article because it shows that downloading the Anglemeter app onto your iPhone allows you to take photographs of your patients’ bunions and measure their hallux valgus angle. This is important as it allows you to monitor progress for specific interventions when attempting to reduce the size of bunions. The authors evaluated reliability of 2 specific smart phone measurements and determined that they had excellent inter- and intrarater reliability, with ICC values over .9. The only...

These researchers measured plantar pressure distribution through the midfoot, metatarsals and toes as recreational runners ran in 3 different footwear conditions: a control group wearing the flexible Nike Free Run and two experimental conditions in which carbon fiber plates of different thickness were embedded into the control shoe. The running shoes were classified as control, stiff, and stiffest, depending upon which carbon plates were added. Plantar pressure data was collected with 233...

This is an open access article and it is available at the following link: Taurine deficiency as a driver of aging | Science. Abstract: Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids in humans. Earlier studies have shown that the concentration of taurine in blood correlates with health, but it is unknown whether blood taurine concentrations affect aging. To address this gap in knowledge, we measured the blood concentration of taurine during aging and investigated the effect of taurine...

I included this article because I just finished watching the Netflix documentary, “The Game Changers,” which pretty much says switching to a vegan diet will improve every aspect of your life: you will add lean muscle, improve athletic performance, and live longer. I was curious about the documentary’s accuracy, so I looked up everything I could find on the health benefits of veganism and this article stood out. The authors give a balanced view of the pros and cons of veganism/vegetarianism....

Why was this study done? Many dietary guidelines recommend limiting dairy fat consumption in order to lower saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, increasing evidence suggests that the health impact of dairy foods is more dependent on the type (e.g., cheese, yoghurt, milk, and butter) rather than the fat content, which has raised doubts if avoidance of dairy fats is beneficial for cardiovascular health. What did the researchers do and find? We measured dairy fat...

Background: Evidence regarding the effects of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA on cognition is lacking. Objectives: We investigated whether supplementation with oils rich in EPA or DHA improves cognition. Methods: Healthy adults (n = 310) completed a 26-wk randomized controlled trial in which they consumed either 900 mg DHA and 270 mg EPA, 360 mg DHA and 900 mg EPA, or 3000 mg/d refined olive oil (placebo). Cognitive performance and memory consolidation were assessed via...

Introduction: Glucosamine is one of the most widely consumed dietary supplements and complementary medicines in the world and has been traditionally used to attenuate osteoarthritis in humans. Glucosamine extends life span in different animal models. In humans, its supplementation has been strongly associated with decreased total mortality and improved vascular endothelial function. Glucosamine acts as a suppressor of inflammation, and by inhibiting glycolysis, it can activate the metabolism...

In the late 90s, Alfredson published a widely referenced paper showing that heavy-load eccentric calf exercises reduced pain and improved function in even the worst cases of Achilles tendinopathy. More than 20 years later, it is still unclear exactly why heavy-load eccentric strength training stimulates tendon repair. There is also controversy over the best exercise prescription necessary to stimulate remodeling as some authors recommend performing 4 sets of 80 repetitions with light weights,...

The lead author of this paper, Dustin Oranchuk, has a history of publishing some of the best research on tendon remodeling. In this paper, the authors point out that isometric contractions have several advantages over conventional concentric and eccentric exercises. For example, isometric contractions are helpful during acute injuries as the muscle can be exercised in the most pain-free joint angle. This allows for accelerated rehabilitation as extremely large forces can be generated at these...

A small but unfortunate percentage of people who tear their Achilles tendon on one side will go on to tear the opposite side. The authors of this study evaluated medical records of 181 patients presenting with Achilles tendon ruptures to identify which specific risk factors were associated with contralateral Achilles tendon tears. The authors looked at all potential factors that might be associated with contralateral tearing including age, body mass index, occupation, blood type, underlying...

Achilles tendon ruptures are disabling injuries that lead to long-term deficits in strength, physical activity, and function. Despite the high prevalence of this injury, the optimal treatments for the management of Achilles tendon ruptures are poorly defined. The authors of this study used ultrasonography to evaluate movement patterns between tendon fibers in people with healthy Achilles tendons, and in people treated non-surgically 14 months after an acute Achilles tendon rupture....

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common of all joint diseases, affecting more than 30 million Americans. In the next few decades, the number of people suffering with osteoarthritis is expected to skyrocket, as people are living longer and the percentage of the population that is obese continues to increase. A common treatment intervention for osteoarthritis is to inject corticosteroids directly into the arthritic joint. In theory, these injections reduce the inflammation associated with...

Chronic pain is pervasive in modern society, and chronic low back pain is the most frequently reported chronic pain condition. Current drug treatments for low back pain often target the immune system and include anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen, and corticosteroids, which have been proven to be minimally effective at best. Additionally, despite the widespread use of NSAIDs in managing chronic low back pain, very little is understood about the molecular mechanisms associated with...

This is far and away one of the best papers ever done on the efficacy of manual methods for managing musculoskeletal injuries. The lead author, Geoffrey Bove, practiced as a chiropractor prior to getting a PhD in Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of North Carolina. In this study, Dr. Bove and colleagues set out to determine if massage and joint mobilization could reduce pain, improve motor function, and prevent the formation of scar tissue associated with high repetition overuse...

According to the authors of this study, as many as 70% of the individuals will experience neck pain at least once in their life, and nearly 60% of these people will continue to report pain 5 years after initial onset of pain. The economic cost of managing both back and neck pain continues to skyrocket, increasing by more than $57 billion between 1996 and 2013. The authors also refer to prior studies confirming that upper thoracic spine manipulation effectively reduces neck pain and increases...

In any given year, nearly 80% of long-distance runners are injured. The authors of this study point out that to date, no satisfactory treatment has ever been developed to prevent running-related injuries. To that end, the authors set out to determine if foot strengthening exercises could reduce the rate of running-related injuries in recreational long-distance runners over the course of 1 year. 118 runners were recruited with 57 of them being placed in an intervention group incorporating...

Following ACL reconstruction, most practitioners determine when an athlete should return to sport by measuring horizontal distance during various hop tests. Hop tests have been widely adopted by the rehab community, mostly because they are easy to perform and do not need expensive equipment. Unfortunately, these tests are unable to predict successful return to sport one year following injury causing some experts to question their validity as a return to sport metric. This study confirms that...

These are some of the best authors in the field of biomechanics. The research facility at the University of Southern California consistently puts out clinically significant studies. This paper is no different as the authors demonstrate that compared to a control group, individuals with patellar tendinopathy exhibit significantly larger tibiofemoral joint internal rotation when performing single-leg landing. In fact, the authors state “transverse plane rotation of the tibiofemoral joint was the...