(Press-News.org) SAN DIEGO, CA – Knee pain related to osteoarthritis (OA) is a common complaint among obese individuals and retired professional athletes, especially former NFL players, but researchers presenting their work at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day program (February 19th) say they have a simple solution: lose weight.
"Our research on patients who were obese with early-onset knee osteoarthritis showed that those individuals who underwent isolated weight loss via bariatric surgery and lost an average of 57 pounds within the first six months significantly improved their knee pain, stiffness and physical function. Quality of life, activities of daily living and sports activity also improved; all of this without other arthritic treatments," said lead researcher Christopher Edwards of the Penn State College of Medicine.
OA of the knee is one of the five leading causes of disability among elderly men and women in the U.S., and costs $185 billion in out-of-pocket expenditures each year. Obesity is one of the leading risk factors for the disease.
The study followed 24 adult patients who ranged in age from 30-67 and were diagnosed as obese with clinical and radiographic evidence of knee OA. The Western Ontario and McMaster (WOMAC) Index of Osteoarthritis and Knee and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) surveys were administered at a pre-bariatric surgery baseline and at six and 12 months post surgery.
"Each individual had some kind of improvement in their pain from losing weight, some more than others. There are few studies that have investigated the role of isolated weight loss in the absence of additional arthritis treatment on those individuals with radiographically confirmed OA. Further research still needs to be performed to investigate whether knee arthritis symptom improvement continues over time and are applicable to those individuals who are simply overweight, but our research suggests a strong possibility of improvement," said Edwards.
###
The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) is a world leader in sports medicine education, research, communication and fellowship, and includes national and international orthopaedic sports medicine professionals. The Society works closely with many other sports medicine specialists, including athletic trainers, physical therapists, family physicians, and others to improve the identification, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of sports injuries.
For more information, please contact either AOSSM Director of Communications Lisa Weisenberger at 847/292-4900, or e-mail her at lisa@aossm.org. You can also visit the AOSSM newsroom at www.sportsmed.org.
Weight loss improves knee pain from common arthritic condition, study says
2011-02-20
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Misguided public perception on what Tommy John surgery can do apparent in new study
2011-02-20
SAN DIEGO, CA – Despite known risks and outcomes of the common elbow procedure known as Tommy John surgery, parents, coaches and players still have incorrect assumptions regarding player performance, say researchers presenting their study at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in San Diego, CA (February 19th).
"Despite the recognized risk of pitch type and amount of pitches, nearly a third of those we surveyed did not believe pitch counts were a risk factor for injury. Even more disturbing was that fact that a quarter of players and coaches ...
Hamstring grafts prove more effective in ACL knee reconstruction, study says
2011-02-20
SAN DIEGO, CA - Patients receiving anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee reconstruction with a hamstring tendon graft rather than a knee tendon graft were less likely to suffer from pain and mobility issues15 years after surgery, say researchers presenting a study today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in San Diego, California (February 19).
"While we have seen excellent results in terms of knee symptoms and function with both graft types, comparing the two definitely showed differences, "said Leo Pinczewski, MD, lead researcher ...
Study shows young patients may benefit from microfracture knee procedures
2011-02-20
SAN DIEGO, CA - Surgical treatment using microfracture for pediatric knee injury repair may improve activity outcomes, according to research presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in San Diego (February 19). The study shows patients are able to regain function and return to a normal activity level following surgery and rehabilitation.
"Our study focused on patients with articular cartilage injuries to the knee, which can be a debilitating source of pain and a strong limitation to function in pediatric patients," said lead researcher, ...
Specialized blood plasma treatment does not improve rotator cuff healing, study finds
2011-02-20
SAN DIEGO, CA – Improving healing after a rotator cuff tendon repair is an ongoing problem for orthopaedic surgeons world-wide. Researchers, presenting a study at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in San Diego (February 19th) found that one of the latest tools for healing injuries, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), does not make a big difference.
"Our study on 79 patients who received platelet-rich plasma with a fibrin matrix (PRFM) demonstrated no real differences in healing in a tendon-to-bone rotator cuff repair. In fact, this preliminary ...
Mimicking photosynthesis path to solar-derived hydrogen fuel
2011-02-20
Inexpensive hydrogen for automotive or jet fuel may be possible by mimicking photosynthesis, according to a Penn State materials chemist, but a number of problems need to be solved first.
"We are focused on the hardest way to make fuel," said Thomas Mallouk, Evan Pugh Professor of Materials Chemistry and Physics. "We are creating an artificial system that mimics photosynthesis, but it will be practical only when it is as cheap as gasoline or jet fuel."
Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen can be done in a variety of ways, but most are heavily energy intensive. The ...
A new high-resolution method for imaging below the skin using a liquid lens
2011-02-20
University of Rochester optics professor Jannick Rolland has developed an optical technology that provides unprecedented images under the skin's surface. The aim of the technology is to detect and examine skin lesions to determine whether they are benign or cancerous without having to cut the suspected tumor out of the skin and analyze it in the lab. Instead, the tip of a roughly one-foot-long cylindrical probe is placed in contact with the tissue, and within seconds a clear, high-resolution, 3D image of what lies below the surface emerges.
Rolland will be presenting ...
'Universal standards' for research integrity may have unintended consequences
2011-02-20
The global scientific community is capable of policing its own behavior and should resist creation of a central oversight body to enforce 'universal standards' that may have unintended consequences, a renowned physicist and director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin said Saturday.
Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science Without Borders meeting in Washington, D.C., Raymond L Orbach, Ph.D., singled out several elements contained in the "Singapore Statement of Research Integrity" (www.singaporestatement.org) ...
When fingers start tapping, the music must be striking a chord
2011-02-20
Washington (Thursday, February 17) — According to University of Toronto speech-language pathologist Luc De Nil, the beat could be revealing such things as how children master one of the most complex tasks of all – speech.
"The rapid and precise muscle movements of speech must be the most intricate, yet poorly understood, of all the sensory-motor skills," says De Nil.
De Nil's interest in finger-tapping came out of his group's previous work on adults who stutter. His team discovered that they have problems in acquiring new and unusual tapping sequences and not just speech. ...
Plants that can move inspire new adaptive structures
2011-02-20
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The Mimosa plant, which folds its leaves when they're touched, is inspiring a new class of adaptive structures designed to twist, bend, stiffen and even heal themselves. University of Michigan researchers are leading their development.
Mechanical engineering professor Kon-Well Wang will present the team's latest work Feb. 19 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's 2011 Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. He will also speak at a news briefing earlier that day. Wang is the Stephan P. Timoshenko Collegiate Professor of Mechanical Engineering ...
Super-sharp radio 'eye' remeasuring the universe
2011-02-20
Using the super-sharp radio "vision" of astronomy's most precise telescope, scientists have extended a directly-measured "yardstick" three times farther into the cosmos than ever before, an achievement with important implications for numerous areas of astrophysics, including determining the nature of Dark Energy, which constitutes 70 percent of the Universe. The continent-wide Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) also is redrawing the map of our home Galaxy and is poised to yield tantalizing new information about extrasolar planets, among many other cutting-edge research projects.
The ...