Flu season is in full swing, and along with the regular flu, the new H1N1 virus is infecting thousands of people. Influenza can be a serious illness. Symptoms include fever, chills, headache, body aches, sore throat , runny nose, dry cough and a general feeling of exhaustion and sickness . While the fever usually lasts […]
If winter weather has you prepared to hit the slopes, be sure to take the necessary precautions to keep yourself injury-free this season. In addition to using the proper gear and sticking to the slopes that match your skill set, proper strengthening and stretching exercises can prepare your body […]
A sprained ankle is a very common injury, with approximately 25,000 people—athletes and non-athletes, children and adults—experiencing it each day. An ankle sprain affects the ligaments , tough elastic bands of tissue on the outside of the ankle that connect the ankle bones to each other and protect the ankle joint from abnormal movements, such […]
It’s a hard fact to swallow: Age eventually catches up with all of us, no matter how active we may be. Unless we work to maintain strength and flexibility, we slowly lose both as we age. Even the most avid golfers often notice that they lose distance in their drives and tennis players lose velocity […]
If you participate in sports that involve a repetitive overhead motion, such as baseball or weightlifting, you may be prone to developing a SLAP tear or SLAP lesion. SLAP, which stands for “superior labrum anterior to posterior,” refers to the ring of cartilage that surrounds the shoulder joint. While repetitive shoulder motions often lead to […]
You hear the crack of the bat and see the ball coming your way, but when you reach for the catch, the ball jams your outstretched middle finger. You’ve just caught baseball finger, also known as mallet finger. Mallet finger can result from any situation in which the tip of the finger is jammed by […]
With all the talk about athletes and concussions, one might ask whether everyone recovers similarly from this trauma. Many factors determine how quickly recovery occurs. Concussion is a brain injury caused by a hit to the head or an indirect body blow that leads to the brain moving within the skull, inflicting temporary neurological damage. […]
You walk out of your house, trip on the sidewalk and attempt to break your fall with an outstretched arm. Immediately afterward, you notice pain, swelling and an inability to move your wrist. You have likely just sustained a broken wrist (or Colles’ fracture), one of the most common types of broken bones. Obviously, this […]
Your preteen soccer player comes home from practice complaining of knee pain, and there is a tender swelling at the top of his shin. Your 8-year-old starts limping and talking about a gradually increasing ache in his heel. In both cases, the culprit may be apophysitis, a relatively common condition where an apophysis—a type of […]
