• BE KIND TO YOUR HANDS

      Our hands are one of the most amazing arrangements of sinew and bone in the natural world…ever. They’re one of the things that differentiate us from the lesser animals, enabling us to put our huge brains to use. What good is a big brain if you can’t make a club, wield a sword, turn the pages of a book or use a keyboard? I don’t know which evolved first; the big brain or the facile hand, but one wasn’t much good without the other, as far as the caveman was concerned. In the old days a saw bones couldn’t do much more than an amputation for a bad hand.…

  • I LEARNED ABOUT STIFFNESS IN ANATOMY LAB

    One of the most common complaints I hear from patients is that they experience pain in transitions; going from sitting to standing, standing to sitting, getting out of chairs, getting out of bed. Now let me say, I never hear that complaint from 20 year olds. I only hear it from those over forty.  I often recall my old days in medical school anatomy class when my patients ask me why they begin falling apart sometime after forty. I remember so clearly the first day we were “introduced” to our cadavers. It was so amazing on so many different levels, the first and most significant of which was simply the fact…

  • HUMANS AND SPORTS CARS COMPARED

      So, why do we get this heel pain? With few exceptions, plantar fasciitis is a disease which affects women over 40. That’s why I said to start stretching your plantar fascia when you’re 35.  Of course there are exceptions, but let’s add this common condition in a larger category; adult repetitive strain disorders. This group of disorders, which probably accounts for a third of the patients I see, includes disorders like rotator cuff diseases, hip bursitis and tennis elbow. There are hundreds more but I will see at least a half dozen patients every day with those four conditions! Some patients come to see me with all four. Poor…

  • BE PREPARED FOR AGING AND DISABILITY

    I probably see at least 5 patients every day who, for one reason or another, have to make significant life-style changes. Most of the time I just suggest life-style changes. I hate for people, even knowledgeable people like doctors, to tell me what to do. My clinic staff is always trying to tell me what to do; “Dr. B sign this, answer this call, see the patient in Room B next.” I like to tell them not to tell me what to do. We all get a big kick out of that for some reason. My patients are no different. They hate to be told what to do. I get…