If you have osteoarthritis of the knees, with all of the pain and loss of flexibility that entails, chances are your doctor has recommended arthroscopic surgery. This is a procedure in which the surgeon inserts a scope into the knee and cleans out bits of loose bone and smoothes rough cartilage.

But there are ways to avoid this invasive, expensive surgery and actually alleviate the arthritis. (Read more about How to Save Your Knees From Arthroscopic Surgery)

Related Stories

- KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS TOPICAL TREATMENT
- VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTATION
- Smoking's Link to Back Problems

Many studies are showing a persistent connection between gum disease and other ailments that afflict corners of the body far afield from the teeth.

Specifically, when gingivitis (early-stage gum disease) or full-blown periodontal disease is present, it's often the case that doctors find that a patient has diabetes, kidney disorders, preterm labor, certain types of cancer, osteoporosis or even Alzheimer's disease. (Read more about As Goes Oral Health, So Goes General Health)

Related Stories

- How to Save Your Knees From Arthroscopic Surgery
- Hip Fracture
- ARTIFICIAL DISC TREATS LOWER BACK PAIN

Smoking causes cancer, lung disease and heart attacks, and disrupts body chemistry in such dangerous ways that a host of other ailments can result. So it's not surprising that even back problems might be caused by nicotine and smoke ingestion.

Indeed, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) says smoking diminishes the blood supply to the bones, and saps them of calcium, both of which increase the possibility of the onset of osteoporosis. Suggestive of the relationship between smoking and back issues, one's chances for success after back surgery improve dramatically if one is a nonsmoker or has ceased smoking. (Read more about Smoking's Link to Back Problems)

Related Stories

- Hip Fracture
- Osteoporosis
- KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS TOPICAL TREATMENT

High impact activities like jumping and skipping has been shown to benefit bone health in adolescents. A ten minute school based intervention, provided twice a week for eight months, greatly improved bone and muscle strength in healthy teenagers when compared to regular warmups. Physiotherapist Ben Weeks said the warm-up, which included high intensity jumps and lunges of gradually increasing complexity and repetition, was specifically designed to stimulate skeletal growth. By the end of the study, students worked up to about 300 jumps per session. (Read more about High Impact Means High Bone Density for Children)

Related Stories

- Knee Replacement
- Osteoporosis Arthritis
- Osteoporosis Drug Danger

There is a growing number of cases of a disturbing complication to the bone building medications like fosamax. Those taking the drugs are at an increased risk of horrible breakdown of the jaw after dental procedures.

This was first noticed perhaps a year and a half ago, but even just now are dentists and oral surgeons taking notice.

Now, while this is a very serious side effect, it doesn’t mean the medicines should be stopped. They just need to be used with caution, especially when invasive dental procedures need to be performed.


It was a problem that had dentist Bob Deutch very concerned--scratching his head as to what was going on with his patient’s jawbone.

Dr. Deutch says, “A patient post-operatively healing perfectly from implant surgery we started to notice there was some osteonecrosis taking place for no apparent reason.”

Osteonecrosis--the breakdown of the jaw bone… (Read more about Osteoporosis Drug Danger)

Related Stories

- Knee Replacement
- Reports on Calcium, Lawn Moving Accidents, Herbs for lower back pain
- As Goes Oral Health, So Goes General Health

A new review of medical literature in the highly regarded Cochrane Library surprisingly casts doubt on the value of supplements and calcium-fortified foods to build stronger bones in kids!

The review shows that supplementing the diet with calcium in healthy children has little benefit for bone health.

They say in the long run, bone mass didn’t improve much.

Pediatricians and parents are concerned with calcium intake because they want to ensure that boys and girls achieve peak bone strength in childhood, a time when kids build bone at an accelerated pace. (Read more about Reports on Calcium, Lawn Moving Accidents, Herbs for lower back pain)

Related Stories

- HOMOCYSTEINE AND FRACTURE RISK
- RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS TREATMENT
- High Impact Means High Bone Density for Children

1 in 4 people will ultimately die from complications caused by a hip fracture. Each year in the United States, there are 350,000 hip fractures. (Read more about Hip Fracture)

Related Stories

- Hip Replacement
- ARTIFICIAL DISC TREATS LOWER BACK PAIN
- Reports on Calcium, Lawn Moving Accidents, Herbs for lower back pain

Osteoarthritis is the main reason patients need to undergo knee replacement surgery. The major problem in this condition is that the cartilage on the surface of the bone of the joint, wears away. (Read more about Knee Replacement)

Related Stories

- Osteoporosis
- ARTIFICIAL DISC TREATS LOWER BACK PAIN
- Smoking's Link to Back Problems

52 year old George Laflare has been a sports fanatic since his high school days. A former football player, George says over the years his knees have really taken a beating. Eventually he developed knee osteoarthritis. Now, new topical treatments of knee osteoarthritis are helping George cope with the pain. (Read more about KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS TOPICAL TREATMENT)

Related Stories

- Osteoporosis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- ARTIFICIAL DISC TREATS LOWER BACK PAIN

Hispanics are the nation’s largest minority group, and they are also the fastest growing group, accounting for about half of the growth in the U.S. population since 2000. Thus Hispanic healthcare is an increasing concern that a lot of doctors are focusing their attention onto.

The growth of the Hispanic population has not been accompanied by an improvement in Hispanic healthcare. Of particular concern is the quality of healthcare Hispanic women receive. There has been a steady increase in hip fractures in Hispanic women over the past twenty years. But it’s not only because there are more Hispanic women to suffer a fracture; it’s also because of inadequate health care for Hispanic women before and after menopause.

Celia Greenberg has a Latino heritage. She says her diet rarely contained any milk or other dairy products. “The only milk I drank was the little that was in my coffee. We ate very small quantities of cheeses and no yogurt at all.” (Read more about HISPANICS AND OSTEOPOROSIS)

Related Stories

- Osteoporosis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- OSTEOPOROSIS MEDICATIONS