Joint Efforts

We’re pleased to offer you two new surgical videos on the site this week. Anyone with a strong stomach and an interest in customized, better fitting knee replacements or in the new robotic approach to repairing mitral valve prolapse click here to take a look at the videos.

Knee replacements, the most common kind of joint replacement surgery, are also the topic of our report from Ochsner Medical Center, where doctors are using a tracking system like the GPS in cars. Used as a “surgical roadmap” the system helps direct the placement of the artificial knee. Read the story for more details on this amazing tracking system, which is allowing improved accuracy in knee replacement. Speaking of joints, hip replacement surgery is happening more frequently as all the baby boomers age, but for the younger patients there’s now a unique procedure that deepens and reshapes their hip socket instead of requiring replacement surgery. Check out our report from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia for the full story.

From the Medical College of Wisconsin is news on minimizing whiplash and how important it is to take a few minutes to adjust your car’s headrest in a way that keeps you safer in a rear-end collision. The Director of Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery at Georgetown University Hospital, Faheem A. Sandhu, Ph.D., M.D., explains an innovative side-approach procedure to relieve back pain in this week’s In-Depth Doctor’s Interview, and if you wear flip-flops, make sure you also see our story from Auburn University. Though flip-flops are high on many people’s list of favorite summer shoes, they have some dangers associated with them you’ll want to know about. Also, don’t miss our story on how gymnastics is not just for kids (32 states now offer adult gymnastics classes) and how it’s the “all-around perfect workout,” according to gymnastics instructor Colin Ligammari.

In case you missed them, you may want to check our past reports, Is Sunbathing Actually A Good Thing? or A New Way To Boost Red Blood Cell Counts Premium Content in the Archives may be purchased for as little as $9 for 24-hour, unlimited access. If you would like to access Premium Content for the first time click here.

Finally, who can think of gymnastics right now without thinking of the Olympics? The equestrian events are my personal favorite. If you share my enthusiasm for this sport, click here to read more about them. Live from the Equestrian Olympics.

And there's more where that came from...

Marjorie Bekaert Thomas
President, Ivanhoe Broadcast News

“Reality, No Matter How Widened And Heightened Our Perceptions, Never Ceases To Be Anything But The Effect On Us Of An Infinite Mystery.”
-- Laurens Van Der Post