Jacqueline White

Alternative sports medicine.

Many active patients and athletes use alternative medical therapies when conventional medicine fails to relieve their musculoskeletal symptoms. Research is expanding, and medical organizations and schools, insurers, and physicians are exploring the efficacy of these alternatives. Profiled here are several of the alternative therapies that are popular with athletes: acupuncture, chiropractic, hyperbaric oxygen, magnet therapy, massage, and relaxation techniques. Also included are tips on how to talk with patients about alternative therapies and resources for further information.

Exercising for Two. What's Safe for the Active Pregnant Woman?.

Clinical experience and recent research challenge the current standards of exercise duration and intensity for pregnant women. By carefully assessing a patients exercise history and teaching self-monitoring techniques, the physician can work with an active woman to create a safe exercise program during her pregnancy.

Minority patients: clinical strategies to promote exercise

By building on the strengths of minority communities, new health programs are offering physicians practical strategies for promoting healthy life-style choices for minority patients.

Low-back pain : Consider extension education

Treatment of low-back pain has evolved in the past 15 years away from a reliance on x-rays for diagnosis, prolonged bed rest for pain relief, and surgery for treatment. Mechanical low-back pain is now recognized as a generally self-limiting condition, which for most patients resolves in a few weeks with conservative treatment. Early mobilization is helpful: The McKenzie technique can help identify appropriate rehabilitation exercises, which for most patients are not flexion but extension exercises.

No more bump and grind. Exercise and total hip replacement

Even a total hip replacement will not preclude an active lifestyle if individuals are prudent and avoid excessive impact- loading activities. But whether low-impact sports can do more than improve a patients quality of life-either by delaying the need for or prolonging the I usefulness of the prosthesis-is a matter of debate.

Sports Medicine in the Workplace: Adapting—and Expanding—Your Practice

Physicians versed in sports medicine may want to look to industry, where primary care skills are increasingly in demand. Aggressive rehab methods honed on athletes can also return workers to the job more quickly. The result? Physicians can expand their practices while helping employers save on workers compensation costs.

Will Clinton Re-Form Sports Medicine?

In the newly reconfigured world that healthcare reform will someday create, what role will sports medicine play? The prospect of reform is prompting some physicians to reassess-and in some cases, revise-how they practice sports medicine today. But many think that their primary care sports medicine knowledge positions them well for the changes to come.