Category: Sports Medicine

Mallet Finger – Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation

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How to take care of and recover from a common but sometimes vexing finger injury.[1]

By Mark D, Harris

Mallet finger usually results from forced flexion of the distal (most distant) part of the finger (distal phalanx – DP) during active extension of the DP. The condition is caused by a rupture of the extensor tendon (on the back of the finger) that crosses the distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) from the proximal phalanx (PP) to the DP. Part of the bone may also be avulsed (pulled away). Mallet finger is the most common closed tendon injury in athletes.[2] Often, patients explain that a ball hit their partially flexed fingertip. Patients complain of pain, swelling, and an inability to fully extend their DP.

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Exercises for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

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Look better, feel better, function better, be healthier, and improve your sleep with these simple exercises to treat obstructive sleep apnea. Daytime sleepiness and snoring will also diminish. And remember, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

By Mark D. Harris

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) occurs when a person develops partial or complete obstruction of the upper airway during sleep, when this obstruction results in apnea (no breathing for at least ten seconds) or hypopnea (decreased breathing). The person with OSA will then partially or fully wake up and their blood oxygen will decrease. About 25% of Americans have OSA, with men, older adults, and the obese at greater risk. OSA increases a person’s risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, coronary heart disease, stroke, trauma from falling asleep (while driving, for example), and death. It is a big health problem in the United States, and increasingly, the world. OSA is usually treated with medications, positive airway pressure (like CPAP), and surgery.[1] OSA is worse with supine sleeping (sleeping on your back). Some patients control their symptoms with side sleeping (sometimes with a full-length body pillow). However, there are many exercises that can help decrease symptoms of OSA, improve function, and make you look and feel better.[2]

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Seven Secrets of Health #3 – Maximal Musculoskeletal

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Our minister of music was having a lot of pain in his shoulders, legs and back during a mission trip. I told him that exercise can reduce pain, improve range of motion, and increase musculoskeletal function. Then I told him how. 

A man in his 70s came to the Nirschl Sports Medicine Center in Virginia. His chief complaint was mild weakness in his golf swing for several months, but no pain or other functional limitation. His exam was unremarkable except for asymmetric weakness in the right shoulder. We ordered a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan to evaluate possible surgical options.

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Seven Secrets of Health #2 – Keep Life in Balance

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A life in balance is the healthiest life, but what does balance mean, and how can you attain it?

In the movie Karate Kid, the martial arts master Mr. Miyagi tells his student Daniel “Got to learn balance. Balance is key. Balance good, karate good. Everything good.”  It cannot be denied that in athletics and in all of health and fitness, balance is a fundamental goal. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines balance as “a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equality in amount, weight, value, or importance, as between two things or the parts of a thing: mental, emotional, or bodily stability.”

I have many patients who want to hear directly from their doctor on health and fitness topics, and so I dedicate these articles to you. Thank you for letting me partner in taking care of you. In this article we will focus on balance as it relates to health and fitness.

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