Blog

Opioid addiction and sleep problems leading to problems of chronic hip pain

Marc Darrow, MD, JD. Many people with chronic joint pain do not sleep well. Whether it is their sleep position that causes their knees, hips, shoulders and back to hurt or the advanced degenerative condition of their joints that are always inflamed and painful, the simple fact for many is they have a hard time sleeping. Doctors are beginning to understand that lack of sleep causes chronic pain and chronic pain causes lack of sleep, so a cycle has developed. For many, who have difficulty braking the sleep-pain cycle, their doctors may offer medications for either the pain or the

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When knee pain is worse after meniscus surgery

Marc Darrow, MD Many people that we see  in our examination rooms have had a meniscus surgery. They are seeking our help in relieving the knee pain that they continue to have following the surgery. For some the pain started immediately after surgery, for others the pain became progressively worse and as the months and years went by significant pain set in. How did this happen? For many people, it happened because they had a belief that the surgery will help them. Typically, someone who considers surgery and decides to have the meniscus procedure, do so because they believe that

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Non-Surgical and Conservative Care for neck pain and cervical spine disorders

Chronic neck pain is one of the more frequent problems we see in our new patients because of its complexity and difficulty in finding the true cause of pain. Patients may present themselves with numbness or pain radiating from the neck into the arm due to nerve compression. They may be diagnosed with cervical radiculopathy which is caused by  herniated disc, or spondyliotic foraminal stenosis. When many doctors think there is a radiculopathy, a surgery will be recommended. Chronic neck pain usually centers around the nerves. Chronic neck pain usually centers around the nerves. A disc in the neck can

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Do Painkillers Cause Lower Testosterone Levels?

Marc Darrow, MD, JD. I see a number of patients who have advancing osteoarthritis but who are too young for joint replacement and are being managed for their joint pain until they are old enough for joint replacement. At the same time, they are losing hormones, gaining weight, and losing mobility. Typically, they have lower levels of activity, chronic pain, are becoming obese, and are on pain medications. They are, clearly, in a poor healing milieu.  In our office we have seen many men who had a long history of opioid usage and display signs of low testosterone levels including,

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Does misdiagnosed hip pain lead to unnecessary spinal fusion?

Many people email us about their hip and back pain. Some have been recommended to a hip replacement, some have been recommended to a spinal surgery. Some have been recommended to both surgeries and they are in the process of choosing between one or the other and exploring options to help them avoid one or the other surgery, even both. Some at this point are not even deciding which to get first, they may simply take the first one that is available. Now these people are trying to decide between one or the other surgery and exploring options to help

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Non-Surgical Management of Glenohumeral osteoarthritis

Marc Darrow, MD. There are many types of arthritis, but most often in the shoulder it is triggered by an initial trauma. It can also involve “wear and tear” of the tissues of the joint, causing inflammation, swelling and pain. Often people will react by instinctively limiting their shoulder movements in order to lessen the pain. This can lead to a tightening or stiffening of the soft tissue parts of the joint, resulting in yet further pain and restriction of motion. In the worst cases, adhesive capsulitis occurs and the arm can not be moved. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic,

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