Marc Darrow, MD, JD. - Joint Rehab and Sports Medical Center

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,

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

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,

Many patients do not lose weight after knee replacement

Many total knee replacement patients are overweight or obese. There is a thinking among many that after the knee replacement, their physical activity levels and weight will improve. This does not appear to be true for some as research points out. In many knee replacement patients, weight loss does not occur even though activity can be increased. I recently read a study in the journal Disability and rehabilitation.(1) It was led by Northwestern University. It talked about the weight problems people have after they had total knee replacement and the continued problems the patients had in the inability to losing weight

Chronic back pain in the surfer

In the patients we see and the people who contact our office for low back pain, the ones who happen to be surfers, tell us about their concerns that a suggested back surgery recommendation will keep them from surfing. The reason to have the back surgery these surfers are told is because “everything else” has not worked. Everything else being rest, ice, anti-inflammatories, back braces, exercises, physical therapy, yoga, perhaps cortisone injections. They are in our office because “everything else” may not have included other injections including stem cells or platelets. Which I will explain these injections below. The surfer’s

Surfer’s Ankle – Unstable and stiff ankle

Usually a surfer that suffers from an ankle injury or chronic ankle pain will go online and start looking for exercise tips, a really good ankle brace, or any other means to help them with either a loose ankle or an ankle that is too stiff. A surfer will then seek out medical attention when these various remedies are no longer helping them and carving, turning in, and the pop up become increasingly painful and unstable endeavors. When it because too painful or surfing begins to loose its joy, a surfer will usually visit a doctor, thinking about the possibility

Blog

Do Painkillers Cause Lower Testosterone Levels?

Does misdiagnosed hip pain lead to unnecessary spinal fusion?

Non-Surgical Management of Glenohumeral osteoarthritis

Many patients do not lose weight after knee replacement

Chronic back pain in the surfer

Surfer’s Ankle – Unstable and stiff ankle

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