Injuries

Osteoporosis, or porous bone, is a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fractures, which most commonly occurs in  hip, spine and wrist but may also effect any other bone in the body as well. According to  a  leading osteoporosis organizations, one in four men and one in two women over age 50 will develop a osteoporosis-related fracture in her/his remaining lifetime. Hip fractures are the most common among people with osteoporosis are annually documented in over 300,000 cases.

I bet you are now wondering what the symptoms of Osteoporosis are. One of the trickiest things about Osteoporosis is that most people don’t realize that they have it until it’s too late. The most common scenario is when all of a sudden you bump your hip or fall, finding yourself having to go to the ER because now you have a hip fracture or collapsed vertebrae. That is why Osteoporosis commonly known as “The Silent Killer”. Bone loss occurs without any warning or symptoms most of the time. Although, sometimes you can visually see it in people who start to develop a hump like posture in there upper back which is often called Kyphosis.

Do you think you’re at risk?

Some studies have shown that people who are at a higher risk then others tend to live an inactive lifestyle, smoke, have a low calcium intake and drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Women also who have been through menopause may be at higher risk then others because of estrogen deficiencies, especially if menopause is early or surgically induced. Men who have low testosterone levels can be equally at risk as women. If you feel you are at risk there is a test can measure bone density on various sites of the body. This test is often referred as the Bone Density Test and is covered by medicare.

Don’t Believe the Myths

Over the years a lot of Myths have developed through the public eye on Osteoporosis. There is a common misconception that only old women get osteoporosis. Studies have shown that it can happen at any age in men or women if they have any sort of condition that requires them to take medications that can cause bone loss. Oddly enough these medications that cause bone loss are most commonly used in treating chronic asthma and arthritis. Also, many people think that Osteoporosis isn’t a deadly or serious condition. Just in hip fractures alone 20% of the 300,000 cases reported will die within a year after surgery. Surprisingly, some of the deaths occurred from blood complications that developed after the corrective surgery

What can you do to Prevent Osteoporosis?

The best way you can prevent and treat osteoporosis without the use overrated expensive medications is to strengthen your bones through weight baring exercise. Now keep in mind by “exercise” I’m referring exclusively to a low force, high intensity strength training protocol. This protocol is known for producing an increased bone density as high as 1% a week and is safe for young adults to senior citizens.

Unfortunately, when most people think of exercise, they think of excessive impact exercises such as running, jogging, and ballistic weight lifting. These high force exercises can actually cause injury in joints and make conditions worse.  On the other hand, with a low force, high intensity strength training you eliminate these high impact situation by using a slow cadence to move the weight which allows you to use a lighter safer weight to prevent injury.

Weight barring exercises is also great because, it helps create a stimulus in our body to build muscle. Developing higher quality muscles through strength training actually help’s protect our bones and support our skeletal structures and assists with increased movement throughout our body.  When we develop stronger muscles around the bones, we are in fact creating a barrier of protection to help protect our bones from forces, such as a slip or fall. The muscle will actually absorb the impact to help prevent any harmful forces from creating a fracture in the bone. Another wonderful effect from exercising using High Intensity Strength protocol is that it only takes 20-30 minutes one to two times a week to achieve results.

For those of you that are thinking that you can’t afford a gym membership or a personal trainer to exercise. You are wrong, the average hip fracture can easily cost up to $40,000. So, would you rather spend a few hundred per year on gym membership or on personal training to develop a healthy lifestyle and prevent disease? Or would you rather risk ending up spending over $30,000 in medical cost a year ,because you choose to live a lifestyle that no longer lead you to be able to care for yourself without the expense of constant assistance to do things yourself?

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Jonas Deffes, New Orleans Exercise Specialist

Provides the therapeutic benefits of health and exercise at companies and events throughout New Orleans along with his very popular New Orleans Boot Camp for women. I am very serious about building long-term relationships, achieving positive results and upholding my commitment to excellence.

I walked everywhere when I first moved to New Orleans; I was working on losing weight so I figured that walking was a splendid mode of transportation as I explored my new city. Last Mardi Gras, I easily walked over ten miles in one day.  I had the right idea by walking but most times…the wrong footwear.

I have small feet and very high arches.  Although for the long walks I wore my sneakers; they had no specialized insoles and for shorter walks (1-1.5 miles), I wouldn’t think twice about going around in sandals and flip-flops. I was also spending a lot more time on the road running so when my feet started to hurt – I assumed it was from the running.  That’s when I looked into and got specialized insoles for my running shoes.  Instead of the pain going away, it started to get worst…particularly in my left foot.

I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to also add insoles to my boots (military boots) which I wore everyday for most of the day. At that point, it still hadn’t occurred to me to throw my sandals in the trash.

A couple of months went by and eventually I started to be in constant pain in my left foot.  As soon as I stepped out of bed; I was limping from the pain. I had to face reality – I needed to see a doctor…the diagnosis: Plantar Fasciitis.

Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar Fasciitis (say “PLAN-ter fash-ee-EYE-tus”) is the most common cause of heel pain. The plantar fascia is the flat band of tissue (ligament) that connects your heel bone to your toes. It supports the arch of your foot. If you strain your plantar fascia, it gets weak, swollen, and irritated (inflamed). Then your heel or the bottom of your foot hurts when you stand or walk.

What causes plantar fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis is caused by straining the ligament that supports your arch. Repeated strain can cause tiny tears in the ligament. These can lead to pain and swelling. This is more likely to happen if:

• Your feet roll inward too much when you walk (excessive pronation).
• You have high arches or flat feet.
• You walk, stand, or run for long periods of time, especially on hard surfaces.
• You are overweight.
• You wear shoes that don’t fit well or are worn out.
• You have tight Achilles tendons or calf muscles.

(Source: WebMD)

Treatment and is it Finally Healed??

Some people are fortunate enough (and obviously smarter than me) to recognize they have plantar fasciitis early on so they can take over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicine, stretch, ice and heal before causing major damage.

Not me.  I endured the pain/damage long enough that I had to get a steroid shot in order to sooth the inflammation and ease the pain. OUCH – the shot really hurt!  I was in pain for a few hours afterwards, but felt a 100% better the following morning. I stepped out of bed and was pleasantly surprised I had no pain.

I went back to see the doctor to get specialized orthotics and get some additional treatments (ultrasounds).  Unfortunately, I don’t do “easing up” very well; therefore, I had no one but myself to blame when I had to go back-in to get a second shot a few weeks after the first one. OUCH!! Again.

I’ve been laying off ever since…hence the no exercising and additional weight gain. I really hope it’s finally healed so I can get back into a workout routine now that the New Year is upon us.

Additional Information

Check-out the site Heel that Pain – it has a plethora of videos of stretches you can do to avoid plantar fasciitis. If you stand on your feet a lot, walk everywhere, wear high heels, have flat feet or high arches I recommend doing the stretches and getting the proper footwear to include custom made insoles. It’s better to prevent an injury than have to experience the pain and consequences that come with healing.

Preventive medicine is also much cheaper than having to go see the foot doctor but if you do have to see a podiatrist you can find one in the directory.