Author: D. Bents

Cigarettes have had years of research to prove themselves to be hazardous to your health.  Here is one more reason to quit: cigarette smoke has been shown to make a certain bacteria, S. aureus, change its DNA at a faster pace.  The mutated cells can adapt to their harsh conditions and become very difficult to eliminate, meaning the usual arsenal of antibiotics won’t work on you.  It is easy to take the work of an antibiotic for granted, when the uncomfortable symptoms fade after only one or two days of the medication.  Try to imagine that your doctor cannot stop an infection that has started within your surgical site, jeopardizing your surgery.  About 30% of us carry S. aureus in our noses and it causes no problem, but within a surgical site it can cause a terribly difficult to fight infection.  Most orthopedic surgeons, including Paragon’s Dr. Rob Bents and Dr. Jim Van Horne, frequently refuse to do surgery on those who smoke because smoking impairs the immune system and the ability of the body to fight infection.  Bluntly said, surgeries on cigarette smokers frequently are failures.  With the new knowledge that a cigarette smoker has an even higher risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, you should stop today or encourage a loved one to quit.  Read more here:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325932.php

Each year in the United States, there are about 7 million fractures that are seen by medical professionals.  If you consider the population of the US, that means everyone has approximately a 2% chance of breaking a bone in any given year.  The average person can expect to have 2 fractures in a lifetime, with men seeing a slightly higher chance than women of having a fracture.  Paragon Orthopedic Center wants to be your source of help if you ever have a fracture.  Did you know Paragon offers x-rays at a lower cost than ER’s or urgent care clinics?  Paragon Orthopedics is happy to take off some of the financial stress during this initial phase of injury investigation.  We care, and you will feel this from right from the start.  Call the caring staff at Paragon for your appointment now: 541-472-0603

When you have your first appointment at Paragon Orthopedic Center, you’ll need to fill out the usual first visit patient information forms.  Like all healthcare providers, we need to know some details about you before you are treated.  Did you know these are available online?  We would like to save you time and trouble by offering you the opportunity to copy these at home and have them filled out prior to your visit.  You can have your medications right in front of you, in the comfort of your home, as you fill out the current medications form.  You can read through the patient privacy form at your convenience and not be rushed.  There are many positive reasons for us to offer you these forms ahead of your visit with us.  Click on the link below and we look forward to seeing you soon!

http://www.paragonorthopedic.com/patient-forms.php

Our newsletter: hot off the presses and you need to read it.  Almost everybody knows someone with an ACL problem and you might be next.  Paragon Orthopedic Center tries to educate the people of Southern Oregon to prevent an ACL injury.  Prevention is key.  Check it out:

Paragon Press, August, 2019

Here in Southern Oregon, you have choices when it comes to your orthopedic care, which is a great thing!  A smaller clinic, such as Paragon Orthopedic Center, can offer a more meaningful experience and a higher sense of satisfaction for patients.  You won’t be just a number on a chart with us.  At Paragon, we might not have the big budget for advertising or the biggest building in town, but we invest all our energy and innovation into you when you enter the door, from the time you find the coffee as you wait, until you checkout with a smiling face.  We have the ability to hear what concerns you and actually search for solutions.  From the financial side of your care, Paragon Orthopedics offers the choice of having surgery at a surgery center, which can cut your out of pocket costs to a fraction of what a hospital might charge.  (Always compare the two before you have your surgery.)  Come check us out.  You won’t regret it!  541-472-0603

If you log onto the Paragon Orthopedic Center website at:
https://www9091.ssldomain.com/paragonorthopedic/appointment-request.php
you will find out how incredibly easy it is to make an appointment.  Fill in the blanks with only your contact information and preferences.   Someone will get in touch with you as soon as possible, according to your requested contact method.  Paragon Orthopedics always does its best to get patients in as soon as possible, especially when there is urgency to the visit.  Our experienced, compassionate staff care about the needs of Southern Oregon and are ready to help you quickly and conveniently.

Core exercise #2: Bird Dog.  Check out this video that demonstrates a core strengthening exercise with four levels for your to customize it with your current ability.  This video does a good job at emphasizing body position and correct limb motions.  Remember that with core exercises, form is everything.  You can cause aches and pains by falling out of good body positioning.  It’s good to reassess how you’re doing any core exercises after a few weeks because our form and muscles can sometimes slip into ways that are easier, but not necessarily beneficial.  The Bird Dog core exercise builds your abdominal muscles, butt, thighs, and back.  All of these work to stabilize your body and a stable body is more likely to have a better recovery when off balance, thereby preventing a fall.  You could avoid a trip to see Dr. Jim Van Horne or Dr. Rob Bents with a bone, muscle, tendon, or ligament injury.  Start your strengthening today while you watch the evening news!

 

Our last blog talked about the importance of core exercises for overall health and as promised, here is a quick overview of a few that will help anyone new to this, whether you work out everyday, or next to never.  You can do these right in front of the television during your favorite movie or television series!  No fancy equipment is needed, nor do you need a gym membership.  Here are the names of some starter exercises: the low plank, alternating seated leg lifts, the bird dog, and the standing bicycle crunch.  You can easily search the internet for a video of these.  Here is a video for the first, called the low plank. (No endorsement of Bowflex here.)  This video stands out because she gives you the easiest position and progresses to harder versions to challenge your body and keep correct body positioning during the exercise, which is very important.  If you are having body aches and pains from overuse or age, you might find gradual relief after doing some core exercises.  Muscular balance leads to all sorts of benefits.  These are better than resorting to a medication and will result in improved overall strength.  Try it! Now!

 

Core: definition: the central or most important part of something.

Using that definition of core, you can infer that when it comes to strengthening the core of your body, this is a good thing.  Your core gives you the overall strength to do such things as pick up your groceries, sit comfortably at a computer, maintain good posture, and even helps when it comes to sexual activity.  Your core keeps your balance and prevents falls.  The strength or weakness of your core directly translates into the strength of your arms and legs.  Most core exercise regimens keep the focus on muscle balance for overall strength, rather than emphasize one target area.  For example, washboard abs might look great, but you’d be missing the overall muscle balance necessary for activities of daily living if all your strength training went into your abdonminals.  Our Paragon Orthopedic Center blog will go over a few core exercises to help you further understand this training in our next post.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-real-world-benefits-of-strengthening-your-core

The valleys in Southern Oregon are filled with the thick smoke of wildfires again and suddenly the outdoor activities are shifted indoors.  For many people who don’t have respiratory conditions, they’re tempted to go outside for some exercise.  If this is you, there was a study done in 2016 that looked at the benefits of physical activity, mainly walking and biking, versus the risks of inhaling the smoke.  In general, some exercise is better than no exercise.  It was only in the upper extreme smoke concentrations (>50mcg/cm of PM 2.5) that the risks were greater than the benefits when you spend over 5 hours biking or 10 hours walking. (The PM 2.5 levels are the part of the air quality index (AQI) that can be most concerning because the PM 2.5 particulate is what can cause the most cellular damage.)  Of course the harder you breathe, the shorter that time should be, but brief periods of exercise can definitely be beneficial up until you get to 50 mcg/cm.  For those who must work outside, the N95 face mask is the best to keep out the small particulate in the air: no bandanas and no hospital masks that only use the metal clip at the nose for a seal point.  If at any point your throat is sore, get a headache, begin coughing, or in any other way feel your breathing is restricting, seek clean indoor air.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743516000402