Broken Bone? An Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon’s Best Advice for a Good Medical Outcome

Nicholas Sama, MD, director of Orthopedic Trauma at HSS Florida, the West Palm Beach location of Hospital for Special Surgery, offers advice to give patients the best chance for proper treatment, healthy healing and a good medical outcome following a bone fracture.

Smoke Break: UNLV Study Strengthens Link Between Smoking and Increased Fracture Risk in Men

It’s no secret that puffing cigarettes is the culprit behind a host of ailments, including respiratory diseases and throat cancer. But a new UNLV study reveals that male smokers — who, demographically, are more likely than women to light up — are also placing themselves at a significantly increased risk of osteoporosis, bone fractures, and early death.

Personalized medicine, not X-rays, should guide common forearm fracture treatments in older adults

A decade-long study of distal radius fracture in older adults revealed that personalized medicine catering to a patient’s individual needs and environment, not age or X-rays, should guide treatment options. The federally funded study is the most collaborative, intense effort to try and answer a 200-year puzzle about how to treat one of the most common fractures in older adults.

Can QR codes make a difference for children in casts?

When children require a cast due to a bone fracture, follow-up care instructions are typically given verbally or the patient is sent home with written instructions. However, patients and their caregivers run the risk of forgetting what was said or losing the instructions. Quick Response (QR) codes may be an effective method to relay instructions once patients are sent home with a cast, according to a new study released as part of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ (AAOS) Virtual Education Experience.