Osteoporosis Archive

It's hard to accurately predict when new viral outbreaks will appear or old viruses will reappear and how to figure this out quickly enough to respond quickly. Wastewater testing, a tool that can help predict upticks in COVID cases, has also captured evidence of infectious diseases like polio, allowing preventive measures to be taken.

Morning back and neck pain are often triggered by sleep position or poor choice of mattress or pillow. Certain sleep poses, especially stomach-down, can lead to pain by creating misalignment of the spine and other areas of the body. To prevent back and neck pain, people can switch sleep positions frequently, align all body areas when shifting positions, use firmer pillows, consider buying a new mattress, and place a foam wedge under the pelvis or between the legs while sleeping.

Most people with obstructive sleep apnea don't know they have it. An at-home or in-lab sleep study can reveal the condition, which hinders breathing while asleep. A doctor can determine which type of test is best for each patient.

Teeth-grinding during sleep is common. People with the habit may wake up with sore teeth, headache, or earache. Over time, it can lead to broken teeth or jaw pain and clicking. A dentist can create a fitted mouth guard or prescribe muscle relaxants.

There's no one sound unique to a particular shoulder problem. That makes it hard to know what various shoulder noises are telling you. Possibilities include arthritis; bone breaks; rotator cuff tears; gas bubbles, loose parts, or bone spurs in the shoulder joint; neck problems; and bursitis. It's advisable to investigate shoulder noises if they happen, along with shoulder pain, weakness, or limited movement, or if the sound followed a shoulder injury. It's also smart (though not urgent) to ask a doctor about shoulder sounds that aren't accompanied by other symptoms.

Heart failure symptoms, such as being tired or out of breath, gaining weight, or having swollen ankles, can be overlooked and attributed to other causes. As a result, heart failure is not usually diagnosed until months or years later, when a person is hospitalized for it. By that point, the risk for dying from heart failure has already risen significantly, sometimes higher than the risk of death from cancer. Someone who has potential heart failure symptoms should talk to a doctor, especially if symptoms are new and if the person has diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, or an unhealthy lifestyle.

Supervised exercise therapy (SET) for peripheral artery disease (PAD) requires pushing through pain while walking to improve blood flow through narrowed blood vessels in the legs. SET can work as effectively as surgical procedures to improve the calf pain and cramping of PAD. SET is a treadmill-based program overseen by clinicians at a health care facility. Home-based SET can work comparably at improving symptoms, but only if PAD patients walk at a faster pace and continue the regimen long-term.

Joints do not wear out from overuse. Osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis, occurs when the smooth cartilage that lines the joint deteriorates. This might occur because of an injury, age, family history, obesity, or a disease that causes joint inflammation.

More than two years after COVID-19 reached the US, an outbreak of monkeypox is spreading fast outside of Africa. This virus is not new, and it's likely to be less dangerous than COVID, but it's still important to be aware of its symptoms, spread, treatment, and prevention.

The monkeypox outbreak currently traveling around the globe is the largest ever recorded outside of western and central Africa. Controlling this virus demands preventive measures, and one method that has worked to contain previous disease outbreaks may be effective for monkeypox as well.