3/21/15 Episode 528: Clap with your Carpals, Tap with your Tarsals

Remember that! Dr. Souryal and his talented crew start with a discussion of who likes who for the Big Dance. You can clap and tap along to the college fight songs played between segments. Dr. Scott Blumenthal, world-class spinal surgeon, is once again welcomed as guest.

Our first caller wants to know why his strained abdominal muscle from power lifting keeps coming back after two years, another weight-lifter asks if the cortisone shot he had for his bursitis/bone spurs/tendonitis in his shoulder is a quick fix or permanent solution, and a returning caller asks what the reason for an elbow tendon surgery could be. Later, several questions concern conditions in teen athletes, including a pop in the knee, resistance in the hips, and a pulled hamstring.

Sports Medicine 101 covers fractures of the fifth metatarsal, which is the long bone on the outside of the foot that connects to the little toe. When it breaks, you can’t predict which fractures are going to heal fine, which may require a screw, and which just won’t heal with a screw or bone graft, either.

Health insurance companies don’t make it easy to understand what coverage patients are getting and what financial obligation they will have, especially out-of-network or with hefty deductibles. In the Business of Sports Medicine segment, both the Doc and Dr. Scott have stories to share about canceling recent surgeries due to misunderstandings about coverage. Between appeals and fine print, a lot of time and resources are wasted, which leads some very good doctors and surgeons to no longer take insurance at all.

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