News - Page 6 of 7 - Dr. Matthew DiPaola

Shoulder Arthritis: is MRI necessary?

If you have shoulder arthritis, an MRI may give you more information than you bargained for.

Most people think that you need an MRI to “see” everything that is going on in your shoulder. But it’s simply not true. And there are a few ways that you can be fooled by this line of reasoning.

1. You fail to put findings in context

I can show you MRI reports of normal shoulders that will scare the daylights out of you. These are full page documents that describe in great detail, essentially normal findings in medical lingo. Unfortunately as a layperson and even many medical professionals who are unfamiliar with the problem, most of this language will sound scary and can be misinterpreted.

Obesity: Did You Know It Was Bad For Your Elbow?

by Matthew DiPaola

A recent study from the Mayo Clinic examined the relationship between clinical outcome and obesity in elbow replacement patients. The Mayo Clinic has the most extensive experience with elbow replacement in the world. They studied a large group of patients and approximately one quarter of these patients met the definition of obesity.

Overall obese patients had more complications, shorter average survival of the implants, and increased rates of failure of total elbow replacement compared to non obese patients.

Shoulder Dislocation in Adolescents: There’s Still A Lot To Learn

by Matthew DiPaola

We don’t know a millionth of one percent about anything.

Thomas Edison

A recent presentation at the American Arthroscopy Association of North America tried to answer the question of why some adolescents re-dislocate their shoulder and others do not after shoulder instability repair.

You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

by Matthew DiPaola

I take call about 5-6 days per month which means that I take care of patients that come into the hospital with fractures. A few weeks ago I treated a woman who had a hip fracture (I treat a lot of hip, ankle and wrist fractures when on call).

The ER staff who gave me her initial story told me that they thought she was a bit incoherent when she came to the hospital.

Sex and Shoulder Pain: It’s an Issue

by Matthew DiPaola

The Tough Cases and Lasting Impacts Unfortunately, he still has limitations: mostly weakness and pain with lifting beyond 10 or 20 lbs. He also has difficulty supporting his weight on the involved arm. These impairments are likely permanent. We have talked about this on multiple occasions. Sadly, I cannot make everyone 100% better. These are … Read more

Should You Wear A Sling After Shoulder Surgery?

by Matthew DiPaola

A recent study in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery compared outcomes of patients who had rotator cuff surgery based on how faithful they were with wearing their sling.

They asked 50 patients undergoing rotator cuff repair to wear an abduction sling for the first

When Can I Drive After Shoulder Surgery?

by Matthew DiPaola

This is one of the most frequent questions that I get from patients. And it’s not an easy one to answer. Understanding the Complexity Of Shoulder Surgery Recovery New Research Provides Insight Recently a team at The Hospital for Joint Diseases led by one of my shoulder fellowship mentors Dr. Laith Jazrawi produced a study … Read more

When Having More Money May Be Bad For Your Kids’ Health

by Matthew DiPaola

More money, more problems

The Notorius B.I.G.

There is a class of health research focused on relating socioeconomic status with overall health outcomes. In most cases if you have more money, you have better health.

Rotator Cuff Tears: Stranger Than You’d Think

by Matthew DiPaola

No doubt about it, rotator cuff tears can be confusing. It’s not that you can’t understand the idea of having a tear in your tendon. That’s easy.

It’s just that treating them can be counterintutive: some get better with therapy and others don’t. Some cause significant pain and others don’t. Some need surgery and others don’t.