First Metatarsophalangeal Joint Pain in Athletes: Diagnosis, Management, and Return to Play Considerations.

ABSTRACT: The first metatarsal-phalangeal joint plays a key role for athletes of various disciplines. When an athlete presents for evaluation of pain at this joint, there are several causes that should be considered. The purpose of this article is to review common injuries including turf toe, sand toe, extensor and flexor hallucis longus tendinopathy, sesamoiditis, and metatarsalgia and provide current evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis, management, and return to play considerations. Conditions not specific to athletes like gout and hallux rigidus also are discussed. Mechanism of injury, physical examination, and imaging such as weight-bearing radiographs and point-of-care ultrasound can help with diagnosis. Treatment of many of these injuries begins with nonsurgical management strategies including footwear or activity modification, physical therapy, and select interventions.

Rehabilitation and return to running after lower limb stress fractures.

Lower limb stress fractures are common injuries in runners. In terms of treatment, much of the medical literature has focused primarily on rest and cessation of running, but little has been written about the rehabilitation and functional progression of runners following a lower limb stress fracture. This article reviews the scientific evidence behind common rehabilitation concepts used for runners recovering from these injuries and also discusses sport-specific training modalities such as deep water running and antigravity treadmill training. Overall this article is intended to be a practical resource for clinicians to guide runners in functional rehabilitation and return to running following lower limb stress injury.

Multiple Myeloma Presenting as Chronic Diarrhea.

Extramedullary gastrointestinal tract involvement in plasma cell dyscrasias is rare and represents a diagnostic challenge. We present a 66-year-old man with an unusual presentation of multiple myeloma. He presented with chronic diarrhea, and extensive biopsies in the jejunum allowed for the presumptive diagnosis of multiple myeloma to be made and the weighted decision to treat without a definitive diagnosis. Plasma cell dyscrasias can have highly varied presentations, unclear differentiation, and require a multidisciplinary approach for diagnosis and management. Adequate tissue sampling of the small bowel is critical in assessing patients with chronic diarrhea.

Brief Ultrasound-Aided Teaching to Improve the Accuracy and Confidence of Resident Musculoskeletal Palpation.

BACKGROUND: Multiple studies demonstrate poor musculoskeletal palpation accuracy of physiatry residents. With the growing use of ultrasound clinically, it could serve as a powerful educational tool. However, there are no published studies examining the efficacy of ultrasound-aided education at the bedside, where much learning takes place during postgraduate training. OBJECTIVE: To determine if brief ultrasound-aided teaching improves residents' accuracy and confidence of musculoskeletal palpation. DESIGN: Before/After Trial. SETTING: Academic Institution. PARTICIPANTS: Ten physical medicine and rehabilitation residents were voluntary participants. INTERVENTION: Each resident was given a survey to assess confidence in palpating the hook of the hamate and medial calcaneal tubercle. They then attempted to palpate and place a marker over these two structures in a model patient. Marker placement accuracy was verified by ultrasound. Faculty spent less than 1 minute per landmark, sonographically teaching its correct localization. The resident, after moving to a new model patient, was then re-tested on accurate marker placement for both landmarks. A repeat survey to assess confidence was administered. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Preintervention and postintervention accuracy and confidence of correct localization of both landmarks. RESULTS: We used McNemar's and Wilcoxon's tests to determine whether the intervention improved the location accuracy and confidence of successful palpation, respectively. Confidence level of correct localization of two landmarks improved on average from 4.3 to 8.15 on a scale of 10 after intervention. Of 20 palpation attempts, 11 correctly placed the marker postintervention after an incorrect placement, 8 made no change, and one changed from correct to incorrect placement. The odds of improvement in accuracy was 11 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.60-473.47, P < .01). Both tests showed significant improvements after the intervention at the significance level of .05. CONCLUSIONS: Brief, ultrasound-aided teaching increases accuracy and confidence of residents' musculoskeletal palpation.

Lesion Retrieval, Specimen Handling, and Endoscopic Marking in Colonoscopy.

Retrieval of lesions after endoscopic polypectomy enables histopathologic analysis and guides future surgical management and endoscopic surveillance intervals. Various techniques and devices have been described with distinct advantages and disadvantages to accomplish retrieval. Appropriate histopathologic analysis depends on lesion handling and preparation. How lesions are handled further depends on size, endoscopic appearance, and removal technique. Endoscopic marking or tattooing is a well-described process that uses dye mediums to leave longstanding marks in the colon. Techniques, dye mediums, and locations within the colon influence tattoo approach.

Feasibility for developing cardiovascular exercise recommendations for persons with motor-complete paraplegia based on manual wheelchair propulsion; A protocol and preliminary data.

BACKGROUND: The Center for Disease Control, American Heart Association, and American College of Sports Medicine recommendations for duration and intensity of exercise are based on the amount of energy expenditure required to maintain cardiovascular health in able body individuals; 1000 Kilocalories (Kcals) per week of energy expenditure has been demonstrated to achieve this effect. Manual wheelchair propulsion (MWP) represents a practical and accessible form of exercise for individuals with paraplegia. OBJECTIVE: To describe a method to determine the duration of MWP required to expend 1000 Kcals, when performed by individuals with paraplegia due to motor-complete spinal cord injury (SCI). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Rehabilitation Research Laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen adults with motor complete T3-T12 paraplegia (body mass index < 35, duration of paraplegia > 3 months). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Indirect calorimetry during MWP was measured in order to calculate caloric expenditure per minute. These data were used to calculate the number of minutes of MWP required to expend 1000 Kcal in one week. RESULTS: During MWP, participants expended 3.3 ± 1.0 Kcal/minute. Based on this figure, 1000 Kcal of energy expenditure in one week would require 303 minutes of MWP per week, or 43.3 minutes per day, 7 days per week. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that it is feasible to create a practical and accessible exercise recommendation based on manual wheelchair propulsion for individuals with paraplegia due to motor-complete SCI. Larger studies are needed in order to develop accurate exercise recommendations for persons with SCI.

Energy Cost of Lower Body Dressing, Pop-Over Transfers, and Manual Wheelchair Propulsion in People with Paraplegia Due to Motor-Complete Spinal Cord Injury.

BACKGROUND: Energy required for able-bodied individuals to perform common activities is well documented, whereas energy associated with daily activities among people with spinal cord injury (SCI) is less understood. OBJECTIVE: To determine energy expended during several basic physical tasks specific to individuals with paraplegia due to motor-complete SCI. METHODS: Sixteen adults with motor-complete SCI below T2 level and duration of paraplegia greater than 3 months were included. Oxygen consumption (VO2), caloric expenditure, and heart rate were measured at rest and while participants performed lower body dressing (LBD), pop-over transfers (POTs), and manual wheelchair propulsion (MWP) at a self-selected pace. These data were used to calculate energy expenditure in standard metabolic equivalents (METs), as defined by 1 MET = 3.5 mL O2/kg/min, and in SCI METs using the conversion 1 SCI MET = 2.7 mL O2/kg/min. RESULTS: VO2 at rest was 3.0 ± 0.9 mL O2/kg/min, which equated to 0.9 ± 0.3 standard METs and 1.1 ± 0.4 SCI METs in energy expenditure. LBD required 3.2 ± 0.7 METs and 4.1 ± 0.9 SCI METs; POTs required 3.4 ± 1.0 METs and 4.5 ± 1.3 SCI METs; and MWP required 2.4 ± 0.6 METs and 3.1 ± 0.7 SCI METs. CONCLUSIONS: Resting VO2 for adults with motor-complete paraplegia is 3.0 mL O2/kg/min, which is lower than standard resting VO2 in able-bodied individuals. Progressively more energy is required to perform MWP, LBD, and POTs, respectively. Use of the standard METs formula may underestimate the level of intensity an individual with SCI uses to perform physical activities.

Nonoperative management of acetabular labral tear in a skeletally immature figure skater.

Acetabular labral tear is an uncommon cause of hip pain in the skeletally immature athlete. Treatment outcomes have mostly been described in the surgical literature. We present a case report of a premenarchal 12-year-old figure skater who was diagnosed with an isolated acetabular labral tear without hip deformity. With nonoperative treatment, she was able to return to pain-free competitive figure skating 4 months after her onset of symptoms. Our findings suggest that acetabular labral tears in the skeletally immature athlete can respond to a trial of nonoperative management.

Survey of inspection and palpation rates among spine providers: evaluation of physician performance of the physical examination for patients with low back pain.

STUDY DESIGN: Survey from July 2011 to April 2012 of adult patients with primary complaint of low back pain (LBP). OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of physical examination being performed by various providers, as measured by frequency of inspection and palpation, of patients with LBP and to describe patient ratings of these examinations. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The physical examination is a cornerstone of any evaluation of patients with LBP. With increasing reliance on diagnostic imaging, there is concern that patients are not being examined comprehensively, but to our knowledge, no studies have ever investigated how often the physical examination is performed in patients with LBP. METHODS: Survey participants were asked to list the types of physicians that they had seen for LBP within the past 1 year and for each physician encounter to answer 2 "yes/no" questions: (1) whether they had removed their clothes or put on a gown or shorts during the examination (our proxy for inspection) and (2) whether the provider had placed his or her hands on the patient (our proxy for palpation). Subjects also provided quality ratings for each provider's physical examination. Main outcome measures included frequency of inspection and palpation and subjects' ratings of each physical examination. RESULTS: A total of 295 surveys were collected reflecting 696 prior physician encounters. Inspection was done in 57% of physician encounters. Across specialties, orthopedic surgeons had the highest reported rate of inspection at 72%. The worst was among chiropractors at 40%. Palpation occurred in 80% of physician encounters. Chiropractors had the highest rate of palpation at 94%. The lowest rate was among neurosurgeons at 58%. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that approximately 43% of patient visits for LBP involved no inspection and nearly 20% without palpation. These numbers reflect a need for improvement among providers who treat patients with LBP. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: N/A.