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Weekend Doctor: Common hockey injuries

Posted by Staff on March 5, 2023 - 7:14am

By Ryan Ingley, AT, ATC*
Sports Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Since hockey is a high-speed, collision sport, there can be opportunities for injury. For players, parents, and coaches alike, it is important to be aware of the most common injuries that can happen on the ice.

Separated shoulder
While playing hockey it is common to make physical contact with other players through a check, either giving or receiving. There is also the chance that you may trip and fall on the ice. These things put the shoulder at risk of being injured. One common injury is a separated shoulder, which is basically a sprained shoulder. Treatment for this will depend on the severity of the sprain, but typically involves immobilization and rest. When recovering from this injury, there are some strengthening exercises that can be beneficial. Making sure shoulder pads properly fit your player can help reduce the risk.

Concussion
Concussions are also a common injury due to the fast-paced nature of the game and the potential for contact from another player. If a player has an impact to the head and, as a result, begins to have symptoms of a concussion, they should not continue to play. There are many possible symptoms of a concussion, including headache, dizziness, confusion and nausea. Making sure the player has a helmet that fits well in addition to wearing a mouthpiece can help reduce some of the impact, but will not completely eliminate the risk of concussions. Players who have symptoms should consult a physician before returning to play and use a gradual return to contact.

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I Can See Clearly Now

Posted by Staff on March 2, 2023 - 6:00am

By Karen Kier
Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team

In 1972, Johnny Nash released his number one hit in the United States, Canada and South Africa titled I Can See Clearly Now. Johnny was a rhythm and blues singer who was influenced by the reggae sound. He collaborated with Bob Marley, one of the pioneers of reggae, to sing and produce records. Johnny was a very prolific song writer throughout his career. Interestingly, he sang the theme song for the animated cartoon series The Mighty Hercules that ran from 1963 to 1965,

So why the message to see clearly now?

Researchers have made some significant advances in eye health specifically with macular degeneration in the last few years. Several of these discoveries have completed clinical trials and have been forwarded to the FDA for approval in the United States.

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Weekend Doctor: Type 2 diabetes and physical activity

Posted by Staff on February 25, 2023 - 7:02am

By Jay Salyer, APRN-CNP
Endocrinology & Diabetes Specialists of Northwest Ohio

Type 2 diabetes is an illness that interferes with the way in which your body utilizes blood sugar. The human body is made of trillions of cells (brain cells, muscle cells, skin cells, hair cells, etc.) and all of those cells need sugar to function properly. Sugar is transported to body cells with the help of the hormone insulin. If your body stops making insulin (type 1 diabetes) or stops responding to insulin appropriately (type 2 diabetes), sugar can elevate in the bloodstream rather than getting to the cells where it belongs. Insulin resistance, a major contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes, can be improved through regular physical activity, which dramatically improves diabetic control by reducing the amount of medication needed to treat the disease.

Benefits of activity 

Regular physical activity helps to prevent and/or improve a variety of chronic illnesses including heart disease, osteoporosis, various cancers, depression, anxiety, as well as type 2 diabetes. With a focus on diabetes, activity increases the effect of insulin within the body. Medications used to treat the disease are also more effective with regular activity. These improvements are not only witnessed during activity itself, but last for several hours following exercise completion. Additionally, long-standing increase in insulin sensitivity happens from increased muscle mass, reduction in fat tissues, and changes within the liver all of which, in turn, significantly improves blood sugar control.

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Letter: Medicaid and the end of the public health emergency

Posted by Staff on February 24, 2023 - 6:00am

Letter to the Icon from William Kose, MD, JD, Vice President of Special Projects, Blanchard Valley Health System

Those of you who receive health insurance through Medicaid, or food through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, will be affected by some changes happening soon.

While these changes are happening at the federal level, and affect multiple agencies, we here at Blanchard Valley Health System want to help make sure everyone has the information they need.

Both Medicaid and SNAP have been operating under different regulations ever since public health declared a federal emergency on Jan. 31, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. States could not remove the insured from their Medicaid rolls as long as the public health emergency was in effect. 

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Weekend Doctor: Three types of pain

Posted by Staff on February 18, 2023 - 5:45am

By Heather Auxier, APRN-CNP
Certified Nurse Practitioner, Blanchard Valley Pain Management

What is chronic pain? This is an unfavorable, unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that is persistent lasting weeks to years. 

The three types of musculoskeletal pain include nociceptive, neuropathic and nociplastic.

Nociceptive pain can be associated with tissue damage or injury. Examples of this kind of pain would include spraining your ankle or touching a hot stove. 

Burning, stabbing, shooting and prickling are often descriptive words for neuropathic pain.  

Often, people will say this pain travels or is radicular in nature. Other diagnoses for this kind of pain include trigeminal neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy and sciatica. 

Lastly, nociplastic pain is a pain that arises from altered nociception despite no clear evidence for disease or actual threatened tissue damage, causing an activation of peripheral nociceptors or evidence for disease or lesion of the somatosensory system causing the pain. The net result of this pain is usually widespread and amplified. Fibromyalgia is considered a nociplastic type of pain. 

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Chicken Run

Posted by Paula Scott on February 16, 2023 - 6:00am

By Karen Kier
Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team

In 2000, the highest grossing stop-motion animated film in history was released titled Chicken Run, bringing in 227 million dollars. When my daughter was in elementary school, she loved this movie and we watched it over and over again!

The movie was directed and written by Peter Lord and Nick Park. A stop-motion film requires the moviemakers to physically manipulate the characters in small increments between the photograph frames so they appear in motion. 

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