The Stone Clinic Blog by Kevin R. Stone, MD

The MCL is in the news. When Steph Curry’s knee stopped the fall of JaVale McGee in the game against the Atlanta Hawks, his knee bent inward with the tibia moving toward the opposite leg and the femur moving outward. A fibrous ligament, called the Medial Collateral Ligament, gave way. Here, anatomically and biologically, is what happened:

What we think we know is probably not true. If we are practicing medicine the same way next year as we are practicing this year, we clearly haven’t learned anything.

All athletes get injured. The best ones use the injury as an excuse to come back better than they were before they were hurt. Others may not be able to. This may, in part, be due to their inability to let go of the self-image they are attached to. Here are some tips for avoiding that trap.

Stem cell therapies are sprouting like weeds. This is a good thing. The medical community is rushing into the biologic sciences, opening up the field of stimulating tissues to heal—rather than suppressing them with steroids, anti-inflammatories, or joint replacement surgeries. Here is my take on where the field is now and where it is going.

Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, hurts. It takes a long time to resolve and interferes with daily activities. Here is what causes the problem and what you can do about it.

Artificial knee replacement surgery used to mean the reduction of sports activities like golf, swimming, and cycling. Yet with severe arthritis affecting younger and younger people, we are currently pushing the envelope of sports participation with joint replacements and learning as we go.

Mikaela Shiffrin has brought ski racing to an entirely new level. Her extreme focus and total life commitment dwarf those of all other competitors. Is this what it takes to win?

Classic blood doping—the injection of additional blood cells to increase oxygen in the muscle—is illegal in Olympic sports. Yet, legal blood doping is all the rage at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Here is how it works.

Multiple times each day, we all reach for an upper. It may be a piece of chocolate, an espresso, a Coke, a candy bar. After a day of stressful work, we often switch to a downer: a cocktail, a beer, or a marijuana joint (now legal in at least eight states). All of these are brain supplements, neural nutrition, or attitude modifiers. And where do you think this constant up-and-down, unscientific brain modulation is leading?

Did you buy Bitcoin? Why not? Thinking about it now?
Of course you are. Everyone is. Know someone who did? Read the stories in the news each day? Spend your waking and dreaming hours wondering why you didn’t?

The natural lubricant of the human joint is called hyaluronic acid (HA). As part of a large, electrically-charged sugar molecule, HA permits water to be absorbed and released from the cartilage surface of the joints. This provides durability and compressibility. Without HA we would all grind to a halt.

What do you expect to get from your surgical care? No one really asks this question, yet the answer determines your satisfaction. Surprisingly, the answers you receive from your surgeon, your physical therapist, your fitness trainer, and your coach may differ.

Most ski bindings have not changed in thirty years. When bindings comply with international safety standards, they do a brilliant job of reducing tibia fractures. However, these fractures account for only 3% of all skiing injuries, while ACL injuries have risen to 20% of skiing injuries. Surprisingly, bindings are not designed to protect the ACL while skiing. Over time, skis have changed in both shape and length—so what is the problem with designing bindings in relation to the ACL?

Each year we share our top tips for a fit New Year. All of us here at The Stone Clinic try to live these tips and see how we do. We recognize that the usual resolutions are often ignored or forgotten—so we try to recommend activities that are addictive. In a sense, we are “drug pushers”; we push endorphins, adrenaline, pheromones, and testosterone, the natural drugs that make our lives, and our patients’ lives, wonderful.

Lube it up! We lube our bike chains. We lube our chainsaws. We lube our cars— more often as they get older. So why not lube our joints?

What if we can learn to listen, understand, and respond to genetic communications? Could we have a genetic Fitbit and language translator? And, as gene editing techniques like CRISPR Cas-9 continue to become less expensive and more available, could we engage in a daily conversation with our personal genetic dictionary?

The questions most often asked by athletes, coaches, trainers, and of course fans are, “What can be done to speed healing?” “What can reduce the re-injury rate—and are there permanent solutions?”

The eyes receive and give away information. They communicate in a language we have yet to define. We know they are windows to the soul, portals into the mind, and transmitters of emotions, intentions, and desires. Because we don’t always control their transmissions, we fear their exposure. Shouldn’t we start to train our visual communication skills?

Perseverate, verb: to repeat or prolong an action, thought, or utterance, long after the stimulus that prompted it has ceased. Perseveration is a repetitive focus on the same issue, a recycling through the mind of thoughts that won’t go away—memories that trap you in the pain or anger of some past event. How to break free? Here are some of the techniques we use after sports injuries get you down.

“Push through the pain.” “No pain, no gain,” we were told in our youth. These are outside voices – but listening to your body and knowing when to stop is the key to diminishing self-inflicted injuries and lengthening your sports career.