Tag Archives: hip fractures

How Blood Pressure Drugs Are Causing Hip Fractures

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If you’re taking blood pressure medication, I need to tell you something very important. In fact, it might be life-saving.

But first, a little backstory:

My mother-in-law likes to joke that she’s bionic because she has an artificial hip; but the reason she has one isn’t funny at all. Continue reading →

Fixing Vision Could Prevent Hip Fractures

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badeyesightIt goes without saying that strong vision would help prevent falls that lead to broken bones when you are older. Well, a new study confirmed that notion in a health breakthrough chronicled in the “Journal of the American Medical Association.” It seems that surgery to fix cataracts helps prevent hip fractures.

The study found that Continue reading →

Calcium Intake: More Is Not Better

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Hello, this is Dr. JoAnn Manson, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. I would like to talk with you today about calcium intake and the increasing evidence that more is not better when it comes to optimal health.

Calcium has been in the news a lot lately. You probably have heard about the studies linking calcium supplements to an increased risk for cardiovascular events, vascular calcification, and kidney stones in the Women’s Health Initiative Calcium/Vitamin D Supplementation Study.[1] Now a large prospective study from Sweden published in the British Medical Journal [2] indicates that even when it comes to bone health, more is not better for calcium intake. Continue reading →

How to Protect Yourself from Hip Fractures

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In a single year, as many as 350,000 Americans may find themselves suffering from a broken hip. It is estimated that, 90% of the time, these fractures are due to a fall. Residents in nursing homes seem particularly vulnerable. Up to 50% of residents fall each year(!).

In the past decade, companies have developed pads that can be worn on the hip. It was thought that these pads would offer enough cushioning to the hip to prevent a fracture. But, according to a new study performed at the Rehabilitation Studies Unit, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, the latest health news is that hip protectors don’t necessarily work.

The research team conducted a randomized, controlled trial with 234 participants.  Continue reading →