The Recovery Process After Rotator Cuff Surgery

Shoulder pain is a common problem experienced by many people, with a tear in the rotator cuff the most common reason for it. They are extremely painful and restrict your movement greatly. The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons which comprises of four muscles and they hold your arm in a ball and socket joint, which allows your shoulder to rotate around and move with ease. The tendons can be torn through injuries. Rotator cuff surgery is the most commonly done procedures around the world, with over 250000 done in the United States of America annually.

After the surgery has completed, the patient will be taken to a recovery room for a couple of hours. The injured arm will be in a protective sling or even a shoulder immobilizer to prevent any movements. Depending on the type of surgery, arthroscopic surgery patients will be discharged on the same day while open surgery patients will need to be warded for a couple of days.

A physiotherapist will meet up with the patient before discharge and he will teach the patient a set of exercises that are designed to regain the flexibility, range of motion and strength in the injured shoulder. The exercises can be done at the comfort of your own home. Not only will physical therapy exercises be taught, the patient will also be educated on how to prevent re-injuring the shoulders.

Back at the comfort of their own home, it is crucial to perform the physical therapy exercises taught by the physiotherapist for 5 times a day. Patients should attempt to get back their full range of motion as soon as possible to prevent the formation of scar tissues. If scar tissues are formed, the scarring might possibly cause the whole shoulder to stiffen which will result in huge discomfort and even limit the activities the shoulder can conduct in future. Swelling might be observed as well. They will normally go away if the arms are held in an elevated position and is nothing serious.

The first 12 weeks after surgery are the most important period. Physical exercises must be conducted regularly to regain the full range of motion and prevent the formation of scar tissues. It is of utmost importance not to lift the injured arm away from the body and do not exert any strength on it. Whenever throughout the day, the arm must always be kept inside a protective sling and it is only allowed to be removed which exercising or showering. Do not attempt to drive during the first 6 weeks after surgery.

Full recovery takes roughly 6 months and the first 12 weeks are of most importance. Do the exercises as prescribed by the physiotherapist and this will kick start the healing process

Statins and Memory Loss: Don't Forget to Take Your Statin

Medications in the "statin" (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) class are used by millions of patients and their benefits for reducing cholesterol and preventing heart attacks are well known. Statins are prescribed for individuals with high cholesterol as well as patients with mildly elevated cholesterol and have other risk factors for heart attacks such as diabetes, hypertension, previous stroke, or previous heart attack. Statins have been available in the U.S. for over 20 years. Therefore, the recent announcement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the package insert for these popular drugs will include information about post-marketing reports of reversible memory loss, forgetfulness, and confusion alarmed many patients and healthcare providers. This not the first time that the effect of statins on brain function has been evaluated. Earlier small statin studies suggested that statins may actually improve brain function but more robust scientific studies did not support this theory.

The FDA reviewed post-marketing adverse events reports, published case reports, observational studies, and clinical studies to decide whether statins cause memory loss. Post-marketing adverse events cases of memory loss included people over 50 years of age with memory loss or impairment with onset from one day to years after starting a statin, and duration of a few weeks (median 3 weeks) after stopping the statin. Age, type or dose of statin, or other medications used did not correlate with the occurrence of memory loss. Available observational and clinical studies suggest that statins do not have significant effect on brain function.

The available evidence does not show that statins affect brain function. The FDA's goal was to tell the public that there are post-marketing reports of memory loss or confusion associated with statin use. Post-marketing reports are not evidence of cause and effect because there are other possible explanations for the memory loss. Patients should not panic because statins have been used for many years and available data does not show that statins cause memory loss or confusion. Moreover, there are many drugs that are proven to affect brain function but are still used because their benefits are greater than their risk. The benefits of statins on preventing stroke, heart attack, or death far outweigh the very small risk, if any, of reversible effects on cognitive brain function. Patients should report adverse effects, including confusion and persistent change in memory, to their healthcare provider.

Drugs in the statin class:

• Lipitor (atorvastatin)
• Crestor (rosuvastatin)
• Livalo (pitavastatin)
• Pravachol (pravastatin)
• Zocor (simvastatin)
• Lescol (fluvastatin)
• Mevacor (lovastatin)
• Altoprev (lovastatin extended-release)
• Vytorin (simvastatin/ezetimibe)
• Advicor (lovastatin/niacin extended-release)
• Simcor (simvastatin/niacin extended-release

Stay Healthy

If you want to live a healthy life you must do the following:

    * Do not start your day without your breakfast.

Everyday i get prepared in a hurry to go to work and at the end i skip my breakfast even after getting to work, this is done day after day that my name becomes breakfast skipper and return home wanting to eat every meal i have missed. This is because I wasn't hungry in the morning but terribly hungry on my return at night. I looked at it saying may be it was just the way some of us were, that it was a natural cycle for some people. But in reality, these are bad habits that your body has become accustomed to doing and that needs to be broken. The meal you piled up at night isn't gonna make you look healthy rather worst than you can imagine. But, I was surprised to learn how easy it is to retrain yourself into breaking those bad eating habits and found that my eating cycles are now better regulated resulting in less food consumed each day and overall improved health.

    * Eat rich and complete meal

Several times i've spent money on my health by seeing a nutritionist on so many occasion to actually put in place wrongs i have made when it comes to food and dieting. Among the simplest, yet most valuable information I picked up (which I'm sure you can learn from other sources) is this: never eat a non rich and incomplete meal. What does this mean? This means that each meal we take should always contain all three basic food groups: carbohydrates, healthy fats and protein, because your body needs all three food elements to absorb properly and most efficiently in your body.

    * Never let your body request for food

It's strange but I also learned that if you can be proactive and anticipate when you'll be hungry, and actually eat something before you do (because you needn't wait for your body to make the request) you'll eat less, and better. If you eat right after you find yourself starving, you'll end up devouring more than you need to. By the same token, if you eat slowly and chew your food well, you'll be able to control your food consumption accurately.

    * Don't stress out

Health professionals keep saying that toxins are all over our environment invading our systems, but some of these things are just not within our control. I'll guarantee you'll be breathing second hand smoke, car fumes and smog every time you go out of the house and enter a city. What about chemical agents in our hair spray, pesticide in our food or toxic materials hiding in old buildings where you work? This things can't be avoided. Well, one thing you can control is how stressed you are. Stress impacts your body in the same way terrible toxins do, so do your best to avoid it.

    * Frequently wash your hands

Avoid getting sick by frequently washing your hands. Unless you don't mind catching or embrassing cold or flu once in a while, or being a little dirty, which is actually good for you. I've seen where i work we deal with books, office mails etc that is we deal with dust and through this we advocates germs and infections as the way to better health in the long run. That's because our body builds up its defenses and immune system by falling ill. As a parent we must ensure we wash our hands often watch over our children to ensure they wash there hand, take both morning and night because i tell i don't like catching annoying colds, plus getting sick often doesn't seem to have improved my health.

    * Visit your doctor for annual tests.

Those annual tests are covered by your health insurance or can be performed through free or low cost programs run around your area. Routine tests can catch problems early on before they develop into real trouble later. Don't let it grow into a big issue that costs a lot to deal with.

Finally,

Always take a walk around your neighborhood or bike rides. Though they may not be in your home, they still give you the benefits of exercise in your own comfort zone.

So just remember a word is a enough for the wise don't be money wise pounds foolish!