Healio Orthopedics

Suicide deaths underestimate self-directed violence within cancer

Josh Friedman — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:04:30 Z

Individuals with cancer are at increased risk for suicide, and suicidal ideation can persist for years after diagnosis.
An evaluation of nearly 300,000 veterans with cancer showed approximately 1% attempted suicide, with several subgroups having increased rates, including younger and unmarried veterans, those with central nervous system and thyroid malignancies, and those with increased frailty.
And though 1% may seem like a “small number,” the fact that most suicide attempts do not result in death indicates suicide rates among people with cancer in the general population likely underestimate

Stable construct with shoulder rotation after implant placement

Sophia Jardon, DO; Alissa Nesterenko, DO; Benjamin Bruce, MD — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:19:42 Z

A 23-year-old woman presented to the ED after suffering multiple gunshot injuries to bilateral shoulders, abdomen and pelvis.
One-view trauma radiographs of the right and left shoulders demonstrated a minimally displaced right proximal humerus fracture and left comminuted proximal humerus fracture with extension into the diaphysis.
After discussion with the patient, it was recommended to stage surgical stabilization of both fractures to allow early range of motion, starting with the right proximal humerus. Once the patient was medically optimized and stable for orthopedic intervention, open

Risks of early sport specialization outweigh benefits

Casey Tingle — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:34:14 Z

PARK CITY, Utah — Due to the physical and psychological risks associated with early sport specialization, a presenter at the International Extreme Sports Medicine Congress said not all young athletes should specialize in a sport early.
“The key for sports for kids is that we want to make sure we are encouraging healthy activity across a lifespan,” Jordan D. Metzl, MD, from Hospital for Special Surgery, told Healio. “The risk of specialization in sport is that we are trying to put a lot of resources and a lot of pressure in a small number of kids, and that can sometimes

Semaglutide may reduce fracture risk in type 2 diabetes

Michael Monostra — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 12:50:37 Z

CHICAGO — Adults with type 2 diabetes may have lower risk for fractures if they use semaglutide compared with other medications, according to data presented at ENDO 2026.
As Healio previously reported, a retrospective cohort study found that semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy, Novo Nordisk) was associated with a 26% lower risk for fractures than sleeve gastrectomy for people with obesity. Sun H. Kim, MS, MD, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University Medical Center and senior author on the previous study, said researchers thought the reduced risk for fracture with semaglutide may have

Antibiotics may not relive chronic low back pain

Max R. Wursta — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 09:30:00 Z

A 90-day course of amoxicillin-clavulanate was ineffective for pain reduction vs. placebo in patients with chronic low back pain and disc herniation, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.
“Antibiotics are currently being recommended for chronic low back pain, particularly when treatments have failed, even though the evidence for their use is conflicting,” Flavia M. Cicuttini, PhD, alongside Donna M. Urquhart, PhD, both of the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues wrote.
“Uncertainty about the efficacy of

Lateral ligament stabilization may improve satisfaction

Casey Tingle — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 19:59:38 Z

PHOENIX — Results showed patients with osteochondral lesions of the talus had higher satisfaction when lateral ligament stabilization was included with arthroscopic microfracture with bone marrow aspirate concentrate augmentation.
“If a patient has clinical signs of instability, they could potentially benefit from a lateral ligament stabilization procedure, especially in active patients or someone who is going to have a lot of potential to do activities that would involve cutting, pivoting or side-to-side movement at the ankle,” Rachit Saggar, MBBS, an orthopedic surgery

HHS proposes plan to speed up clinical trials

Sara Kellner — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:26:07 Z

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to speed up clinical trials in the United States.
“A recent study found that China conducts more early-stage clinical trials than the United States,” Kennedy wrote in an editorial published online by Fox News. “In 2025, Chinese companies accounted for nearly half of global pharmaceutical licensing deal activity. Those trends should concern every American.”
The editorial was published the same day HHS announced what it called a “coordinated, department-wide effort to strengthen America’s leadership in clinical research, accelerate the development of

Journavx may be well tolerated for pain management after orthopedic surgery

Casey Tingle — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 16:48:49 Z

Results presented at the Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting showed prescription of Journavx for postoperative pain may be well tolerated in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery.
“[This is] going to become more widely used,” Faye Rim, MD, FAAPMR, a physiatrist and pain management specialist within the department of anesthesiology, critical care and pain management at Hospital for Special Surgery, told Healio. “It is getting adopted quickly and we have to have a better understanding of how it works within our arsenal of our usual postoperative pain medication

Are ‘looksmaxxing’ men really hitting their jaws with hammers?

Gabrielle M. Grasso; Jennifer Levine, MD — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:02:44 Z

Every day, millions of people scroll through transformation videos on social media in pursuit of becoming the most attractive version of themselves. But for some young men, this goal has taken a dark turn.
Combining the terms “looks” and “maximizing,” a movement called “looksmaxxing” teaches young men that the key to success is to radically improve their physical appearance through any means necessary, according to an NPR article. While “looksmaxxing” strategies such as working out or optimizing skin care routines are usually harmless, a trend popularized on social media called “bonesmashing,”

Menopause not a contraindication to high-altitude activities

Casey Tingle — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 16:15:26 Z

PARK CITY, Utah — Women who are perimenopausal or menopausal have no contraindications to participating in activities at high altitudes, according to a presenter at the International Extreme Sports Medicine Congress.
“There is no reason why older women should not go to the mountains, but they need to train,” Linda E. Keyes, MD, FACEP, FAWM, adjunct professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado, told Healio. “If you continue training, you can continue doing mountain activities.”
In her presentation, Keyes said that previously published research has suggested that women who live

Physicians should remember ‘do no harm’ when using compound drugs

Rob Volansky; Jason Laday — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 09:30:00 Z

Compounded medications currently represent an estimated 1% to 3% of all prescriptions written in the United States, according to a recent 2025-2026 report issued by the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding.
“There’s a good chance you know someone who has benefited — or whose pet has benefited — from a compounded drug,” read the report, which was released in March.
According to experts who spoke with Healio — as well as the FDA — compound pharmacies, and the compounded drugs they offer, can fill an important niche for patients who cannot be treated with FDA-approved drugs. For example, a patient

Overhead, non-overhead athletes had similar outcomes

Casey Tingle — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 15:27:19 Z

PHOENIX — Overhead and non-overhead athletes who underwent Bankart repair experienced similar recurrence and return to sport rates as well as patient-reported outcomes, according to results presented here.
“Studies like this are important in how surgeons counsel their patients. What we showed here is that, if you are an overhead athlete, you can expect a favorable chance of returning to sport and a slightly lower chance of returning to sport at the same level, but not different than if you were a non-overhead athlete,” Ryan Gilbert, BA, of the department of orthopedic surgery at the University

How the RISE rule will impact medical students

Emma Bascom; Kisha Davis, MD, MPH, FAAFP — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 15:26:30 Z

A new rule will dramatically change how medical students can pay for their education, according to an expert.
On May 1, the U.S. Department of Education released the Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations (RISE) rule, which goes into effect July 1. The regulations for federal student loan programs will implement statutory changes included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed last July. Those changes include phasing out the Graduate PLUS program and establishing new loan limits for professional students, graduate students and

Report reveals ‘chronic, systemic’ drug shortages across US

Mark Leiser — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 11:30:00 Z

Persistent and prolonged drug shortages across the country are affecting delivery of care across well over 100 therapeutic areas, according to a new report.
Shortages are lasting longer than ever, with the average duration now exceeding 5 years, the analysis from United States Pharmacopeia (USP) showed.
“That is pretty startling, and it shows that these aren’t one-off, acute shortage events. These are chronic, systemic shortages, indicating there are significant problems with the supply chain,” Matt Christian, director of supply chain insights at USP, told Healio.
The number of drugs in shortage

Backdoor Roth IRA for the high-earning surgeon

David B. Mandell, JD, MBA; Nick L. Gizzarelli, CPFA, CBS, QPA, QKA — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 15:24:22 Z

For the modern orthopedic surgeon, financial success is often a byproduct of decades of specialized training and a commitment to clinical excellence.
However, this high level of compensation frequently places physicians in a unique tax position: their income exceeds the thresholds for many traditional wealth-building tools, most notably the direct Roth IRA contribution. While the IRS effectively “locks the front door” to these tax-free accounts once a certain income level is reached, a more sophisticated entry point remains available.
For the physician balancing a demanding surgical volume with

Cutting-edge spine surgery treats tumors with greater precision

D. Kojo Hamilton, MD, FAANS — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 14:07:00 Z

The diagnosis of a spinal cord tumor rightfully terrifies our patients, but it’s not just the tumor they worry about.
They worry about whether they will be able to walk again and return to work. They fear the possibility of never holding their kids or sleeping without pain.
That anxiety is not unfounded. For decades, spine tumor surgery too often came with a tradeoff. We had to walk a fine line between removing what we could and maintaining what neurological function we could.
Today, we are replacing invasive operations with procedures that allow for far more accuracy and preservation.

Direct-to-consumer pharmacies offer savings

Emma Bascom — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 14:03:29 Z

Direct-to-consumer pharmacies could offer substantial savings for patients taking generic medications, according to experts.
John Lin, MD, MSHP, assistant professor of Health Services Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues recently published a research letter in Annals of Internal Medicine evaluating savings from direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmacy models.
“As an oncologist, DTC pharmacies have helped many of my patients better afford their cancer drugs. It can be incredibly stressful to have a serious illness, like multiple sclerosis or cancer, and then not

High resiliency yielded better outcomes after ACL reconstruction

Casey Tingle — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 21:12:02 Z

PHOENIX — Patients with high resiliency may experience better outcomes and faster recovery after ACL reconstruction compared with patients with low resiliency, according to results presented here.
“This is the first study that I have seen that, in a randomized way, evaluated video and in-person based education modalities on perioperative outcomes. The findings were striking and show that we need to be looking at the psychology of our patients a lot more closely,” Sailesh “Sai” Tummala, MD, orthopedic sports medicine and shoulder surgery fellow at Stanford

Hook of hamate fractures in twin collegiate baseball players

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:55:16 Z

A 19-year-old, right-hand-dominant, male, National Collegiate Athletic Association division 1 baseball catcher presented with left volar-ulnar wrist pain and small finger numbness that started during athletic competition.
Game video footage revealed that the ulnar side of his left hand struck the opposing player’s helmet. Physical examination revealed hook of hamate tenderness with decreased small finger sensation and finger abduction weakness. Wrist radiographs (anteroposterior, lateral and carpal tunnel view) showed a suspected hook of hamate fracture (Figure 1). MRI revealed a displaced

Hook of hamate fractures in twin collegiate baseball players

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:55:16 Z