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Health Matters: Adult complications to congenital clubfoot

ESCANABA — Walking is a complex act, but one to which we give little thought. Step after step, day after day, it’s a recurring act. Five to ten thousand steps are taken on an average day by most Americans. This complexity requires good working parts, meaning proper anatomy is necessary. When it isn’t present, something will be stressed, some joint or tendon, a bone or ligament. Sometimes we are born with abnormal anatomy, the case in a clubfoot deformity. This is a relatively common condition, occurring in one out of a thousand births. It can be associated with certain ...

Health Matters: Foot type important to musculoskeletal health

ESCANABA — Humans come in innumerable shapes and sizes, applicable to so many parts of the human anatomy, side to side and top to bottom. And it’s down there at the bottom upon which the weight of the human body rests. Our feet are even entrusted with the task of propelling us through space, also known as walking. How well they do this job depends greatly on the person’s foot type, which is (predictably) primarily dependent on their genetics. There are two basic categories of pathologic foot type: supinated or pronated. Apparently, only about 20 percent of the population has a ...

Health Matters: Hyperuricemia and our chronic diseases – Part 2

ESCANABA — Despite spending more on healthcare than any other country in the world, we have the worst outcomes. Over 25% of Americans suffer from two or more chronic diseases, twice that of such countries as Great Britain and the Netherlands. The prevalence of heart disease is higher than in the other developed countries. Life expectancy is shorter by two years, five years shorter than Switzerland. Obviously, these numbers are the result of numerous factors, diet to environment, genetics to politics. But the first item is often implicated as being of particular concern. Is it ...

Health Matters: Gout not only painful consequence of hyperuricemia

ESCANABA — Our more common serious diseases, unlike those of yesteryear, are those of longevity and lifestyle. Consequently, they get a lot of attention, whether it be in the form of research dollars or media headlines. We all know the usual suspects, heart disease, cancer, diabetes. But there are other chronic diseases causing significant illness that don’t get the press coverage. Hyperuricemia should be tops on this list. Like many others at this juncture, you may find yourself unfamiliar with the term. What is it and who the heck gets that? Although far more common than gout ...

Health Matters: Minimally invasive surgery wave of the present

ESCANABA — Modern medicine has made many advances benefitting our health and wellbeing. Our understanding of disease has progressed tremendously, more so in some fields than others. An examination of life expectancy is evidence of these advances. Prior to the development of antibiotics, before we knew about bacteria and hygiene, many infections were deadly. These days, more people succumb to the chronic diseases of lifestyle as opposed to trauma or infection, as was the case just a few decades ago. The improvements made in operative interventions, aka surgery, has similarly been ...

Health Matters: The lost art and science of the physical exam

By Dr. Conway McLean, FAPHWc, DABFAS ESCANABA — Remember some of the old doctor shows, there have been quite a few over the years. The patient would lie down on the exam table and the physician would place their hands on the individual’s belly to palpate their “insides,” amounting to feeling around. Of course, this was always followed with use of a stethoscope to listen to their breathing and heartbeat. At last, voila! The wise healer would provide the precise diagnosis. How did he do it? What magic spell was he weaving with “the laying on of hands?” Our TV doctor was ...