With that in mind, here are the top 4 things you can do to prevent surgery:

1. Stop putting toxic substances into your body, such as:
   1. Tobacco. Causes heart disease, peripheral vascular disease (limb artery disease), all sorts of cancers, osteoporosis, just to name a few.
   2. Sugar and excess carbohydrates. Causes and exacerbates diabetes which results in foot ulceration, foot fractures, heart and peripheral vascular disease, obesity, and arthritis.
2. Exercise Regularly
   1. Exercise increases bone mass, prevents obesity and vascular disease, and improves balance and coordination. This decreases the likelihood of falls in both the young and elderly.
3. Learn Proper Exercising Technique
   1. Overuse injuries come from improper techniques. Less than 1% of runners run correctly using the fore/midfoot strike, and they often pay for it with injury.
   2. Swimmers are plagued by rotator cuff tendon problems because they don’t do the stroke right.
   3. Weight lifters train wrong, use improper form and recurrently injure themselves.
4. Don’t do Stupid Things
   1. Orthopedic surgeons have dozens of stories of stupid risks patients took that resulted in fractures, sprains, etc.
   2. Beginners in recreational sports are much more likely to have an injury than experts.
   3. People fall off of ladders and injure themselves often because of some stupid action.

The post 4 Tips to Keep the Surgeon Away appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.

The study was done by doctors at the University Hospital in Zurich. Researchers examined 12 previous studies that tracked vitamin D rates and fractures in more than 30,000 patients aged 65 or older. Previous meta-analyses have only looked at how much vitamin D patients were prescribed to take. This study examined how much patients actually took.

“The question of how much vitamin D is enough is likely to remain muddled as long as meta-analyses focus on trial methodology rather than on biology,” said Robert Heaney, MD, one of the primary researchers.

The results show that regular doses of vitamin D can significantly decrease the risk of fractures.

“For the last several years I have been recommending higher doses of vitamin D to my patients,” says Orthopedic Specialist, Dr. Lance Silverman. These findings are welcome. The previously established RDA only describes what is needed to prevent overt manifestation of disease, not best overall function. While vitamin D can be made by sun exposure, many of my patients spend several months indoors during the winter. The time they spend outdoors as the get older is limited by work and by justified fears of skin cancer. Oral supplements are inexpensive and easy to find. I recommend nearly every patient to start them. It’s never too early or too late to start maximizing bone density.”

The post Increased Vitamin D can Prevent Fractures, Study Finds appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.