What is a plantar plate tear and how is it treated? This article explores the treatment of plantar plate tears.
A large percentage of my practice is an older population that is prone to falls. A history of falls defines the aging person. A single fall or series of falls are the hallmark of the final stages of aging. In many cases, seniors don't have the physical ability to recover from the secondary effects of falls and succumb to pneumonia or stroke.
With the advent of MRI, we now have a new category of bone injury called a bone contusion (also called bone swelling). Is a bone contusion really a fracture? I think so, but thus far, we don’t really have the vocabulary in the literature to call a bone contusion a fracture.
Bone edema is the term used by doctors (radiologists) to describe swelling within bone. Bone swelling is typically identified on MRI and is the result of either a direct injury to bone or load bearing that is greater than what can be sustained by the bone (stress injuries). Bone edema can also be found secondary to an inflammatory injury of bone. Inflammatory injuries include various forms of infection or arthritis.
Methotrexate is an antimetabolite that works by inhibiting dihydrofolic reductase. This enzyme is important in the production of DNA. Methotrexate targets rapidly growing cells such as inflammatory cells in rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis. Methotrexate was originally used as a cancer drug for malignancies including acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphomas.
