Dr. Ruggeri's Blog

Many people are told by their doctor that they have tendinitis and have no idea exactly what tendinitis is. The suffix –itis is a Greek word meaning inflammation and tendinitis is inflammation of the tendon. Actually the inflammation can involve the tendon insertion into the bone, the tendon connection to the muscle and the muscle connection to the bone. The majority of tendinitis that is seen in the United States is caused by over-use, usually by the so called WEEKEND WARRIORS, who try to do more than their unconditioned bodies will allow them to do. When the muscle tendon is overused, cells die and need to be replaced and during this replacement process the entire muscle-tendon unite gets inflamed and swells, causing pain. The pain, believe it or not is good because it prevents the individual from continuing to use the muscle tendon unite and allows the muscle tendon unite to repair itself. There fore, the first treatment of tendinitis is to listen to one’s boy and if the part hurt...

Thoracic outlet syndrome is a compression of the nerves and vessels that go to the arm as they emerge from the base of the neck. This compression can result in pain, numbness and odd feelings in the affected arm, especially when using the arm in overhead activities or in prolonged use of the arm. Fortunately, this condition is amenable to physical therapy, namely exercises to the shoulder girdle to prevent sloping of the shoulder, which tends to aggravate compression about the nerve and vessels at the base of the neck. These exercises can be done very easily by most patients at home and sometimes are done under the guidance of a physical therapist. Eighty percent of patients will respond to the exercises. Of the 20% that do not respond to exercise, surgery is usually necessary to decompress the space where the nerve and vessels are compressed. 1. THORACIC OUTLET DAILY EXERCISES Stand erect with arms at side: A Shrug shoulders forward and upward B Relax C Shrug shoulders backward and up...

Many patients who anxiously see their physicians with progressive swelling over the wrist are concerned about cancer. They are relieved but perplexed to have the diagnosis of Ganglion made. This is a benign but annoying condition that can cause significant pain and disability. A ganglion is merely an out pouching from the capsule of the wrist. The capsule is the tough ligamentous tissue which holds the wrist bones to the forearm. If there is a hole or a weak spot in the capsule the underlying tissue can bulge out much like the old inner tubes could bulge out on a car tire. Most ganglions are small and do not cause pain, but some can get fairly large. If the ganglion impinges on any of the tiny nerves in the wrist capsule it causes pain and disability. The treatment of a wrist ganglion is basically a numbers game. In the old days professional and amateurs would smash the ganglion with a heavy book (the Bible Treatment). This is an effective way to eliminate the out pouching and many...