Health NewsWeek of January 15, 2001
There's evidence out of the States that you're better off having a hip or knee replacement done in an orthopedic or teaching hospital. The study looked at over 700-thousand orthopedic cases and found that there were fewer complications, shorter hospital stays and lower costs when the surgery was performed in a top orthopedic or teaching hospital. The study goes on to name the country's 100 best-performing hospitals for orthopedic services.
After a year long inquiry, Britain's House of Lords is calling for tougher regulation of alternative medicine. The peers are concerned that there's no evidence many of the alternative practises help patients, and that some people will endanger their health by pursuing alternative therapies rather than traditional ones. There are about 50-thousand alternative medicine practitioners in Britain, but only about a fifth of them are registered health professionals.
Athletes who tape or brace their ankles to prevent a sprain may be onto something. Doctors in Amsterdam looked at eight studies on ankle-strain prevention and found that ankle taping or bracing cuts the athlete's risk of sprain and lessens the severity of the sprain. In fact, braces were found to be even more effective than tape in preventing sprains in football players. According to the research, there's less evidence that other measures like wearing high-top shoes provide protection.
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