Mike Sherman - Medical

Medical Links

Osiris Imaging Software from UIN (The Digital Imaging Unit of the University Hospital of Geneva) for the manipulation and analysis of digital medical images in PAPYRUS format.

New Links

The Cleveland Clinic

Color XRay film

ERIESIDE MEDICAL GROUP
Lake Hospital System

Bacterial Endocarditis

infoplease.lycos.com

WebMD - Dental Work and the Risk of Bacterial Endocarditis

WebMD

Health Information Library

ohsu

at csun.edu

Bacterial Endocarditis aomc.org

Atlas of Pathology - Heart, mitral valve, bacterial endocarditis

at americanheart.org

Chondromalacia

Articles from Linda Wunderlich

Orthoseek -- chondromalacia patellae Recommended. From a pediatric point of view (focuses on teenage girls, who apparently are prone to this problem) but don't let that scare you off. Very helpful site. Good overall explanation, discussion of symptoms; excellent description of exercises for treatment, and of surgery options. Mentions patella taping to keep the patella tracking properly and contains a link to a knee bracing product, the AirPro patella knee support.

Runner's World -- chondromalacia Recommended. Short, non-technical info about chondromalacia, from a runner's perspective but perfectly applicable to cycling. Good recommendations for self-treatment; mentions overpronation as possible cause; mentions possible need for orthotics.

Adirondack Sports & Fitness: Common Bicycling Injuries Good, non-technical overview of various sports injuries, including knee problems, with a cycling focus; not very detailed, and not much about treatment.

http://www.wellfeet.com/dxtopics.htm "Conditions that are successfully treated with orthotics" -- but orthotics aren't really the focus of this page. Two sections are of interest here -- the "bicycling overuse injuries" section, particularly the last part of it (includes a picture of a cyclist with excessive pronation causing poor patellar tracking), and the "knee pain" section.

sportsmed: knee overuse injuries Very text heavy, so if you prefer pictures or bullet points rather than long paragraphs, you'll hate this site. But if you like words, you'll be o.k. with it. Long discussions of knee overuse injuries. The first part discusses the milder, chondromalacia-type injuries that aren't technically chondromalacia; the next part briefly discusses true chondromalacia, the same sort of thing but with actual degeneration of cartilage. Good explanations of how to treat the milder form yourself, including explanations of exercises. Recommends against going to a doctor right away if problem is not severe: "But if you've experienced the symptoms we've described, and the swelling isn't too bad, and your knee isn't locking or doing any other horrible things, and doing the exercise doesn't hurt, then it won't harm you to back down on the pain-producing activity and try the program for at least two to three weeks before you think about going to a doctor. A doctor who deals with these kinds of things regularly is going to give you the same advice, anyway."

Cho-pat Products Several products to stabilize the knee. These aren't crackpot products. Check out the Cho-pat knee strap first; also look at the patellar (kneecap) stabilizer and the dual action knee strap. You can purchase online; I found the Cho-pat knee strap at a Sports Authority mega sporting goods store, but haven't tried it yet. A friend of mine has used a rolled bandana in much the same way as this knee strap for years on bike tours and swears by it. I guess you could try the bandana approach first and maybe save yourself $15.

Patella (Chondromalacia) Anatomy and Biomechanics This site provides a technical but clear explanation of knee joint anatomy and the biomechanical problems associated with chondromalacia/patellar tracking problems, with good diagrams and x-ray photos. Not much info about symptoms or the activities that may cause the condition. Mentions that arthritis of the knee can occur if the problem is left untreated. Mentions athroscopic lateral release surgery but says it usually isn't necessary and is not always successful.

Darla's Chondromalacia Report One sufferer's description of her chondromalacia. Helpful, non-technical information about diagnosing and about treating with exercise, knee braces, pain meds, surgery, and nutritional supplements (what worked for her and what didn't). She has a few links and references at the bottom of this page: http://www.lanchester.net/chondro/index.html

Yahoo clubs "chondromalacia community A discussion group devoted to chondromalacia

Decent overview. Good list of factors contributing to the condition (e.g., overuse, anatomic variation, flat feet, knock knees, etc.). Good discussion of stretching and of strengthening exercises.

chondromalacia patella (knee pain in sports) information Fairly technical -- big words (anatomical/medical terminology) -- but decent explanation and very good diagrams/pictures. Best description I've seen of the various surgical options. Links and bibliography.

MCW HealthLINK -- Chondromalacia Very basic, one-page, non-technical explanation of chondromalacia, with info taken from NIH. Beware the recommendation to ride a stationary bike to strengthen the knee -- this will make the problem worse if you have a biomechanical problem that manifests itself during cycling and is what caused the problem in the first place.