Keeping master’s athletes in the game

Jennie McKee

Aging may be inevitable, but many people 55 years and older aren’t willing to simply get old. Just look at the success of golfer Tom Watson, who — at age 59 — came within a stroke of winning the 2009 British Open. “Our practices are filled with older patients who want to stay active,” said Vonda J. Wright, MD, director of the Performance and Research Initiative for Master’s Athletes at the University of Pittsburgh.

OREF finds new ways to partner with industry

Amy Kile; Sharon Johnson

Changing landscape requires new models Industry has been both a beneficiary of research and education projects funded by the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) and a crucial source of support. How can that relationship continue to flourish under new regulatory requirements and changing standards for best practices?

ABJS, CORR co-sponsor awards

The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons (ABJS), in conjunction with Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (CORR), is sponsoring the Nicolas Andry Award and the Marshall R. Urist Young Investigator Award. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 1, 2009. Eligible recipients for the $15,000 Nicolas Andry Award include experienced orthopaedic investigators, including surgeons doing clinically relevant basic or patient-oriented research.

Medication harm: The hidden epidemic

Norman A. Johanson, MD

Legislation, media put spotlight on drug regimens On June 30, 2009, a federal advisory panel voted 20 to 17 to recommend a ban on Percocet® and Vicodin®. If accepted and implemented by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the ban will have a profound effect on the way we treat patients with a variety of common orthopaedic conditions.

Comparative effectiveness: What’s it all about?

Charles M. Turkelson, PhD

Comparative effectiveness is not a new idea; it is simply comparing two (or more) treatments to determine which is most effective. In terms of a controlled clinical study, this simply means comparing a treatment of interest to another treatment, instead of to a placebo. Comparative effectiveness can be determined by asking several kinds of questions.

AAOS thanks Kappa Delta for 60 years of support

AAOS President Joseph D. Zuckerman, MD, and Kristy L. Weber, MD, chair of the AAOS Council on Research, Quality Assessment, and Technology (CORQAT), attended the 2009 Kappa Delta sorority convention to express the Academy’s sincere appreciation for the generous, longstanding contributions Kappa Delta (KD) has made to the field of orthopaedic surgery. The first KD award—for $1,000—was presented at the AAOS Annual Meeting in 1950.