Paragon Orthopedic Center Blog

Despite the drenching rains, the crowds came out to celebrate the Christmas season on Saturday. Paragon Orthopedics arrived early with a spot at the beginning of the parade and you could not miss the ginormous skeleton coming down 6th Street. Confusion gave way to smiles as people realized it was fitting for an orthopedic clinic to have a float with a 12-foot, seasonally dressed bony statue as their centerpiece. Not to be missed was Mr. Bones at the back, kicking his feet up in a recliner next to the fireplace. Well done to Carl and staff who put in many rainy hours creating this festive float!

There are few people who would deny dogs are fun animals, but did you know there are actual health benefits from owning one? The Mayo Clinic has an article that details how they:

• get you moving
• help your weight
• promote socialization
• help manage anxiety and stress
• combat loneliness

If you don’t already own one, make sure you read the exciting details of this article and maybe you might consider adopting a dog. Josephine County Animal Shelter has many adorable pets available today, like Sisco and baby FlipFlop!
Adoptable Pets | animal-shelter (jocoshelter.com)

Read the article here:
Dogs are good for your health – Mayo Clinic Health System

We missed a snapshot of the October birthdays (Sorry Dr. Bents, Amanda, Lisa, Tammy, Nena, and Sherri!), but we caught our November birthday peeps for a pic before anyone touched their triple layer Oreo cake! Happy birthday month to Amie, Grecia, Heidi, and Jessica!

If you read the recent post about oral phenylephrine, then you know how the advisers at the FDA found that it plain doesn’t do anything to relieve cold symptoms. What should you take? Again, the Wall Street Journal dove into this with some helpful advice. A quick summary:

-Congestion- Try pseudoephedrine
-Decongestant spray- Try: 1-nasal phenylephrine, although it provides only short-acting relief and can cause rebound stuffiness, 2-oxymetazoline (Afrin); this can also lead to rebound congestion. 3-nasal steroids, such as Nasonex or Flonase.
-Antihistamines- Zyrtec, Claritin, and Allegra provide 24-hour relief, but are not as fast-acting and only work to block histamine, which is the problem in allergy sufferers.

Also recommended are Neti Pots. The article details how to use these safely and effectively, as well as what is safe to try in children. Read more here:

Some Cold Medicines Don’t Work. Here’s What Doctors Recommend Instead. – WSJ

Phenylephrine is found in over the counter cold medicines to help with nasal congestion. After the FDA advisory committee declared that oral phenylephrine is not effective at relieving nasal congestion as consumers expect, CVS voluntarily removed any products with this ingredient as its only active ingredient. Products that contain phenylephrine plus other ingredients, such as acetaminophen, are still available. The FDA is declaring this only for oral phenylephrine, not nasal. The FDA advisory committee is purely advisory, so a decision has not been made by the full governmental agency. Also to be noted, the presence of phenylephrine in a product does NOT make the other ingredients in the medication ineffective. As of today, CVS is the only store to remove these products. Read more here:

CVS pulls popular cold medicines from store shelves | Fox Business

Have you noticed the number of movies and sit-coms that consistently portray men as oafs or barely useful for anything significant? The Barbie movie hammered home the latter. You might think it odd to post about fathering on the Paragon Orthopedic Center website, but recent research about this subject is worthy of noting. A major study done in Japan of over 28,000 children showed there is a significant impact on a child’s well-being when the father is involved in the rearing of children. A few of the measurable, positive impacts were better gross and fine motor skills, problem solving, and social skills than those whose fathers were not involved. “The risk of a developmental delay in children with highly involved fathers was 24% lower,” according to the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Tsuguhiko Kato. Paragon Orthopedic Center has a group of physicians who are highly involved in the rearing of their children, and you are likely to see them in public attending or even leading various kid-centered activities. We encourage all of the fathers of Southern Oregon to become more hands-on to give your children the best chances for success in life. Here is a summary in the Wall Street Journal:

The Long-Term Benefits of Hands-On Fathering (msn.com)

Just 20 years ago, you had to wait on your physician’s call to hear the results of medical tests, but since the beginning of this century, healthcare facilities have rolled out private patient portals that allow you to view your results as soon as they are entered into the system. That’s the good news. The downside is that patients sometimes view results before the physician can, and patients sometimes become distressed by what they think they are reading. Paragon Orthopedic Center has experienced this with MRI’s and CT scans. It’s rare, but sometimes our physicians find something that was never expected in these tests, and for a patient to discover this information alone, it can cause great anxiety. It is good to remember that reading the results with your physician can help you interpret the results in context. Physicians they can see trends and use their knowledge to help you pay attention to the important results, not focusing on something that might appear significant, but truly is not.

The Wall Street Journal covered this recently and is a good examination of the issue, as well as what you can do. Read more here:

You’re Seeing Medical Test Results Before Your Doctor Does. Why? (msn.com)

Happy birthday to Jacob and Gavin! We celebrated with a seasonal caramel apple cake at Paragon Orthopedic Center today. Please give them your happiest birthday regards if you see them in the clinic. The staff at Paragon wishes the best for these two outstanding human beings all month long! Woo hoo!

Paragon Orthopedic Center is losing one of the OG’s of the clinic. After almost 25 years working in the medical field, Tammy has decided to enjoy life outside of work full-time. We sincerely wish her all the best in her endeavors. She will be very, very missed around here. Good luck Tammy!

Happy birthday to Amanda and JB! Here’s to hoping your day is as awesome as you both are! Paragon Orthopedic Center appreciates you both!