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8 SURPRISING BACK PAIN TRIGGERS, By Linda Melone, April 2015

You expect your back to ache after a day of snow shoveling or helping a friend move. But sometimes back pain causes aren’t so obvious. In fact, everyday habits and even your psychological state can affect your back. Check out these lesser-known habits that boost back pain risk.

1. You are a couch potato.

Binge watching your favorite shows can stir up back pain. “Leaving your muscles untested and unstrengthened does no favors for your lower back,” says Kaixuan Liu, MD, PhD, found and president of Atlantic Spine Center in West Orange, NJ. “Plus, if your lower back is already acting up, staying sedentary may prolong or worsen pain.” Get up every half hour or so if you’re binge-watching a show on Netflix and incorporate exercises like the plank (hold 30 seconds or more for 2 to 3 sets) to strengthen your back and core. (more…)

Weight Lifting the Back-Friendly Way

(HealthNewsDigest.com) – West Orange, NJ, April 2015 – Back pain among bodybuilders is so common that there’s a term for it: “weight lifter’s back.” The back strain resulting from poor lifting technique, too-heavy weights or other factors combine to make this condition highly prevalent – but not inevitable – among bodybuilding enthusiasts, according to orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. Praveen Kadimcherla with Atlantic Spine Center. (more…)

Are your kids inheriting your fears? What parents can do to stop the cycle

By Debbie Carlson, Tribune Newspapers, April 7, 2015

You want your child to inherit your good looks, goes without saying. But your fears? Not so much.

Indeed, many parents may not even realize that they are unwittingly passing down their fears and anxieties — whether it’s a fear of something tangible (airplane travel, dogs, heights) or anxiety over something less concrete (money, social skills, etc.). (more…)

Pain Issues: Dr. Kaixuan Liu on Demystifying Facet Joint Syndrome

(HealthNewsDigest.com) – West Orange, NJ, April 2015 – When you’re suffering from back pain, the causes might not seem as important as just finding some relief. Identifying the causes of lingering back or neck pain is important to determining a solution. In many cases, the cause of chronic back pain is due to facet joint syndrome, which is even more common than other diagnosable causes of back pain and offers many possible treatments, according to Kaixuan Liu, MD, PhD, founder and president of Atlantic Spine Center. (more…)

Best Friends: How close friendships help with coping

By Stephanie Watson, April 2, 2015

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out,” commentator Walter Winchell once said. His words ring true for Johnni Congleton. Five years ago when she was diagnosed with lupus, it seemed like most of the world walked out. (more…)

  March 31, 2015

Top Tips for Preventing and Treating Melasma

Spots on the face are most likely to be caused by a skin condition known as melasma. Melasma is a common, patchy brown, tan or blue-gray skin discoloration due to overprod­uction of pigment on the skin.

Melasma typically results from sun exposure and hormonal changes in women due to progesterone and estrogen, and about 9 of 10 people with melasma are women ages 20 to 50, according to dermatology specialist Romeo Morales, MD, Romeo E. Morales, FAAD, board-certified in dermatology and specializes in clinical dermatology, skin cancer and skin immunology, with Advanced Dermatology PC. (more…)

Healthwise: What is disc tear and how is it treated? By Dr. Kaixuan Liu,  March 30, 2015

What’s a torn disc? Using a comparison to a jelly donut, a torn disc occurs when the tough outer shell of a vertebral disc (the annulus fibrosis) cracks or tears, letting the jelly-like inner core (the nucleus pulposus) seep out and press on surrounding spinal nerves. This tear can occur in the neck or lower back, but many tears are unavoidable.

Most torn discs simply result from the degeneration of our spinal columns as we get older. Typically, by the age of 30, our discs have already begun to weaken and lose their flexibility, making them more prone to cracking and splitting. (more…)

 By Michele Laufik, MARCH 28, 2015

Let’s Talk About Premature Ejaculation, Shall We?

Missy Elliott said it best: “I don’t want no minute man.” Fortunately, if your guy is trigger happy, there are ways to improve his performance and make your sex life more enjoyable because (let’s not be afraid to say it) we need more time! Here, doctors and experts offer their advice:

First of all, what is “premature”?
“For one person it’s two minutes, for another person, 20. It depends entirely on the person or couple and what satisfies them. We usually say ‘ejaculating before you want to,’” explained Carol Queen, staff sexologist at Good Vibrations. Daniel Watter, Ed.D., of the Morris Psychological Group echoed that subjective assessment, saying there’s no “normal” time limit, but if you were to quantify it, he considers less than two minutes to be premature (um, yeah, we’ll say!). “Probably the most important criteria [is] it needs to present itself as a problem. Because if it doesn’t bother the patient and/or his partner, then it isn’t a problem,” added urologist Eric Rottenberg, M.D. (more…)

Dr. Kaixuan Liu on treating disc tears as featured in HealthNewsDigest. 

(HealthNewsDigest.com) – West Orange, NJ, March 2015 – Tearing is usually not a good thing – and even more so when it’s a disc in your spine. Kaixuan Liu, MD, PhD, founder and president of Atlantic Spine Center, often sees patients with torn discs, also known as herniated or ruptured discs, and helps determine the best approach to treating the common spine condition. (more…)

Clinical psychologist and president of the NJ Psychological Association Dr. Kenneth Freundlich was featured in an article in The Star-Ledger’s magazine called Inside Jersey.

Kenneth Freundlich: Leading advocacy on mental health policies

Kenneth Freundlich, a managing partner at the Morris Psychological Group in Parsippany, is also president of the New Jersey Psychological Association.

Michael J. Fensom | The Star-Ledger By Michael J. Fensom | The Star-Ledger, March 19, 2015

Raised in West Orange, Kenneth Freundlich is a managing partner at the Morris Psychological Group in Parsippany. This year, he took over as president of the New Jersey Psychological Association, an organization of nearly 2,000 members that advocates for psychologists and mental health policies in the state. (more…)

Chris Borland’s retirement takes some concussion experts by surprise

By Daniel Brown, Cam Inman and Jerry McDonald, 03/17/2015

Chris Borland’s retirement at age 24 caught even some leading concussion experts by surprise.

While they understood why the promising 49ers linebacker would be troubled by an increasing list of post NFL-career horror stories, some doctors cautioned that the high-profile cases overshadow recent breakthroughs in the treatment of sports-related brain injuries.

“The concern over chronic brain injuries in sports is an important concern and I’m glad it’s finally being recognized,” said Barry Jordan, the assistant medical director of the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, New York. “But I just hope that the pendulum doesn’t swing too far in the other direction.” (more…)

“Companies – more specifically, founders – become so enamored of an innovative concept that they fail to answer the key question: Will physicians use the device,” explains Dr. Kathryn Stecco, physician, medical device entrepreneur and co-founder of Panthera MedTech.

Want to Succeed in Medical Technology? Don’t Innovate in a Vacuum

By Kathryn Stecco, M.D., Panthera MedTech, March 18, 2015

The medical device landscape is littered with failed products produced by companies whose management forgot – or ignored or didn’t know – the cardinal rule of assessing potential value: Validate the market based on physician input before proceeding to design and develop a product. (more…)

Dr. Kathryn Stecco was featured in an article in Physician’s Money Digest titled “Entrepreneurial Surgeon Channels Athletics Into Innovations.”

Entrepreneurial Surgeon Channels Athletics Into Innovations

Mar 12, 2015    |    Ed Rabinowitz

To say that athletics is an integral part of Kathryn Stecco’s life would be a gross understatement.   Stecco, a surgeon, and co-founder and medical director of Panthera MedTech, a company specializing in the development of new technologies in mobile health, says that athletics has played a huge role in shaping her career.

“[Athletics] permeates every aspect of my career,” she explains. “I’ve been an athlete my entire life. And the type of mental training you learn from athletics is directly related to the techniques that I use in my career—both in medicine and the business of medicine.” (more…)

HEART DISEASE PREVENTION

By Cindy Kuzma, MARCH 05, 2015

The following excerpt features Dr. Joshua Fox’s commentary on charging solar cells for lowering blood pressure. Click the link below for the full article.

Charge Solar Cells

Scientists in Scotland found that 20 minutes of UV exposure can increase your body’s production of nitric oxide, which lowers blood pressure. You can soak up some sun for 10 minutes twice a week, but check with your dermatologist first if you’re fair-skinned or have had skin cancer, says Joshua Fox, M.D., of Advanced Dermatology P.C. 

http://www.menshealth.com/health/heart-saving-tips

Don’t be confused about the benefits of physical therapy. Read more as published in HealthNewsDigest with commentary by PT Sridhar Yalamanchi with Atlantic Spine Center.

Separating Fact from Fiction about Physical Therapy

(HealthNewsDigest.com) – West Orange, NJ, March 2015 – Getting to the truth of the matter is never more important than when our health and well-being are at stake. So when it comes to physical therapy – which helps people improve their ability to move about pain-free – it’s vital to separate fact from fiction in order to make the most of this crucial resource, according to Sridhar Yalamanchili, PT, MSPT, and Director of Rehabilitation at Atlantic Spine Center. (more…)

Frank Becking,Co-Founder, IP Counsel, Chief Technology Officer, Panthera MedTech, was published in MDT Magazine on Maximizing Intellectual Property in MedTech.

5 Tips to Maximize Intellectual Property Portfolio Value

By Frank Becking, Co-Founder, IP Counsel, Chief Technology Officer, Panthera MedTech, 3/4/15

A strong Intellectual Property (IP) position can be one of a start-up company’s most valuable assets. A weak (or poorly defined) IP position can also be one its greatest liabilities. All this is particularly true for developers in the medical device space, where jockeying for IP position often occurs. An effective IP portfolio must be managed actively with value-driven goals in mind throughout the development cycle – from idea conception to company acquisition and beyond. (more…)

Dr. Kathryn Stecco was published in MedCityNews on the topic of tips for women to succeed in the medical device industry.

March 1, 2015 by Kathryn Stecco, M.D.

It’s hardly surprising that men dominate medical technology. After all, women have barely made a dent in most technology companies, where their presence in public relations, administration and human resources isn’t duplicated in the engineering jobs that typically pave the way to the executive suite. (more…)

Dermatology specialists Drs. Fox and Cool provided opinion about treating warts as published in HealthNewsDigest. 

(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Albertson, NY, February 2015 – Warts are an equal-opportunity problem: Anyone can get them. But getting rid of this common, embarrassing skin condition – affecting up to 12% of people worldwide – is usually straight forward, with many wart removal options available today, according to Joshua Fox, MD, medical director of Advanced Dermatology P.C. (more…)

Dr. Daniel Watter provided commentary for this article in WebMD on sex and intimacy after treatment of prostate cancer. 

Advanced Prostate Cancer and Your Relationship

WebMD Feature, February 2015

By Camille Noe Pagán, Reviewed By Jennifer Robinson, MD

An advanced prostate cancer diagnosis can change a lot of things, including your relationship with your partner. But the two of you can respond in ways that could strengthen your connection. (more…)

As seen in The Citizen, Rockaway resident Dr. Francine Rosenberg named partner at Morris Psychological Group. 

 2/19/2015

Rockaway resident named partner of Morris Psychological Group

ROCKAWAY — Dr. Francine Rosenberg has been named a partner with Morris Psychological Group (MPG).

Dr. Rosenberg has been with MPG for 10 years. She is a clinical psychologist and anxiety specialist. According to Dr. Kenneth Freundlich, managing partner with MPG, “Dr. Rosenberg possesses a depth of experience and clinical expertise. (more…)

Spine expert Dr. Kaixuan Liu provides advice for people with lower back pain as reported in HealthNewsDigest. 

If you’re like 80% of American adults, you’ll suffer from lower back pain at some point in your lifetime. Depressing thought? Only if you consider yourself helpless to prevent the problem – which isn’t necessarily true. According to Kaixuan Liu, MD, PhD, founder and president of Atlantic Spine Center, the most common causes of lower back pain include both avoidable lifestyle choices and some other factors that aren’t as easy to dodge. (more…)

Dr. Barry Jordan, Director of the Brain Injury Program & the Memory Evaluation Treatment Service (METS) at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital provided commentary for this article about concussions and football. 

Football’s concussion issue won’t just go away

By Gene Collier / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 15, 2015

Unavoidably stunned and saddened was the football world when Dave Duerson killed himself. The former Chicago Bears great was 50 years old.

Shocked and again saddened was football when Junior Seau killed himself. The former San Diego Chargers star was 43.

So what kind of grotesquely sad reaction does football have left for Joe Chernach, whose suicide in June 2012 went widely unnoticed until his family filed a lawsuit this month? The former Pop Warner fullback and linebacker was 25. (more…)

Dr. Joshua Fox was published in the Expert Beacon on the topic of winter skin cancer concerns.

You can get skin cancer in the winter too: Protect your skin

By Dr. Joshua Fox, Medical Director Advanced Dermatology PC, February 2015

Winter is a wonderful time for outdoor adventurers. Many hit the slopes, others continue their outdoor exercise regimens and some simply enjoy a regular walk in the winter sunshine. However, you must be careful because you can get skin cancer in the winter too. It is imperative to protect your skin from the sun, and especially for men, to protect your ears and lips. (more…)