Emerging Concepts For Reducing Post-Op Pain

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
5/14/13 | 1124 reads | 0 comments
I don’t know about you but I hate pain. I hate it for my patients and I hate it when it affects me. Truthfully, I hate it more when my patients have pain as it causes me pain internally as well. We both end up in a painful state. Patients do not realize how much we really suffer as surgeons when our patients are having a complication or more pain than is expected. At least when I have pain, I know for the most part that I can modulate it in some way or understand it to a greater extent than my patient can. Read More.

Why It’s A Crime That Not All Residents Have Found A Matching Program

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
4/10/13 | 1017 reads | 0 comments
There is not enough crime scene yellow tape at the national CSI headquarters to outline the prostrate victims of this incredible, all time crime of our profession. The blogs are a fury, screaming with brash and ridiculous statements like: “… The primary culprits are the administrators at each of the podiatry schools. They knew, or should have known, that they enrolled more students than the number of residency programs available. They operate in their ivory towers, receiving huge salaries, with little regard of the postgraduate reality.” Read More.

Does Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy Really Have A Stocking Distribution?

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
3/14/13 | 1663 reads | 1 comments
Tossing and turning, trying to decide if I was dreaming or truly awake in a seemingly restless, endless fog, I knew, or at least I thought, that I was watching a trial of some sort on the TV. It was not ESPN, but DSPN, the new network that had just hit the airwaves. Read More.

What A Rorschach Test Reveals About Patient Pathology, Brand Reliance And Plantar Plate Injuries

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
2/18/13 | 1265 reads | 0 comments
Sitting in the Rorschach Café, tucked deep in the dark narrow streets of the Music Capital of the World (you should be thinking Vienna and not Nashville), Dr. Hermann asked me what I wanted for the entrée. Looking down at the stained and torn café menu, one offering jumped out at me like a mugger in a dark alleyway. It was written in German, of course, but without really needing confirmation of my translation, I asked my schizophrenic colleague anyway for the literal English translation for “Fuß Platte.” Read More.

Getting Answers On The Peripheral Nervous System At The Upcoming AENS Meeting

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
1/9/13 | 1522 reads | 0 comments
Resolutions are bandying about in our heads, the idiot box, the radio and virtually every other medium known to man now that we have slipped so quickly over the cliff into 2013. In speaking with some of my colleagues while facing the mysterious and unknown precipice of the new year, we discussed upcoming resolutions that we had professionally. Sure, we all wanted to lose some of those pounds packed on at the numerous Christmas parties but I wanted to know what they had in mind from a practice standpoint. Read More.

When It Comes To Incisions, Less Is More

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
12/13/12 | 1681 reads | 1 comments
"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore, they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases.” However, the four that I know are different from those in Grantland Rice’s 1924 New York Herald Tribune article. Those horsemen haunting me are Bias, Ms. Perception, Dogma and Evidenced Based (EB). These four evildoers of lore are opposite in spirit of the original four horsemen but just as passionate — and they are not aliases. Read More.

Praising The Importance Of ‘Heretics’ In Challenging Podiatric Dogma

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
11/13/12 | 1871 reads | 0 comments
I love heretics. Give them to me small or large, morphous or amorphous, solo or in packs. I just love them, even when I disagree with them vehemently. Read More.

Why Podiatrists Should Be Attending PAINweek

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
10/11/12 | 2058 reads | 0 comments
A few weeks ago, I went to a huge frat party, the Kappa Mu Delta* to be exact, and it was in Las Vegas. Now I know what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas but I’m going to kiss and tell, so to speak. Read More.

Pain Management: Is It Time To Start Looking At The Patient's Genes?

Stephen Barrett DPM FACFAS
9/12/12 | 2484 reads | 0 comments
Genomics. Now that is a word that has some real catchiness to it, a virtual aphrodisiac for even the most adroit etymologist. I just like to say "genomics.” It conjures up the great line ("Plastics?") Dustin Hoffman repeated in The Graduate. “Mrs. Robinson (another reference from The Graduate), we’re into ‘genomics’ now and we need to take a look at your genomes so I can provide you with the best perioperative care for your upcoming reconstructive foot surgery.” “Really?” she replies. “Is there a test for that and will it hurt?” Read More.