Hello and welcome to Livinn the Lehigh Valley, a healtd wellness show for everyone.

I'm your host Brittany Swe.

Coming up on this episode, suffering from Achy and cry knees.

It's a universal problem ae age experts show us ways tt your knees moving and relie that pain.

And what can be more import than heart health?

Some of us are at greater k than others.

What the American Heart Association and the communy are doing to spread the wo.

Plus 18 months into the pandemic, kids are back ine classroom.

So what should parents be g to make sure their kids are safe both in and out of sc?

A pediatrician weighs in ft up, something that affects millions of people knee pa.

Here with us is Grover Sil.

Grover, it's great to see .

Good to be here, Brittany.

So knee pain actually.

Affects more people than oe would actually think.

But there are remedies.

But how big is this proble?

Can you put it in perspecte for according to the NIH, t 25% of all adults suffer fm severe knee pain and especy people over 50.

And that can really impair one's way of life and qualy of life.

It really can it can rob a person of their quality of life, people suffering from severe knee pain often fint difficult to stand from a sitting position or play wh their grandchildren or do s of the things they used toe able to do easily before te knee pain set in.

So how can they stop the ke pain and get their life ba?

Do they need surgery, injections, physical theray for the answers to these questions and more, we spoe with Dr Jonathan Brown, an orthopedic reconstructive surgeon and one of his forr patients, plus a physical therapist, Lehigh Valley Hh Network's Hellertown Oaks campus.

Hey, how are you?

How are you doing?

How's the knee doing?

It's much better now I cank uphill chase my granddaughs orthopedic surgeon, Dr Jonn Brown, examines 71-year-old Betsy Citizens who underwet knee replacement surgery ad returns to Lehigh Valley hh networks Hellertown campusr a checkup and physical the.

Most people who show up ane me, it's because they're noticing changes in their activities of daily living.

They're noticing that theye having difficulties compleg the tasks that they like to complete difficulty doing simple day to day things le hanging out with their kidr grandkids.

Let's take a look at Uniqud roll that up for me real q.

There, Gordon.

Relax, let me hold the weit of it.

I did used to chase my granddaughters, therefore,t it got to the point they s, come on Grandma.

Come on, Grandma.

So I thought I should be ae to chase them better than I did.

Betsy tried myriad ways to alleviate her knee pain be.

We have a pool so I tried e water therapy and that kinf thing.

But even so it got to the t I couldn't go up the steps without hesitating like on every third step it was jut too much pain.

Arthritis is the primary ce of knee pain, particularlyr folks over 50 osteoarthritf the knee.

One of the most common diagnoses that I see in my office is a function of agd a function of biology, thee way that your tires a balln your car, your shoe soles r out well with age and cyclf wear and cycles of repetit, the knee joint itself staro wear out and with that they start to have pain before selecting knee replacement.

A patient might try low imt exercises which strengthene muscles supporting the kne, the strengthening of the ee lower extremity, strengtheg of the core, having good flexible hips, strong hip abductor muscles to have a better walking stance and .

Those are all very, very important things when we ae trying to treat our knee arthritis.

Very good with your knee.

What kind of stuff are you having trouble with?

Physical therapist Jared Cr works with patients referry their physician for physicl therapy before and after ke replacements.

They do X-rays and other testing and deem that patis have some type arthritis or other chronic pain conditi.

They would send them to usd one of the first things the do is comprehensive evalua.

Now we're working this quad muscle on this exercise.

So what I want you to straighten your knee out, d one, two, three, and then k down.

We're going to look at the whole body.

We're going to look at ther core strength more importa, we're going to look at the entire leg.

We figure out what the weas is, what the deficits are, their flexibility issues.

Then we would try to come p with a comprehensive plan t would be the exercise compt of it.

Before seeing Dr Brown, Bey had tried injections undera previous doctor's care.

I tell people that a corticosteroid injection or cortisone shot is like takg out antiinflammatory pill, crunching it up and puttint right inside the knee.

Work begins to work there simple.

They're relatively pain fre and they're well toleratedd they give people a fair amt of relief.

I had already done the regr shots for cortisone and thl shots and they just did itt after trying more conservae interventions, Betsy chosee replacement as a final remy for the pain.

Arthritis is a downwar slog curve and there's no way yo completely arrest that cyc.

But the whole point of the conservative things that wo before surgery is to help e a good quality of life in e short term and also to proe people relief until they fl that they're ready and ablo undergo surgery effectively kick it out straight for m. Perfect Bucks Dr Brown repd Betsey's right knee three months ago.

It was painful first, but s worth it.

The therapy helped a lot aI still do some of the thera.

How's that feel?

A lot of times we see immediately after surgery e starting to lose muscle ma.

We're going to really emphe just quad strength, hamstrg strength a little bit in te hip, the calf, but just trg to make sure that those mus don't shrink and we're ablo maintain the mass as much e can until the pain and the swelling subsides.

First couple of days workin pain and swelling control.

And then from that point o, just trying to get the muse to work and move as much as possible.

Good.

And back down knee replacet does more than replace a person's knee.

It restores their quality f life.

We have many interventionse can make to help you live e quality of life that you wt to.

Now I can chase my grandchildren, at least kep with them, put them on the swings and play video games with according to the medil journal American Family Physician, quote, Knee pais increased by 65% over the t 20 years, unquote.

And has led to 4 million primary care visits annual.

The good news is that there strategies and exercises le those we showed in our stoo help relieve the pain witht having a knee replacement.

But if you do have your knr knees replaced, that can eliminate or relieve the pn substantially.

And this is the important t restore your quality of li, go over quality of life iso important.

You have any idea of how my knee replacements are doneh year as of 2018 there were 600,000 knee surgeries performed, knee replacement surgeries.

That's a lot.

It is, but that's only a number.

What really counts is thatt does restore a person's quy of life like Betsy who we showed in our story.

You couldn't get over how excited she was that she cn now play with her grandchin again like she used to.

I love that.

I'm so glad that she can gn the floor and crawl around right now.

Wonderful.

All right, Grover, thank yo much for sharing that.

You're welcome.

And did you know studies sw that in 2020 the total avee cost for a knee replacemenn the US was between 30 and 0 thousand dollars, accordino Trea Orthopedics.

A study by the Blue Cross e Shield Association in 2015 revealed the costs varied widely depending on the ma, ranging from under $12,000n Alabama to up to nearly $70 in New York City.

Next up, a story about heat health, our genesis.

Ortega spent a day recently with hundreds of people ate Lehigh Valley heart walk.

She joins us now.

It's always good to see yo, Genesis.

Likewise, Brittany.

This is a really busy timef year for the American Heart Association.

They've got a big push goin right now for Hispanic Here Month.

That's right.

Brittany and Hispanic Herie Month, which falls between September 15th and October 15th, was the inspiration behind their stay for fourl campaign, which they're tyg into their efforts to incre community.

It sounds like a really important effort.

What does that stand for?

Well, for this stands for strong, so stay strong for.

That's their campaign.

I love that.

I love it too.

I mean, but the reality iss that cardiovascular issues impact everyone, but it dos disproportionately affect e Latino community.

And so every year the Amern Heart Association organizea walk called Heart Walk hero raise money for heart healh and raise awareness for the issue.

There were hundreds of peoe at Green phase Park Allentn and each one had a story, a different story about what inspired them to participan the walk.

The Great.

My heart might be a littlet different, but it's also so heart, so it's the same as theirs.

That's what eight year old Charley Dressler wants peoe to know.

She's here at the walk witr mom, Kerry.

I am here because of my daughter and my sister.

My daughter has a congenitl heart defect called shewn complex and my sister has , which is a heart conditions well.

And so I walk for them.

Charley.

We had open heart surgery n she was a baby and becausef her heart defect, both her cardiologist and pediatricn encourage physical activity along with healthy eating.

Her favorite exercise scoog on my scooter and even thoh she's not on her scooter, s happy to be at a walk to ce awareness for good heart health.

She's also pretty excited o wear a cape alongside numbs of other children here with heart defects.

There are heart heroes and every hero needs a cape.

Great Abby Sylfest is the executive director of the l chapter of the American Het Association.

Organizers of the walk thee has been a fight in the struggle in those childrens lives and they deserve that cape when they walk arounda track.

It is a way that we can recognize and honor them as they walk past.

The kids seem to have a grt time as well as the adults, Sophie says.

The Walk is the heart association's greatest shof community coming together n in a pandemic since last ys walk was virtual.

This navigating the challee of bringing people together safely.

So we offer three options.

We offer you to join us at Grange Park.

Like many did.

We offered you to stream a playlist from our website d talk at home or in your own neighborhood.

And then we offered what we call a campus walk where we reached out to our compani, Sara Simon said.

If you're not comfortable bringing your employees to Grange Park alongside us, e will bring the aspect of Wk to your own campus.

Sophie says around 600 peoe walked at Green phase Parkd Upper Macungie in the past.

That number is usually ovea thousand.

But she says the overall gl of the walk isn't measuredh numbers.

It's making sure that peope get out and exercise regars of the setting.

Our walk is the one that promotes physical activity.

And we really promote physl activity.

We promote walking.

We promote you getting you0 minutes or more of exercise daily.

And so this is a way that e can bring our community together, that we can be promoting that physical activity and we can also be really spreading awarenessa large group of people.

This year's walk brought together many people with different stories to tell.

Sophie says she finds inspiration that I love heg the stories of moms who tel about their baby who was bn with a heart defect, who nw has had multiple surgeriesd is living a normal, healthy life.

I love hearing the story oa stroke victim who has rehabilitated and is doing phenomenally with their dao day activities now and then there are those satyrs stos where we've lost someone to sudden cardiac arrest, but their families have rallied they come out together.

And what he has Unworked D. I always say if you can lee your an uninspired I don't really know how to help yo.

It truly is that sense, tht sense of community spirit really of also of survivor.

One longtime member of the Heartwell community is Orlo Rivera, who works for LVHN.

It's really cool stuff.

He's been doing the walk f5 years that before I was a e I was a paramedic.

So it's around a lot of emergencies, cardiac arres.

And the story was always te same.

You patients go into cardic arrest.

Many don't survive.

And it came down to peoplet knowing what to do.

So early recognition, early hands only CPR.

It's what saved lives.

So that inspired me to get involved and teach the community so that the nexte somebody responds, it's noo late.

Rivera, who is Latino, says heart education is crucialr the Hispanic community.

Latinos are disproportionay affected by heart disease a lot of it is knowledge, acs to health care.

Even with Covid-19, Latinoe two four five times more ly to die of Covid-19.

And there's many reasons wa lot of us are frontline to quality health care ands also a knowledge gap.

Rivera volunteers for the t Association to promote more education.

Sophie says they're workino reach more of the Hispanic community with a new campan that does just that Quakern for all campaign was launcd to protect and empower our loved ones and encourage vaccination more or less.

The overall theme was to be Covid-19 and to do it durig celebrating Hispanic Herite Month.

Stay for dinner for all.

The campaign is just one wy the Heart Association is working to promote healthy hearts for everyone.

One thing's for sure, litte Charlie Dressler is makingr own impact.

She says she talks with her classmates and anyone who l listen about her story hasa special should take care of theirs.

Last year's heart walk is virtual.

So this was the first timen two years people are gathed together to walk in personr heart health.

They've raised more than $80,000 so far this year.

The money raised in the wak goes directly to heart research.

And Dennis, it's such an important topic.

As you said, it touches soy people I know my family has personally been touched by heart disease, so I thank l of them raising that money.

It's such a good cause.

Yeah, definitely.

I mean, I myself have a het issue.

I have a heart murmur.

So it's something that was super inspirational for me.

I at a few kids too that ry motivated me to just keep going.

I mean, they had open heart surgery at just a few monts old and so the American Het Association gave them keep.

They were little heroes.

So I love that.

I love that they are little heroes for sure.

Thank you so much for sharg that story.

Thanks, Brittany, Radar, G. Ortega and here's a fact at the human heart to the hea.

Does more work than any otr gallons of blood per day ia seven year lifetime.

The average human heart bes more than 2.5 billion time.

I want to welcome now Dr Jn Gothia of Lehigh Valley Heh Network.

He's a cardiologist with te Lehigh Valley Heart and Vascular Institute.

Dr Gothia, thank you so muh for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

So as we just heard, the minority populations, Lati, people of color, they havea greater risk of heart dise.

Why is that?

Why are they at greater ri?

Well, I'd like to thank yor having me here to raise awareness on the increasing prevalence of heart diseasn minority communities, especially Hispanic commun.

And historically, we know t our communities suffer froa reduced access to preventae health care.

The precious foods.

And with years and decadesf not having those what many would consider basic necessities, you can develp uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity and af these, you know, left untrd and can increase your riskf developing heart disease.

And I'd like to thank you r having me here today to spk about how you can reduce yr risk of developing heart disease.

Now you can keep your heart healthy over years and decs to come.

It's an important topic tot the word out about becauset impacts so many people, not just those group.

It can impact anyone.

So what's the key here?

What's the key to keeping r heart healthy and in good shape?

Well, I think there's two things you can do for yourf every day, which is to be s active as you possibly can.

And I can talk more about t and also to try to keep a t that is high and nutritious foods like vegetables, lean proteins and staying away m processed foods that woulde increased amounts of cholesterol, salt and sugan them.

OK, so you mentioned exerc.

What are some good exerciso exercise your heart to keet in good shape?

So the recommendations from American Heart Association would be three to five tima week of moderate level aerc activity.

What does that mean?

Brisk walk and Simple's wa, walk, walk up and down mule flights of steps.

Get your heart rate up, bes active as you can over the course of the day.

Try not to sit as much whie you are working.

A lot of these things just being as active as possibln help your heart stay strong during the pandemic.

So many people are finding different ways, new ways tt some exercise in during the course of their day, especy if they're working from ho.

Is there anything that's to little or too much?

I would say that the more t you spend on your feet evey day, less in front of a computer walking up and don flights of steps, I would e that the more that you wouo that, the better your hears going to do over the yearsd in terms of if you're righw leading a sedentary lifeste that you're not doing those things increasing on any ll is going to be helpful.

You sure.

And what are some of the roadblocks that you hear at what are some of the things that you the excuses for lk of a better term that you r from people?

I can't do that.

I'm too busy.

I don't have that equipmen.

What do you hear from patis and what's the answer?

I'm a father of four and se day is very busy and I tryo be as active as I possibly.

But obviously gets in the y many times.

And so what I would say toa patient that we would talk about that in the office wd be that to live your highet functioning life, to be the best you that you can be yr heart and your health has o come first.

And so I would say to patis that you make time for thoe things that instead of sitg at the end of the day and watching TV, possibly not o take away from this progra, but to be outside with your family, take your kids fora walk and you know, I definy can relate to feeling like there's not enough time ine day, but just small changeI think can go a long way and keep your heart safe for my years.

Sure.

So it doesn't necessarily e to be an hour at the gym.

It can be a walk with your family in the evening.

Yes.

Some great advice.

How to sleep play into allf this.

We always hear sleep is god for our health.

Is it heart healthy as wel?

Definitely.

There are conditions called sleep apnea where your slep can unfortunately affect yr affect your heart for for y years if left untreated, w?

Sleep apnea?

That's a problem with breathing, breathing at nit that your airway becomes cs and sometimes can manifests simply snoring very loudly, being probably tired throut the day.

And when that happens, youe poor breathing in the middf the night that can cause te pressure inside your heartd lungs to increase and left untreated for years.

That can change the strengf your heart muscle.

It can change the size of r heart muscle place.

You're at risk for things e heart failure.

Sure.

Dr Outhere, is there anythg else you want folks to know about reducing their risk r heart disease and keeping r heart healthy?

I think we mentioned diet earlier and when I counsel patients in the office aboa heart healthy diet, I try o think about very simply, wh is that if it comes out ofe center of the grocery stor, meaning it's processed when sits on a shelf, it likelys not good for your heart bee it has increased amounts of cholesterol, salt, sugar af you do the majority of your shopping on the outside ofe grocery store, Lean Meats, vegetables, fruit, those ae heart healthy choices.

And if you get into diets t you read about online that focus on one specific itema lot of those diets have one thing in common which is reducing your intake of processed foods.

And I think if you can make that simple change, don't e a major difference in your heart.

Sure.

I've heard time and time an about shopping the outsidef the store and I think thata good way to picture what yu should be eating.

One more question for you.

What about supplements, het healthy supplements?

Is there anything that youn take over the counter?

Yeah, I'd say that based un recommendations from Amerin college of Cardiology, Amen Heart Association, whetherr not the supplements are heg you or harming you, there'w risk that those supplements would harm you.

But the chance that they'll make an appreciable differe in your ability to avoid a heart attack or stroke over some of the medications we would prescribe for patiens who are at risk.

For those there's not clear evidence that they would h. And so I would recommend iu do have questions about a supplement that you're takg to go to your cardiologisto to your primary care physi, bring those bottles with yo the office and they can dis with the specific risk and benefits of those with they sure.

Some really important information.

Dr Justin Gothia, from Lehh Valley Health Network, thak you so much for joining us.

From keeping our kids safe during the pandemic.

It's at the top of many mis as kids are a few weeks ino the school year.

So what should parents be g to help decrease their chis chance of catching Covid?

I spoke with a pediatriciao find out.

Students are well into the1 2022 school year.

They give this to the outse and it's sometimes it's rey nice out for these student.

It's seven generations.

Charter school Annemasse ad safety measures are becomig some of their favorite parf their day.

We get Inactine outside.

I love how we go on hikes.

It's really fun to just hie around and actually do worn hikes.

I get to see my friends oue and I can see their friend.

I saw in kindergarten at lh Covid-19 vaccinations are n the horizon for kids five through 11.

But while the shots still s approval, kids are back ine classroom with added safety measures to support your at and make my messages on my nose, she always Tidioute y math before we go into sch.

We have something that we l superheros where they have.

That's how they maintain tr distance in the hallway as they're lining up from each other.

First grade teacher Angela Waldrup says kids have adjd to being masked and stayinx feet apart.

But outdoor spaces offer a reprieve from the strict guidelines in place while indoors we're still using l the outdoor classrooms to really, you know, get outse and be able to take our mas off and that open air thate kids need.

And it allows us to keep teaching.

Students also bring yoga ms to sit upon for lunch.

Covid cases have gone downe school, but that's not the situation everywhere.

But we're definitely seeing more children this time ard coming in with symptoms and testing positive for Covid9 the adults variant seems te much more contagious than e original virus that went around.

Most children get mild ills from it.

Dr Melanie Koehler is a pediatrician with St Luke's University Health Network.

She says as cases rise, its important for schools and parents to see vigilant wih masks and other safety measures.

Children could be told to h their hands for at least 20 seconds, which is a very lg time.

One quick way to do that io tell kids to sing Happy Birthday twice while washig their hands.

And if they do that, they really should do a good job with the hand hygiene.

Dr Koehler also suggests tg extra precautions.

If there is someone at homo is very young or older ande susceptible to the coronav, I think it's reasonable ifu have young children who mae didn't just as well at schl because of their age or couldn't wear a mask, proby reasonable in that situatio think about changing cloth, taking a bath or at least making sure the kids are washing hands up to.

We do a lot of hand sanitir when we come into around wn we leave the room before we eat.

If we touch something that someone else touched, we dt do a lot of sharing of sups right now.

As teachers continue to tro stop the spread in schools, Waldrup says they just aske