Артрит – Arthritis

Metatarsalgia involves a breakdown in the horizontal arch of the foot. This arch is formed by the heads of the metatarsals, the long bones of the foot.

When this arch is weak, the ball of the foot flattens when weight is put on it. Pressure of the heads of the metatarsals pushing into the pad on the ball of the foot causes a painful callus.

This is a mechanical problem and requires a mechanical solution. A pad of sponge rubber or plastic foam inside the shoe may cushion the effect as the foot presses down. A metatarsal bar on the sole of the shoe will give relief. This shifts the weight behind the metatarsal heads and eases the pressure.

A Plantar wart may be mistaken for a callus. They occur on the soles of the feet, are often called papillomas and are like warts elsewhere on the body being caused by a virus.

Because of pressure when walking and standing, the wart tends to grow inwards. It is painful because the warty tissue presses on the sensitive nerve endings in the skin.

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Most women with symptoms of bladder irritation will lose these symptoms within a few days, whether treated or not. Those that have been given treatment for their nerves will get better and both they and the doctor may believe the problem is therefore of nervous origin.

In those cases where the urine shows no bacteria, the true cause of the symptoms lies in the urethra or at the base of the bladder where the ureters enter. This is called the trigone.

Often, the first attack of urinary infection may be that embarrassing condition known as «honeymoon cystitis».

This is due to irritation and pressure on the urethra from regular and frequent intercourse in a woman unused to it.

Many a honeymoon has been spoilt for the bride and groom by such an experience, and many women have lost interest in sex because of the discomfort and embarrassment. A few doses of Citralka from the chemist will usually relieve the symptoms. Most doctors will prescribe antibiotics.

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The main technique used in this endeavour is the randomised clinical trial. Here doctors select a fairly uniform group of people—all within a certain age range, with similar types and extent of cancer and about the same degree of physical fitness. To further reduce any possible bias, the people in this already fairly uniform group are allotted randomly (by chance) to one or other of the treatments to be compared. This could be done, say, with the flip of a coin: heads = treatment X, tails = treatment Y. Scientifically-trained doctors believe that such random allocation of people to treatment is the best way of making sure that any differences in results are due to the different treatments and not to any other factor. As I have explained, such techniques are only necessary if we are looking for small differences. For example, trials often include hundreds of people in an attempt to make sure that they do not miss differences of five per cent (one in twenty) in remission rates or of a few weeks or months in average length of life—’statistically significant’ differences. Attention is completely concentrated on ways of expressing results that can be accurately measured and subjected to statistical analysis— things like remission rate and length of life.

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