It Works This Way:

Let’s say your job is intense and over the years you begin to neglect your physical fitness. As you get a little older, in this sedentary state, you begin to gain weight. Gaining weight makes you less willing or able to exercise and you gain even more weight. Soon you start to feel aches in your hip or maybe your knees. This pain, over time, gets worse. Finally you consult an orthopedic surgeon, who recommends a total hip or knee replacement. Because you are a trusting soul, and because the hip pain is getting worse, you schedule hip replacement surgery. At this surgery your doctor implants the latest metal-on-metal (MoM) artificial hip components. A year or two later a new kind of hip pain develops, and this hip pain gets severe quickly. Your surgeon does blood work and tells you that your metal levels have spiked in your body and–of yeah, one other thing–you also have a “recalled” artificial hip implanted and that it needs to come out. So you are now forced to undergo revision surgery, and you eventually find your way to me to file a lawsuit over the injuries you sustained from this defective medical device.

Weight Gain and Obesity Cause Health Problems

It’s no secret that weight gain causes all kinds of health problems. Doctors will tell you that substantial weight gain and obesity causes heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, gout, even sleep problems. Obesity is also the most common cause of joint discomfort. Obesity can lead to osteoarthritis and can pressure otherwise healthy joints; over time this added wear and tear can cause a person’s joint to breakdown, requiring hip replacement surgery, a surgery that may have been unnecessary if the person could have maintained a healthy weight. And that’s my point: if we can keep our weight at healthy levels, we can possibly avoid the unintended consequence of having a defective medical device implanted in our bodies.

No Shame or Blame

We are all vulnerable to weight gain. Years ago I was working too much, stopped exercising, and gained quite a bit of weight without even realizing what was happening. When I returned to exercise I was only able to walk on a treadmill for fifteen minutes. But soon I was running, lost twenty pounds in ninety days, and I have been able to keep the weight off ever since. So I get it: weight gain is one of the more insidious conditions of aging. It’s not easy to keep extra weight off, especially as we age and our metabolisms slow. But I would like to know how many defective product lawsuits would have been avoided if all those joint replacement surgeries made necessary by substantial weight gain could have been avoided.

The Takeaway?

If possible, keep exercising and keep your weight down. It could save you from all kinds of health problems and even from becoming a victim to a negligent company selling defective medical devices. In this age when device manufacturers are being more aggressive in rushing products to market, one sad result is that thousands and thousands of innocent people have been hurt by defective artificial hips, knees, and other medical devices. Don’t give these companies an opening to make you the next victim.

I was reading an article about the latest study touting the benefits of exercise. It was stunning. The study involved analyzing the brains of two groups of mice: one group in a cage with an exercise wheel; the other in a cage without the wheel. Researchers watched the mice for four weeks. Predictably, the mice with the exercise wheel exercised; the mice without the wheel did not. After a month the scientists measured brain activity in both groups.

Turns out, running and other forms of exercise produce a protein in the brain called “brain-derived neurotropic factor” or BDNF (I feel smarter just writing that name). This stuff is very good for your brain. BDNF promotes the growth and vigor of neurons. BDNF has also been shown to strengthen the synapses that connect neurons, which allows the brain to function better. Low levels of BDNF has caused cognitive decline in people and animals. Exercise increases levels of BDNF in the brain.

Exercise Promotes BDNF and Ketones

In the study scientists discovered that in the brains of mice who exercised regularly, a molecule which blocked the growth of BDNF was less effective. As a result, much more BDNF was produced in the mice who exercised. Sadly but predictably, less BDNF was produced in the sedentary mice. Researchers also found that the exercising mice produced ketones which make their way to the brain and fight off the bad molecules and further promote the growth of BDNF. The guy who directed the study, NYU professor Moses Chao, said: “It’s incredible just how pervasive and complex the effects of exercise are on the brain.”

You can check out the new study here. It’s the latest in a long line of studies which prove time and again that exercise is vital to your health. Seriously, people have to exercise. Not exercising causes all kinds of physical and mental problems.

more Exercise Changed My Life

I started running nine years ago. I was several years into my law practice and had two young children. I was out of shape and stressed out. I began running. The first day I could run for only three or four minutes. But I kept at it. In three months I had lost twenty pounds. Six months later I ran a half marathon. I don’t need a study to know how exercise improved my life: my stress level dropped (I run often during trials); I slept better; I ate better; I felt better.

Medical Device Victims Deprived of Exercise

One often unacknowledged injury that is inflicted on victims of medical device failures is that it prevents people from maintaining a regular exercise regimen. Many of my clients who suffered an artificial hip device failure could barely walk, much less run three miles. Or swim, or bike, or play golf. One of my clients was a highly skilled tennis player. Her Depuy ASR artificial hip failed, and then the revision surgery failed. She can no longer play tennis, which deprives her of one of the great joys of her life, but also deprives her of vital exercise. This to me is significant injury.

Not Just Failed Artificial Hips and Knees

All kinds of medical device failures can make regular exercise difficult if not impossible. Women with failed transvaginal mesh often report severe pelvic or groin pain; in those cases exercise may not be possible, and certainly not a priority for the injured woman. Some of the symptoms of a failed IVC filter include chest pain, neck pain, lightheadedness, and shortness of breath. It is hard to run a 5K when you suffer from these physical ailments. In fact, your doctor may even forbid rigorous exercise if you have a broken or migrated IVC filter in your body.

My Simple Advice (That You Didn’t Ask For)

Exercise is essential to a healthy life. Study after study shows it helps the mind and body. I know it’s not easy, but if at all possible you have to find a way to exercise with a failed medical device implanted in your body. Although running may be out of the question, you can try to get in a pool and move around, even if you just tread water or merely move your arms. If walking does not hurt, walk. Ask your doctor or your physical therapist what exercises you can do if you have a failed artificial hip or other failed medical device.

And as for compensatory damages in a product liability case, the inability to exercise regularly should be a part of a settlement discussion. The courts should approach lost exercise the way they acknowledge loss of consortium. I see daily exercise the way financial planners speak of retirement savings: we all know that delaying regular savings can harm your ability to retire. With lost compounded interest and capital gains, every year you do not save will sharply reduce your ultimate retirement funds. Exercise should be viewed the same way: Each year you are prevented from exercising will do damage to your long-term health and well-being. Think of all the BDNF you failed to generate with one, two, or three years of a sedentary lifestyle.

So if at all possible, exercise.