This is where I organize the concepts I read about into notes. There’s a toggle switch at the top of each page: the lay version explains things in plain language, while the pro version expands on English terminology, textbook citations, dosages, and details. Most of these notes branch out from blog posts, and you can click back and forth between them.
Notes
Rotator cuff tears and calcific tendinitis: if you cannot lift your arm, do you really need surgery?
Rotator cuff tears are common, and many people over 70 have a torn rotator cuff with no pain at all, so a tear on imaging does not automatically mean surgery. This post covers how to tell whether the tear is really what hurts, when to get an early orthopedic evaluation, and when calcific tendinitis of the shoulder calls for an injection, lavage, or shockwave therapy.
How much exercise do kids need? At what age can they lift weights?
How long should kids exercise a day, when can they touch a barbell, and will training too much cause injuries? This post distills exercise recommendations for children and teens, safety conditions for weight training, and red lines for training volume like "weekly hours shouldn't exceed their age" into a practical version for parents and coaches. It also explains why kids are especially prone to injuries during growth spurts.
De Quervain's: Holding Your Baby and Scrolling Your Phone Hurt the Same Tendon
De Quervain's (stenosing tenosynovitis) happens when the tunnel for the two tendons at the base of your thumb narrows. Holding a baby and scrolling your phone for hours can both trigger it. This post explains how to tell if you have it, why "it'll go away when you stop breastfeeding" isn't entirely true, and why the first-line treatment is a steroid injection plus a thumb splint, rather than just wearing a brace and resting.
Plantar Fasciitis: The First Step in the Morning Hurts Most, But Insoles Shouldn't Be Used Alone
The most classic presentation of plantar fasciitis (heel pain) is the severe pain with the first step out of bed in the morning. This post explains why bone spurs have little to do with pain, why the 2023 guidelines changed "using insoles alone" to not recommended, who should use a night splint, and where shockwave and injections fit in.
Osteoporosis: No Symptoms, but Stopping the Wrong Meds Causes Fractures
Osteoporosis has almost no symptoms before a fracture, so "I feel fine" doesn't mean your bones are fine. Here's a summary of the latest 2025 Taiwan guidelines: three warning signs you can measure at home, who should get a bone density scan, why you need both calcium and vitamin D, and the most overlooked issue—stopping osteoporosis injections without a relay plan causes rebound fractures.
Your knee is "degenerating", now what? What actually works in osteoarthritis
Knee osteoarthritis is not a one-way road where the cartilage wears out and all you can do is wait for a replacement. This post explains that only three treatments are endorsed at the highest level by every major guideline — exercise, weight loss and understanding your own disease — and reviews what the societies now actually say about glucosamine, hyaluronic acid, PRP and insoles, plus why the grade of degeneration on an x-ray should not decide whether you have surgery.
Trigger finger: when your finger gets stuck and needs prying open, should you get an injection or surgery?
Waking up with a locked finger stuck in a bent position that you have to pry open with your other hand—that's trigger finger, or stenosing tenosynovitis. The problem isn't the knuckle where you feel the pain, but the A1 pulley at the base of your palm. This post explains what the four grades mean, when an injection is enough, and why injections are more likely to fail for people with poorly controlled diabetes.
Frailty isn't just ageing: start with "lately I get tired so easily"
If an older relative is walking slower and keeps saying they are tired, a lot of people write it off as just getting older. But physical frailty is a measurable state with clear criteria, and in its early stages it can be stopped. This post covers the five criteria for frailty, why feeling tired is the earliest and most important signal, and why exercise and deprescribing work far better than supplements.
Collapsing After the Finish Line: Most Post-Exercise Fainting is Harmless
The most crucial question when someone faints after exercise (finish-line collapse) isn't whether they're dehydrated, but when they collapsed. Collapsing during the race should be treated as cardiac arrest; collapsing after crossing the finish line is overwhelmingly benign postural hypotension, which resolves after lying down with legs elevated for 20 to 30 minutes. This post explains why the two are so different, which three conditions must be ruled out on-site, and why routine IV fluids are actually unnecessary.
Heat stroke isn't just being overheated: cool first, transport second
When a kid collapses on the field in summer, most people's instinct is to rush them to the hospital. But the key to surviving exertional heat stroke is bringing their temperature down right there on the sidelines—every minute delayed adds to organ damage. This post explains how to tell heat stroke from just being uncomfortably hot, why tympanic and forehead thermometers are completely useless, and why Taiwan's heat warning lights can't be used to manage training volume.
That Painful Bump Below the Knee: Osgood-Schlatter Is Not Growing Pains
When a teen's knee has a painful bump below it, it's often endured as growing pains. This post explains how Osgood-Schlatter is diagnosed, whether they need to stop sports, the quantitative red lines for training volume, and how a Danish national tracking found 70% still have residual discomfort in adulthood—it doesn't "heal on its own" as much as people assume.
Sarcopenia: AWGS 2025 Made the Diagnosis Simpler
AWGS 2025 simplified the diagnosis of sarcopenia to just low muscle mass and low muscle strength. Physical performance is now an outcome measure for tracking, and the "severe sarcopenia" grading was cancelled. This post summarizes the differences between the old and new cutoffs, why you should start testing at age fifty, and why exercise plus protein is currently the only effective prescription.
Milwaukee Shoulder: The Shoulder With Recurrent Massive Effusions
Milwaukee shoulder syndrome — when older folks repeatedly have 30 to 40 milliliters of fluid aspirated from their shoulder, it's mostly not just simple osteoarthritis. It's often a destructive arthropathy caused by rotator cuff tears and crystal deposition. This post covers the keys to diagnosis, how to send the synovial fluid for testing, and whether seniors with poor kidney function can get steroid injections.
The Five Stages of Behavior Change: Why "Telling People to Exercise" Rarely Works
The Transtheoretical Model divides behavior change into five stages, and the patient education required at each stage is entirely different. Throwing exercise routines at someone who hasn't even thought about changing is bound to fail. This post covers the five stages, the intervention strategies for each, and the three underlying mechanisms.
Motivational Interviewing: How to Talk to People Who Don't Want to Change
The core of motivational interviewing isn't persuasion, but drawing out the person's own reasons for wanting to change. This post uses six steps of an interview to string together the right attitude, four tasks, listening skills, and signals of change, plus a verbatim transcript of a demonstration.
Late-Life Depression: The Disease Easily Mistaken for "Normal Aging"
Late-life depression often presents as physical discomfort, lack of energy, and memory decline, making it easy to miss as normal aging or dementia. This post summarizes its atypical presentation, differentiation from dementia, specific screening tools, and the evidence for exercise as a treatment—which works just as well as medication.
Impaired Insight in Dementia: When the Patient Says "I'm Fine"
Older adults with dementia often say "I'm fine, no problem," while their families are already exhausted from caring for them. This is often not stubbornness, but a neurological impairment of insight called anosognosia. This post summarizes its difference from psychological denial, its mechanisms, evaluation, and why we must always ask an extra family member during history taking.
Gerotranscendence: The Body Declines, But the Mind Can Grow Richer
Gerotranscendence is a gerontological theory proposing that healthy aging isn't just about maintaining physical function, but also involves a mindset shift: decreased fear of death and a greater focus on a few meaningful relationships. This post summarizes its three dimensions, the strength of the evidence, and its clinical boundaries.