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Weak muscles may be the cause of the painful and debilitating condition known as “runner’s knee,” new research suggests.

People who develop the condition tend to have “weaker quads and hamstrings,” study co-author Darin Padua, said in a news release. “As a result, they don’t bend their knees as much when doing tasks, such as running or jumping. That means the contact area between the kneecap and the femur is smaller, so pressure is focused and pinpointed on a smaller area.”

That, in turn, leads to runner’s knee, also known as patellofemoral pain syndrome, said Padua, an associate professor of exercise and sport science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Runner’s knee, which affects an estimated one in four people who are physically active, can lead to osteoarthritis.

The research appears to be the first of its kind to study athletes both before and after they develop runner’s knee, Padua said.

The researchers studied nearly 1,600 midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy. Of those, 40 people — 24 women and 16 men — developed runner’s knee over several years.

The study authors noted that those with weaker hamstring and quadriceps muscles, a larger “navicular drop” (flattening of arches in the foot) and less flexible knees were several times more likely to develop the condition.

People who wake up during the night to urinate shouldn’t automatically blame a urological problem. Sleep apnea, a breathing-related sleep disorder, could be the cause.

A new study suggests that nighttime urination, or nocturia, is comparable to loud snoring as a marker for obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder in which soft tissue in the throat blocks the flow of air into the lungs, disrupting sleep.

Previous studies established a link between nocturia and sleep apnea, a potentially serious condition that affects about 25 percent of U.S. men and 10 percent of U.S. women, the researchers said. But they believe this is among the first to show that screening for nocturia could help doctors identify patients with apnea.

The study also suggests that a common treatment for sleep apnea — positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy — can reduce symptoms of nocturia, thereby improving sleep and preventing debilitating falls among elderly people who get out of bed at night to use the bathroom.

PAP involves wearing a pressurized air mask while sleeping.

Typically, doctors screen for apnea by assessing patients’ weight (the condition is associated with overweight/obesity) and asking if they snore heavily, notice breathing problems at night or feel tired during the day (because of interrupted sleep). But because many patients, especially those who sleep alone, are unaware that they snore, apnea often goes undiagnosed.

“When you ask people about symptoms like snoring and gasping, they tend to say, ‘No, I don’t have them’,” said study author Edward Romero, research coordinator at the Sleep & Human Health Institute in Albuquerque, N.M. “But it’s very easy for them to realize that they wake up at night to go to the bathroom.”

One of Romero’s co-authors, institute director Dr. Barry Krakow, said doctors and patients are quick to blame nocturia on diabetes, prostate enlargement and other medical conditions with which it is associated. “I see patients all the time who think they’re waking up to urinate because they have prostate trouble or a small bladder,” Krakow said. “About 80 percent of the time we discover that apnea is the cause of their problem.”

Besides nocturia and snoring, symptoms of sleep apnea include daytime drowsiness, memory problems and depression. Untreated sleep apnea can lead to high blood pressure, blood clots and heart disease.

For the study, published online recently in Sleep and Breathing, the researchers reviewed data on 1,007 adults treated at two sleep clinics in New Mexico between 2005 and 2007. Of the participants, 797 were diagnosed with sleep apnea, 777 reported snoring and 839 reported nocturia. Neither snoring nor nocturia was proof of apnea, but the two symptoms were similar in their power to predict it: snoring was reported by 82.6 percent of apnea sufferers, and 84.8 percent of apnea sufferers reported nocturia.

The authors propose further research be conducted to confirm the effectiveness of nocturia as an apnea screening tool.

Mary Umlauf, a professor at the University of Alabama Capstone College of Nursing in Tuscaloosa and a noted nocturia researcher, said the study could play an important role in dispelling “old wives’ tales” about nocturia.

“Many health-care providers and ordinary people think of nocturia as a urological or gynecological problem,” she said. “They don’t understand that sleep apnea can cause the body to produce too much urine at night.

“People who wake up to urinate shouldn’t assume that it’s my prostate, or ‘I’m just old’,” she said.

When babies are teething, they’re generally miserable from the pain, swelling and tenderness in their gums.

Here are suggestions from the Nemours Foundation to help comfort little ones who are teething:
Use a warm, wet cloth to wipe down baby’s face and remove any drool. This may help prevent a rash.
Offer baby something soothing, such as a teething ring or a wet washcloth that’s been chilled in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Be sure to wash the cloth after each use.
Treat baby to a gentle gum massage, making sure to use a clean finger.
Ask your doctor if it’s safe to give baby acetaminophen. Make sure your doctor approves a specific dose and frequency.

Never tie a teething ring to baby, especially around the neck, as it could cause strangulation.