Letters: Thanks for stopping

Samantha Peale [My Turn, July 19] unselfishly stopped to help a fellow marathon competitor in need. Only a few athletes win sports events, but every person can help someone.

Our complicated and demanding world desperately needs “helpers.” Thank you, Samantha for being one!

John Holmstrom

Hollywood

Help for knees

You missed some important issues in the preservation of active knees [“No Easy Fix for Deteriorating Knees,” July 19].

Humanity did not evolve on flat floors. Four and half million years of walking on the uneven and varied densities of the Earth’s surface, where the foot had to conform to different mechanical requirements, meant the knee was stressed in varied fashions. Then suddenly (in an evolutionary time frame) we pave the world and the feet always do the same thing and the knees are stressed in a similar fashion for each and every step we take.

The old paradigm of knee function is to place the knee cap in the groove and the alignment of the knee in the context of muscle balance of those muscles that cross the knee. A new paradigm supported by research at Stanford, USC and elsewhere is that the alignment of the knee is controlled by hip muscles. That weakness of lateral rotators and tightness of internal rotators cause alignment issues of the knee and wear the cartilage faster.

You did a fairly good job at reporting the broad overview of knee arthritis. But you missed the idea that there is an important role for orthotics in the prevention of arthritis of the knee. This is entirely understandable when your resource is a physician who understands the world according to pathology rather than mechanical function. Next time, get some comments from a good physical therapist.

Jonathan Holtz, Capitola Physical Therapy Inc.

Capitola

::

Just to let you know that glusosamine and chondroitin do work very well on many people. I have been taking them for almost 20 years. If it wasn’t for that, I would be crippled, with problems in every joint in my body. However, I am completely normal in every movement and lead a normal life in my mid-80s. I swim, walk, garden, cook, drive and everything most healthy people do.

I have many friends who also swear by it. I have had to change brands sometimes, but not too often.

Noby Reidell

Camarillo

::

I was really disappointed to see no mention of water aerobics, especially suspended, with or without a belt. A wonderful, no-impact, limbering exercise.

My knees are diagnosed as being ready for replacement. I go to vigorous water aerobics workouts three or preferably four hours a week. I am 77 years old and experience no pain. My knees are stiff after sitting, and walking for too long is not an option, but I get around very well.

Mary Lou Schneider

La Verne

Hiking at night

Mary Forgione wrote a very nice piece about the wonders of hiking in Griffith Park, which only one resident in a thousand gets to experience [“Griffith Park Night Hikes Place L.A. at Your Feet,” July 19]. Everyone, of course, has the opportunity to do what she did. It is just not as easy.

For many years, I have felt that the spectacular view from those hilltops should be made more useful to the population in general — tourists too, not just the hearty hiker crowd.

Hollywood is in danger of losing the title “Entertainment Capital of the World.” [Why not build] an architectural masterpiece on top of Mt. Lee that functions as a museum for all forms of entertainment, led by movies and television, whose factories can all be seen from the site? These structures would become our Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge or Statue of Liberty, an icon for Southern California forever. They would enhance the park experience, not reduce it.

All we need are leaders who exist outside the box and can imagine such a beneficial development: a huge increase in tourism, revitalizing the Hollywood industry, a place for locals to be very proud of and to visit often and, finally, a repository for the history of what has made this place special — entertainment.

William Bergmann

Hollywood

::

Excellent article! Thank you for giving this some well-deserved publicity. It’s my two to four times a week ritual also!

Richard Chamberlain

Los Angeles

Our letters page highlights selected reader comments on articles recently published in Health.

All submissions are subject to editing and condensation and become the property of The Times.

Please e-mail health@latimes.com.