Re: the Zapno (tm) anti-static device and dishonesty

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 10:04 -0400 8/1/02, James McLean wrote:
> I think the reference was to an article in Time or Newsweek or some
> such.  As I understood it (told to me by someone who read the article)
> some volunteers were given "placebo surgery" (no actual changes were
> made on the knee, but maybe the skin was cut to have the same scars,
> etc.).  The conclusion (of the study, not necessarily of all experts)
> was that the same improvements could be obtained by going through only
> the post-operative physical therapy.
In my particular case, pre-operative physical therapy had already
been tried and hadn't worked, but the operation did. I have no other
data, so I know that this is not conclusive. But in my case at least,
I was glad that the surgical option was available. As I said before,
YMMV.

However, the orthopedic group that  I dealt with specializes in
sports medicine--they are the "official orthopods" for several pro
teams in our area. Since being on the field playing is the athlete's
bread and butter, and since arthroscopic surgery usually keep you out
of action for several months, I suspect that there is an advantage to
both the teams and the physicians not to engage in unnecessary
surgery. I haven't talked with my orthopod about this but I suspect
that they are not going to intentionally put an athlete out of action
for several months without trying the PT option first to see if it
works. Especially if the surgical option doesn't always work. I doubt
they will risk putting the athlete out of action for an even longer
period of time if they don't have to. Maybe not.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
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