Read the article, Many Orthopedic Surgeries Don’t Work
The evidence is there – some knee surgeries and back surgeries are no more effective than a placebo. We need to learn to do proper triage of when people would be helped by the far more conservative option of bodywork or movement therapy before deciding that surgery is necessary. Mark Twain said something like “It is very hard to convince a man of the truth when his salary depends on believing the contrary.” I understand the economic drive for a surgeon to do what he’s good at – more surgeries.
But time comes – as a bodyworker, I used to ‘believe’ that bodywork could work miracles – and sometimes that happens. But I have also, over 40 years, recommended some for surgery or injections or some other service I do not supply. Anyone who really has healing, not money, in mind when treating the ill needs to be honest (with himself, if not the patient) that no one option works all the time, nor is it appropriate to every situation.
Here’s hoping that the medical profession relaxes a little, gets away from the money incentive (a nasty little concomitant of a totally private system, such as we have in the States) and partner with those of us in the movement and manual therapy community – including physiotherapists, exercise specialists, osteopaths, etc – to get the right treatment to the person at the right time.
I’m willing to admit that my powers are limited – evidence like this should give the surgeons pause to think about their place in a whole healing system.
