Joint replacements are shaping up to be like the Hysterectomies debacle during the sixties and seventies. I don’t have any way to prove or disprove what the experts are saying. I can only tell two stories that convince me that both procedures are often unnecessary.
Old Man With A Bad Shoulder
I owned a small auto repair shop and knew most of my customers on a personal base. I had one customer that was in his eighties and would come to my store once a year to get his vehicle inspected. He only drove about a thousand miles a year. One day he came into where I was working and I could see right a way that he was hurting.
He was holding his right arm close to his body and his face grimaced with pain at every slight movement. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he was going to get a total shoulder replacement in a month. I questioned why he had to wait in pain for such a long time and he replied that the surgeon was booked up that far ahead. He gave me his keys and I gave them to the mechanic that was going to inspect his vehicle.
I had had problems with my knees and had found great relief after I started taking Glucosamine Chondroitin pills. I asked him if he had tried taking that for his shoulder and he said that he had never heard about it. He asked me to write it down and since his car was inspected, they left.
A year passed and I was again working when the same old gentleman came in and tossed an empty box on my desk. I was surprised and looked at the box and it was from Glucosamine Chondroitin pills.
I did not remember our conversation from the year before, so I guess I gave him a curious look. “Don’t you remember me?” he asked. I was starting to remember what I had told him and asked, “ Did it help?” He swung his right arm around several times like a softball pitcher. “Did you get the shoulder replacement?” I asked. “NO!” he shouted. He then told me what had transpired.
When he had left my shop the year before, he had stopped at Wal-Mart and purchased two bottles of the Glucosamine & Chondroitin. He started taking the supplement as suggested. After a week, he began noticing that he had some painless movement in the shoulder. It kept improving so much that after another week, he called the surgeons office to post pone the surgery. The surgeon got on the phone and became angry and told them that he could not postpone the surgery because it was too late to schedule anyone else in the time slot that he had set aside for him. When the old man heard that, he cancelled the operation. The doctor was screaming as he hung up the phone.
He continued taking the supplement and was almost completely back to normal within six months. He kept thanking me for telling him about the supplement.
Second Knee Replacement
Another customer came in using a walker. I started to talk to her as he car was being worked on. She told me that she had had one knee replaced two years prior and was scheduled to have the other replaced. She was dreading it and had postponed the procedure several times. She had not fully recovered from the first surgery and was dreading another. Her surgeon assured her that it was necessary.
Once again I asked her if she had ever used Glucosamine Chondroitin pills. She had not heard of them. I told her how they had helped me and also told her the story about the old man with the bad shoulder. She was very interested and left telling me that she was going to try.
At least two years passed and one day a car pulled up in front of the showroom and the lady that had used the walker the last time I had see her, bounded out of her car and came up the steps to my office.
“I need to give you a hug!” she said loudly. Once again I did not even remember who she was. I guess she noticed my curious look and said. “Don’t you remember?” I was in here a while back because of my bad knee?”. I remembered then and told her so. She then told me how she had purchased the Glucosamine Chondroitin pills after she had talked to me two years prior. It had taken about a month before she started noticing an improvement in her knee. Another month passed and she had quit using the walker. After two years she had no more pain in that knee but still had a pain in the knee that had the joint replaced.
I won’t say that all joint replacements are unnecessary. I have a friend that worked for a freight company all his life and when he retired his knees were so shot and he was so bowlegged that he could have straddled a gas pipeline and touched his heals underneath. His knee replacements were needed.
My experience is that he was the exception.
Old Man With A Bad Shoulder
I owned a small auto repair shop and knew most of my customers on a personal base. I had one customer that was in his eighties and would come to my store once a year to get his vehicle inspected. He only drove about a thousand miles a year. One day he came into where I was working and I could see right a way that he was hurting.
He was holding his right arm close to his body and his face grimaced with pain at every slight movement. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he was going to get a total shoulder replacement in a month. I questioned why he had to wait in pain for such a long time and he replied that the surgeon was booked up that far ahead. He gave me his keys and I gave them to the mechanic that was going to inspect his vehicle.
I had had problems with my knees and had found great relief after I started taking Glucosamine Chondroitin pills. I asked him if he had tried taking that for his shoulder and he said that he had never heard about it. He asked me to write it down and since his car was inspected, they left.
A year passed and I was again working when the same old gentleman came in and tossed an empty box on my desk. I was surprised and looked at the box and it was from Glucosamine Chondroitin pills.
I did not remember our conversation from the year before, so I guess I gave him a curious look. “Don’t you remember me?” he asked. I was starting to remember what I had told him and asked, “ Did it help?” He swung his right arm around several times like a softball pitcher. “Did you get the shoulder replacement?” I asked. “NO!” he shouted. He then told me what had transpired.
When he had left my shop the year before, he had stopped at Wal-Mart and purchased two bottles of the Glucosamine & Chondroitin. He started taking the supplement as suggested. After a week, he began noticing that he had some painless movement in the shoulder. It kept improving so much that after another week, he called the surgeons office to post pone the surgery. The surgeon got on the phone and became angry and told them that he could not postpone the surgery because it was too late to schedule anyone else in the time slot that he had set aside for him. When the old man heard that, he cancelled the operation. The doctor was screaming as he hung up the phone.
He continued taking the supplement and was almost completely back to normal within six months. He kept thanking me for telling him about the supplement.
Second Knee Replacement
Another customer came in using a walker. I started to talk to her as he car was being worked on. She told me that she had had one knee replaced two years prior and was scheduled to have the other replaced. She was dreading it and had postponed the procedure several times. She had not fully recovered from the first surgery and was dreading another. Her surgeon assured her that it was necessary.
Once again I asked her if she had ever used Glucosamine Chondroitin pills. She had not heard of them. I told her how they had helped me and also told her the story about the old man with the bad shoulder. She was very interested and left telling me that she was going to try.
At least two years passed and one day a car pulled up in front of the showroom and the lady that had used the walker the last time I had see her, bounded out of her car and came up the steps to my office.
“I need to give you a hug!” she said loudly. Once again I did not even remember who she was. I guess she noticed my curious look and said. “Don’t you remember?” I was in here a while back because of my bad knee?”. I remembered then and told her so. She then told me how she had purchased the Glucosamine Chondroitin pills after she had talked to me two years prior. It had taken about a month before she started noticing an improvement in her knee. Another month passed and she had quit using the walker. After two years she had no more pain in that knee but still had a pain in the knee that had the joint replaced.
I won’t say that all joint replacements are unnecessary. I have a friend that worked for a freight company all his life and when he retired his knees were so shot and he was so bowlegged that he could have straddled a gas pipeline and touched his heals underneath. His knee replacements were needed.
My experience is that he was the exception.