The knee surgery you don't need
A torn meniscus injury means knee surgery, right? That's what your surgeon would like you to believe. But he's a surgeon -- so of course he wants you to believe that.
When you believe, he makes money.
But there's another way.
I've been able to heal meniscus problems, including a torn meniscus, without my patients going anywhere near a scalpel -- and new research shows how my approach could work for anyone.
It could work for anyone because in nearly every case, surgery is completely unnecessary.
In the new study, 146 patients with a meniscus injury were sent into the operating room -- and while all of them had their knees surgically opened, only 70 of them actually had the meniscus repaired and damaged tissue removed.
The rest had a sham surgery, where the doctors pretended to do the work -- right down to calling for the same instruments -- but didn't actually touch the meniscus injury or remove any damaged tissue.
If there was a difference, the patients couldn't tell. Both groups had roughly the same improvements in pain and the same level of satisfaction with the procedure. They were so happy with the outcome that 96 percent of those who had the sham procedure said they'd willingly do it again if they had to, compared to 93 percent of those who had real surgery.
Already, mainstream orthopedic surgeons are making excuses for the study -- but most of them aren't out to save knees.
They're trying to save their jobs -- because meniscus surgery is one of the most common and lucrative orthopedic procedures in the nation. Every year, 700,000 Americans have it done at a cost of roughly $5,000 a piece.
That's $3.5 billion a year on unnecessary meniscus surgeries.
Since much of the pain of a meniscus jury tear comes from the inflammation that accompanies it, the researchers behind the new study are recommending anti-inflammatory drugs along with physical therapy instead of surgery.
They've got it half right.
Pass on the drugs (and their side effects) and try drug-free approaches for pain relief instead -- including natural anti-inflammatories such as curcumin or MSM as well as pain treatments such as acupuncture and cold laser.
But don't stop there. The researchers are correct when they recommend physical therapy -- because other studies have shown that a little PT can be as effective as surgery, but without the scalpel.