Why Are Surgeries Failing?
Post Date: February 4th, 2010
A Picture Is NOT Worth A Thousand Words
Surgery in the U.S. has consistently proven to be inappropriately prescribed to the public. This has been made very clear by the high frequency of surgical failures so many desperate pain sufferers have experience.
The reason for this high frequency of failure is mostly due to one simple fact; the source of the patients pain was misdiagnosed! The leading culprit: Doctors who make their diagnosis simply off of an MRI or an X-ray image.
Images such as MRI, CT, and X-ray are very often misleading. For example, most men over the age of 40 have disc bulges without a hint of discomfort. Most people over the age of 20 have developed some degree of arthritis with no symptoms of pain at all! To diagnose the source of an individuals pain and prescribe surgery from advanced imaging alone is an unethical and potentially life-threatening practice.
A comprehensive orthopedic examination from a specialist is the most safe and effective way to verify, with high likelihood, the source of an individuals pain. Furthermore, even after an appropriate diagnosis, surgery should still only be considered viable after all other treatment options have been exhausted.
Post Date: September 26th, 2010
What The HELLthcare!?
What could be worse than a failed surgery? The fact that the great majority of failed surgeries are the direct result of a physician improperly diagnosing the source of your problem!
With the advent of high-tech and expensive image producing machines like MRI and CAT scans, it seems that the actual “physical evaluation” (aka Orthopedic Evaluation) of a patient has been abandoned. What is neglected by the medical profession and misunderstood by the general public is the fact that in the case of MRI, CT, and X-ray, a picture is NOT worth a thousand words.
Over ten years ago the New England Journal of Medicine published a study in which 98 human subjects who all had one thing in common, no back pain, had MRI’s taken. The physicians involved in evaluating the MRI’s were blinded to the fact that these subjects were completely without symptoms. Upon evaluation, the doctors determined that 64% of the subjects were prime candidates for surgery!
How could 63 out of 98 pain free subjects wrongly be recommended surgery? This is the consequence of examining a picture rather than the patient, and this is the sad truth that is the reason behind the common occurrence of most failed surgeries.
This is just one of many studies that has proven that MRI is not a definitive method of diagnosing the source of one’s pain. It should only be used as a supplement for diagnosis. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the fact that physicians are being over worked and have limited time to actually perform a proper exam or because special imaging generates 10-20 times more revenue than a physical exam, very little effort has been made to achieve the Gold Standard of diagnosis through highly specific Orthopedic Evaluation.
If you are suffering from pain it is imperative that you have an expert perform a thorough Orthopedic Evaluation to insure that the treatment you receive truly corresponds with the condition that ails you. Pain is not a mystery, it has a source. A well implemented Orthopedic Evaluation is the most effective tool to diagnose the source of your pain.