Watch this highly informative and thought-provoking discussion between Mark Hurworth (Orthopaedic Surgeon) and Ian Dowley (Senior Physiotherapist) about how the decision to operate or not to operate is made. The increasing availability of higher quality radiological imaging often causes a “knowledge explosion” - these images show every little change and irregularity in our bodies. But what is relevant? What is ‘normal’ age-related change and what is actually related to our symptoms? Do these ‘issues’ that have been identified actually need to be surgically ‘fixed’? In a radiological report the complex technical jargon or even the sheer volume of information can be scary and threatening for the patient.
Read MoreSurgical techniques have become more refined and sometimes more experimental, with the number of elective surgeries performed continuing to increase exponentially over the past decades. But is surgery always the answer? Perhaps we have become so caught up in the idea of “progress” that we do not stop to ask whether these procedures actually work any better than non-surgical treatment. Some researchers are now attempting to answer these questions.
Read More