April 25, 2008

“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s…”
                                                                                                       — Jesus Christ
 
Yesterday, all the news services were abuzz with the story of the sentencing of Wesley Snipes, star of the big screen in such epics as “Murder at 1600,”  “Demolition Man,”  “The Art of War,”  “US Marshalls,”  “Rising Sun,”  “Passenger 57,”  “New Jack City,” and  what he was best known for, the title role of the  Daywalker Trilogy: “Blade,” “ Blade II” and “Blade:Trinity.”
For those who don’t know, the character, Blade, a transplant from Marvel Comics, is a “daywalker,” the offspring of a vampire and a mortal woman, who has all the powers of the undead, but unlike them, can walk in the full light of day. With his trademark sunglasses, cool demeanor and smooth ‘n’ snappy martial arts moves and sword work, he made the role his own. And thereby hangs a tale.

Why, you might ask? Well, while he was doing all these timeless films, in passing, he made a boatload of dinero and he PAID NO TAXES on it. None. Nada. Zip.  So, he was charged with fraud and tax evasion, and, not surprisingly, he was convicted. And by the reckoning of the IRS, he owes the Treasury about  38 million bucks. 

He says he was misled by nefarious advisors, who happened to be well-known tax protesters, who told him he didn’t have to pay because, variously, the income tax is illegal (actually, it WAS held  unconstitutional when first imposed on income from land. That’s why the 16th Ammendment was passed–to clarify that Congress the has power to impose an income tax. So, it IS legal now), or it’s entirely voluntary, or some such thing.
 
Now, one thing I can tell you and that is that you may kill someone, and depending on circumstances and your former record, you might even get off; but when you’re talking about what they see as their moolah, the government is dead SERIOUS. It may interest you to know that in most other semi-civilized parts of  the globe, tax evasion is NOT a crime–it’s a civil matter. Also, most countries don’t tax you on any income made outside their borders (which makes sense).  Only the USA and the Phillipines (whose code was modelled on the US tax code) impose tax on the world wide income of their citizens (and passport holders, not always the same thing). Like I said, about taxes, they’re serious.

Now, I like Wesley Snipes and I like his films. And,  I admit there’s a part of me that sort of admires the sheer chutzpah of his not paying taxes (even though it places more of a burden on the rest of us–I also admit it’s not rational). But come on! He’s not exactly low profile, is he? Presumably you need some gray matter to learn lines and even to learn combat moves. So how in the world did he think he would get away
with this? Remember, they brought down Al Capone on income tax evasion. So he got convicted, to no one’s surprise, but his.
 
But, yesterday, he got sentenced to three years in federal prison–pretty harsh for a non-violent “crime.”  Personally, I think that’s wretched excess, too.  Why do we imprison guys for non-violent financial  “crimes,” when it would make much more sense and be more appropriate to hit them financially, dollar for dollar, so to speak? We already have the largest percentage of our population in prison of any country on earth, as it is, because of this type of insane policy. Strange, in “The Land of the Free,” is it not?  Especially when we need those cells for violent felons, terrorists and pedophile-rapists. In his case, I suspect they wanted to send a message: “Hey YOU! Don’t screw with us when it comes to taxes!” 

OK. I’ll do my part. But before I can pay my taxes, I  have to make some income, by selling a few more books!  You have knee pain? I’ve got solutions. Hurt going up stairs? Try pulling yourself up with a banister and going one step at a time. Simple, but effective advice.  Want more? Go see my LITTLE GREEN BOOK at   http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html     Want to strengthen those weak knees, to prevent pain?   Get the special exercises in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM at   http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
Better yet, get them both. They were designed to compliment each other for maximum effectiveness.  Try them, follow the instructions, DO the exercises and your pain will be gone, for good. Well, that’s it for today, my friend. Have a great weekend and be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
 
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

April 24, 2008

The other day, I had to take my car in for new tires. Not all of them, just the front two, which were worn down on their outer margins, just enough to make them dangerous. This wouldn’t be such a big deal except that it’s a leased  car, which I plan to give back in December. I know it’s silly, but it just frosts me to have to buy new tires for a car I’m giving back. I already bought the rear tires a year ago.

On the other hand, considering the consequences of a blow-out at high speed on one of Florida’s beautiful highways, getting new tires is cheap at the cost. But if you’ve ever leased a car, did you ever notice that something always falls apart, or wears out, just before the lease is up? Maybe it’s just me, but it seems to me that this happens every time I lease a car. And the fact that it’s an alleged “luxury” car just makes it more infuriating. I mean, nothing on these cars is cheap anymore. Once upon a time, if you had an electrical problem, you replaced a 75
cent fuse–now, you have to relace a $2000 electronic module. This is progress?! I remember my first automobile. My mother bought me
a red Toyota Corolla (for about $2000) for my internship at Medical College of Virginia, in Richmond. This was the first car I ever owned, having borrowed my parents’ cars for dates and the like, while I was going to medical school. I wrapped it around a telephone pole
at about 2 AM, having fallen asleep at the wheel, while trying to get to my little apartment for a few hours of sleep, after (no kidding) a 72 hour shift at the hospital. Only the lightning fast reflexes of my youth saved me. One more time I was very lucky to be alive.

Oddly enough, I wasn’t worried about nearly being killed, or wrecking my new (and only) car. No, I was scared to death that the chief resident was going to kill me for being late for rounds at 7:30AM! That’s how bad the brain-washing was. I got my new car fixed and got to work (with precious little sleep) and resolved to sleep in the hospital next time I was that exhausted.

When I finished my fellowship, years later, and drove into town to start my practice in Long Island, I was driving a little gold “Champagne Edition” Volkswagen Rabbit. Cars were just transportation to me then. Later on, my accountant had me go get a red Jaguar: lots of steel to
protect me, heavy, fast, and beautiful lines, with chrome wire wheels. Unfortunately, it had an electrical system from the 1940′s–before the war! Spent a lot of time in the shop, we did. And one day, the mechanic (an interesting Yugoslavian guy, who had flown a Messerschmidt for the Nazis in WW II) told me that The Jaguar was indeed beautiful, but it couldn’t hold a candle to a Mercedes-Benz, which he said was the
best production car in the world. He showed me a little part from one, off his back bench–it was “printed” with circuits and sealed with a bead of rubber all around. I had to admit it looked pretty impressive.

So, in 1984, I got my first Mercedes-Benz, used (or “pre-owned,” as they say today). Yeah, it looked boxy, compared to the Jaguar, but man, what a ride. No more spending half a lifetime in the shop, either. And protected by two tons and more of steel. I was sold. And I’ve driven them ever since.

But now, the price has gone beyond ridiculous, with no end in sight. And every year, they add more and more high tech gadgets, which proceed to break down and cost the proverbial arm and a leg to service, even with the warranty. The damn driver’s seat is like the cockpit in a jet fighter. And I’ve had it with those electronic modules. Like my old professor used to say, they “complicate simplicity” for its own sake. So, after this lease is up, I’ve had it with that bunch. I just got the bride a nice tight little Toyota RAV4 (the circle closes…how “Zen”).
It’s clean, peppy and reasonable to run. And I don’t need to mortgage my house for servicing.

Well, back to the tire shop. I got their name from a local bodyshop man, who told me that was where all the pros took their own cars. I got two great tires for less than half of what Mercedes would have charged me. And these guys had this down like a science! Two guys, one on each side, took off the wheels, stripped the old tires off and applied the new ones to the rims, inflated them and put ‘em back on the car. Zip-zip! Ten minutes, no more, I was out of there. Unbelievable.

One guy had a dirty Ace bandage wrapped around his knee. As you might expect, the leg below was pretty swollen. I suggested that he unwrap this ACE and reapply it smoothly, toes to thigh. The way he had it on it was like a tourniquet! Even better, he should have gotten an elastic or neoprene sleeve–that would give him the support he needs, but without the risk of gangrene (just kidding, but you CAN get clots in the veins from a too tight constricting wrap). If he had read my LITTLE GREEN BOOK, which he could at
http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html    he’d have known that and I wouldn’t have had to tell him. Well, hopefully, if YOU have knee pain, you’ll know what to do. I wouldn’t steer you wrong. Til next time, my friend, be well.

Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,

Dr. Bill

 P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html

P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

April 23, 2008

Here we are, Wednesday already. We get through today and we’re over the “hump day” of the week. I swear, the older I get, the faster the week seems to go. I suppose you could say the same thing about the month, and the entire year. It all seems to go by faster and faster, the older I get. You just blink, and another season is gone.

 Remember when you were a kid? I do. At that time, we got over two whole months off from school, every summer. The time seemed to stretch interminably. Even though we were having fun and playing and doing everything we wanted to do, two months seemed like a long, long time. Today, it’s gone, like you snapped your fingers, or so it seems.
 
Turns out there really is a solid scientific explanation for this subjective phenomenon. When we’re very young, the entirety of our lifetime is obviously much, much shorter. Sure, I mean we just haven’t lived that long, yet. So, every interval of time is a larger fraction of the whole span of our consciousness, at that time. As we age, the entire span of our lives is much longer, so a time interval is a correspondingly smaller fraction of the whole. Got that? Well, that’s what the psychologists say, anyway.
 
They’re probably right, but it always seem to me that time slows to a crawl right after the New Year, and continues to crawl by until Spring, around March or April. It picks up the pace a little in May June and July. But then at the end of August, it goes into an acceleration mode, picking up greater and greater speed, until it seems that I hardly turn around and  it’s already Halloween, then Thanksgiving and then
Christmas! I wonder how they explain that? Or maybe it’s just my own psychopathology….
 
Anyway, I spent my “hump day” productively, taping a teleseminar with my good friend Fred Nicklaus. Fred is a middle aged martial artist (Tae Kwon Do) who suffered through arthritis of the hip for about ten years before he finally had to undergo surgery to get a total hip replacement in 2005. Not only is he living proof that you can be fully functional after this kind of major procedure, but his story should be an inspiration for anyone who is down and depressed because they have arthritis.
 
Today, Fred is the teacher of a terrific exercise program called Combat Endurance, which was developed by a Special Forces major. Fred has a great web site at   www.combatendurancetraining.com/. He not only teaches the course, but he demonstrates the maneuvers himself on the DVD’s. Not bad for a guy with an artificial hip!
 
One of the points we discussed in the teleseminar was the number of non-surgical things you can do to “buy time,” before you need surgery.  I teach these methods with respect to the knee in my LITTLE GREEN BOOK    http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
but the principles apply to ANY joint that has pain, whether from injury or arthritis.
 
One of the key methods is the use of an ambulatory aid, like a cane, when you have a sore joint.  When used in conjunction with OTC anti-inflammatory medications, like Aleve, local heat and exercises,  like all those taught in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html    ambulatory aids help to markedly reduce forces on the joints (especially the hip, knee & ankle) and help to relieve pain, sometimes dramatically. 

Fred actually climbed Mt. Kilamanjaro, AFTER his hip replacement (do you believe this guy?), but he used two walking sticks to help him during the climb and he’s a great example of how that extra support can be a tremendous help. That’s just one of the tips we talked about in our discussion. This teleseminar will be available in the near future, on my web site.  Keep on the lookout for it.
 
Well, I think I’ll spend the rest of today working on my newest book: HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY. I hope to have it finished and available for you by next month. This will give you all the insider secrets I’ve learned from my years in practice, all the conservative tricks
for getting rid of your pain and staying OUT of the operating room. This is your first early warning about this terrific new product. I’m really proud of it and I think it’s going to help a whole lot of people. So, watch for it next month. Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
 
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to   http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

April 22, 2008

It’s a beautiful day here in Orlando, Florida–beautiful sunshine, nice breeze, pleasantly warm, but not too hot and not a cloud in the sky.      In fact, it’s a perfect setting for celebrating…EARTH DAY! This is a day set up by the environmental movement in the late 60′s, to celebrate the planet and the precious resources of our environment.

But it wasn’t set up on THIS day, however. No, the original intent, by the REAL environmentalists, was to make it on the Vernal Equinox–the first day of Spring, which makes perfect sense, when you think about it. But this was soon co-opted by leftist fellow travellers and the date wsa shifted to today’s date,  April 22nd. Why? Well, because today is the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, Comrade! Remember him? 

Don’t believe it? Go check with the Sierra Club or Greenpeace. They’ll sheepishly admit it. So, we now celebrate a stealth communist day of commemoration.  Perfect.  And today is also the Pennsylvania Primary, pitting two other near-marxists against each other, which is also kind of fitting. 

Not that there’s anything wrong with that (with apologies to Seinfeld). But there’s no doubt that the entire environmental movement has been infiltrated by anti-capitalist, big government leftists, of all kinds. Which is sort of a shame, because aside from the utter nonsense of man-made “global warming,” there is much about the movement that is really beneficial. The problem with my buying into the warming hype is that I’m old enough to have been there, when these very same people told us, during the 70′s, that we were entering a new ICE AGE.
 
That, and the fact that the ice caps on Mars are receding also–and last time I checked, no people or internal combustion engines were up there to blame for it. I think it far more likely that this is a cyclical planetary phenomenon, related more to the energy of the sun than anything else. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t think we should be careful stewards of our natural resources and our planet–far from it.       I do.  I just think we need to be reasonable and rational about it.
 
And that reminds me, we aren’t saving our planet, in any case. The planet will do just fine, whether we’re here or not. The cockroaches would survive anything but a supernova of the sun. So let’s be clear. It’s OUR survival as a species that we’re really trying to save. 

My wife and I visited Bangkok, in Thailand, a few years ago, as part of our trip to Southeast Asia.  They don’t have any EPA. They didn’t have much breathable air, either. The air was so thick, you could almost see it. And as soon as we left the plane, our eyes began to water and we found it harder to breath. Bangkok had many things to enjoy and admire, but air quality wasn’t one of them. I almost kissed the ground when we  got back to the good ol’ USA.  ”Ahhhhh. I can breathe again,”  I said as we deplaned.   I tell you, I had a whole new appreciation for our
clean air regulations, and I’m not normally a fan of government regulation (as you may have gathered). 

And really, wouldn’t it be great to be truly independent of foreign oil (so we could send those OPEC a-holes back to selling sand and camel dung and not be contributing indirectly to terrorists ). Yes, fuel cells are a great concept, and technology will eventually give us a great, high speed electric car, but meanwhile, lets tap our own oil resources, with modern technology and adequate oversight to prevent an adverse impact on the environment. Let’s get more nuclear plants, with modern, efficient technology, instead of burning primitive fossil fuels for our electricity.  Windmills?  Why not.  Biofuels? Mmmm…Maybe not.  That’s what I mean: let’s not react hysterically and obstruct any potential progress. Instead, let’s use reason and evidence-based research, rationally control progress, to become energy independent AND protect the environment.
 
Well, on this beautiful EARTH DAY, it’s the perfect time to start getting your legs into shape for summer, with the exercises I teach in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM   http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html    The great thing about these specially modified exercises is that they are great for PREVENTING  knee problems, as well as getting rid of knee pain you may have already. For example, if you have a 
tender kneecap, with pain on kneeling, or stair climbing, HACK SQUATS, with a moderate weight, are among the best exercises you can do to rapidly eliminate the pain. But the same exercise will help to prevent that kneecap pain, to start with.
 
And if you want the best overall exercise program on the planet, try Matt Furey’s Combat Conditioning 
http://drbillsclinic.com/combat_conditioning.html    You’ll increase your strength, stamina, and lung power, drop weight like a stone, melt fat away,  and do it anywhere you happen to be.   I do it.  You should, too.  Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to  http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved 
 

April 21, 2008

 It’s been over five years, coming up on six, since my early retirement from my practice in orthopaedic surgery. Heaven knows I tried to continue, but with a broken back, I’m very fortunate to be walking, much less operating. I worked for over 15 months after my injury, until finally, I had to face the reality that the progressive pain was putting my patients at risk. At that point, I knew it was time for me to go.
 
But it’s hard giving up something you’ve worked for your whole life. I had wanted to be a surgeon since I was seven years old. My family had no money, so I had to win scholarships and work after school to finance my education. Four years of college, four more in medical school, then surgical internship, general surgical residency, orthopaedic residency, and specialty fellowship–a whole lot of education and training to acquire the skills that made me the ace surgeon I became. 

Then, over 23 years of active clinical practice, the last 18 of them as Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and an Associate Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery, thousands upon thousands of patients seen, many thousands of surgeries performed, multiple articles and a couple of textbooks written, and an enviable reputation as a regional and national expert in my field—all gone in an instant, though it took over a year to catch up with me.
 
So, yeah, it was tough to walk away. Let’s face it, it was a lot to give up. For the first couple of  years, I would actually dream about doing surgery–a different kind of “wet dream”:)  Intellectually, I  realized just how lucky I had been. There were at least six different ways in that incident in which I might have been paralyzed, or killed, outright.  Yup. Very lucky indeed. And yet….the emotional impact, by definition, isn’t rational.
 
For the first few years, I drifted emotionally and mentally, until I realized that my mental skills were eroding, from disuse. I slept a lot, a luxury denied for over three decades, but now, an escape from the reality that my world was gone, my career over. I thought about teaching, but what I had to teach, what I was really best at, was the surgical techniques I had been taught and had honed and perfected, with my own little tricks and tips, learned through experience and rivers of blood. 

In short, I couldn’t demonstrate all the little technical nuances and intraoperative tactics that made me what I was. Oh my friend, no words of mine can truly express just how good I really was. But, that’s over, for good. Teaching? It’s kind of like being the eunuch in a bordello–you can watch, but you can’t touch, can’t participate. And then there’s the politics in the university setting. I’d been my own boss my entire career. I don’t suffer fools gladly, and believe me, there are plenty in academia. I’d probably be thrown out after two weeks.
 
So, I drifted, waiting, healing…inside as well as outside. Until, finally, a couple of years ago, I came across the manuscript for a book on knee pain I had written for lay people. I no longer liked what I had written: too formal, stiff, unaccessible; too academic for lay folk. BUT, it gave me an idea of  what I might do. Then, just at that time, I came across an advertisement for a seminar on internet marketing and informational publishing. I went.
 
I had an epiphany: I realized at last that I still retained a wealth of knowledge and decades of clinical experience. While I could no longer operate, I could still teach regular people what I know, and help many thousands more than I could ever reach through my practice. So, that’s the story of how Dr. Bill’s Clinic was born–evolution, not revolution.
 
So now, I’ve distilled the main points of what I’ve learned over the years in my LITTLE GREEN BOOK
 http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html   and it’s helping people from all over the world to understand and get rid of their knee pain. If I can no longer do what’s needed directly, I can give my knowledge to many who will benefit from it. And I’ll continue to do so, as long as I’m able. Not a bad future; not a bad legacy, after all… Til next time my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill 
 

P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
  http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

April 18, 2008

I think it was my maternal grandmother who first told my mother, who then told me, many times, an old Irish saying: “Put a beggar on horseback and he’ll ride to Hell.” As a child, and later as a teenager, I didn’t really comprehend what that meant. I thought I did, at
each stage of life, but it wasn’t until I grew into an adult and saw lots of “beggar horsemen” in action that I truly perceived the deeper truth of the aphorism.
 
The simplest explanation is that it describes the behavior that can be expected when a person, born into modest station, rises to any position of power. It’s a corollary of Lord Acton’s famous warning that “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”   This can be seen in any DMV line anywhere in the United States of America (or the IRS, Social Services, name your
favorite beauracracy). You give some people a little bit of power, and it goes right to their heads. This is an undeniable truth of life–we’ve all seen this innumerable times in our lives. Remember the kid in grade school that was made a “monitor?” Became an officious little a$$, and pushed us around with his little measure of delegated authority, didn’t he?
 
So it should come as no surprise that the “monitors” of the grownup world become politicians. It doesn’t matter what party, or persuasion they champion–at the deepest core of their being, they’re all the same. I have a theory I’ll share with you: I believe they are all damaged people. Who other than a person with a warped sense of self wants to boss other people around?  I think they validate their own sense of worth by this trait: they need to be in control…of you and me, but not necessarily themselves.

There is no finer example of this truism on display today than the contenders for the Presidency of the United States. At least McCain is an honest-to-God war hero. Well, I will say no more. Res ipsa loquitor…
 
As it happens, and this is what that old saying brought to mind, I took care of a number of genuine equestrians, during my years in practice. The annual Hampton Classic is the most famous horse show, but Long Island is a great place for riding, anytime. Some would come in with sore butts (ischial busitis), others with kneecap problems, due the to “posting,” the bent kneed position riders adopt, to absorb the shocks of horseback riding.
 
I treated them with the usual measures to reduce inflammation, relieve pain and restore function that I write about in my LITTLE GREEN BOOK (go see it at    http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html )  Of course I had them stop riding, first. Whenever you’re dealing with any athlete, that’s the hardest thing to accomplish–getting them to stop their sport for a while, to allow healing.
 
This is why my old professor, Dr. Bob Zickel, used to chaffe at the term “Sports Medicine.” He would say, ”That’s crap! This is no more than good solid orthopaedics, on the best possible protoplasm. It doesn’t matter WHAT the mechanism of injury was. The treatment’s the same.”   Well, he was right about that last part, but the term took off anyway and today, Sports Medicine is virtually a separate discipline.
But I digress….
 
Anyway, once they stopped riding and the knee “cooled off,” I was then able to start to rehabilitate their knees, with quad setting, straight leg raising, and a number of the specially modified exercises now in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR
ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, which you can see at my website    http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html 

If they were faithful in DOING the exercises, they would very likely begin to improve. Then, we had to modify their riding kit, to change the mechanics of their posting, and at times, use a patella brace to alter the tracking of the kneecap, until there was enough increased strength of the VMO to cause an internal change in knee dynamics. If they followed instructions, odds are they’d get better and could return to riding, but without the pain.
 
Zick was right about one thing, for sure: the mechanism of injury doesn’t really matter–the principles of treatment do. And that’s what I try to teach you. So, if you have similar pain, even though it’s not caused by horseback riding, my methods are likely to help. Go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html      and     http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html    for the best knee care, anywhere. You have nothing to lose, but your pain. Til next time, my friend, be well and have a great weekend.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to   http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

April 17, 2008

The Pope is in Washington for his first visit to the good ol’ USA. And I have to tell you, it was refreshing to hear about America’s greatness from an infallible source. God knows we don’t hear about it from our own press corps, or many of our politicians and candidates for President. No, Pope Benedict XVI was on the money about us and our national character, and the good we have done in the world. No, we’re not perfect –far from it. But at least we TRY. Like Churchill said, “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” We have the freedom to succeed and the freedom to screw up and fail. But even our failures imply an implicit acknowledgement of what correct standards should be. And that’s what the Pope represents–defined standards of behavior. 

Now, I don’t agree with all his positions, but at least he has some and he’s a passionate and articulate advocate for them (in many languages, I might add). I should also add that I’m not a Catholic, myself. They barely let me into a church, these days, for fear of lightning, or the roof falling in . But I admit, I’m a fan of this guy. 
 
It’s true that doesn’t have the warm and fuzzy, saint-like prescence of his predecessor; he’s a man of intellect and reason. But he has the courage to face down the most outrageous excesses of today’s world, bloodthirsty religious extremism for example, and call it what it is. That alone is worth a lot, in a world that seems obsessed by excusing and fawning over terrorists, dictators, and totalitarian regimes. Witness almost any resolution of the feckless UN for a validation of that observation.  In short, he represents civilization, and he’s not afraid to call the enemies of civilization what they are. I admit,  I admire that.
 
So, I was truly appalled by those who criticized him as a representative of the Catholic Church, for which they bear some animus. What they are actually angry about is being called on their own positions and being found wanting, by someone who is an acknowledged moral authority. It’s not enough that they have the freedom  to do as they please. No, they have to have moral vindication of their positions, even if it’s a brittle and hollow one. So they mock and belittle this decent and learned man, and fail to acknowledge the good he stands for. And the press allows this, even tacitly agrees with it. Because they know that they can do this with impunity, and no one is going to saw off their heads, or kill other people at random, in mindless riots at the insults.
 
It is true that the Catholic Church has plenty of its own disgraceful periods to atone for–the Inquisition comes to mind. But we need to remember that we must go back quite a few hundred years for these episodes and that, though it represents its perception of the Divine, it
is still an institution of men, who are not. And today, if you choose not to believe, they will pray for you, and feel that it’s your loss; you won’t be murdered for your lack of faith.

I think he represents the best of our civilization, even though I disagree with many official Church positions.  The good that the Church has done outweighs the harm it has done, on balance (kind of like the USA).  And lest we forget, it was through the Church that we have any knowledge at all of the history and wisdom of the ancient world, that would otherwise have been lost forever in the Dark Ages. 

Now, I’m not prosletizing for anyone. My own view is, believe what comforts you. It makes no difference at all to the universe, as it is. Sooner or later, we are all  going to die, and then, we will KNOW. So why waste what precious time we have on this world, arguing and slaughtering each other over what CANNOT be proven?  To believe without proof is the essence of faith, is it not?
 
I remember one time during my years in practice the Catholic chaplain, a monk, who was a very good, kind and wonderful man, came into a room where I was seeing my own patient, to see him, wish him well in his upcoming surgery and provide some spiritual support.  The patient in the next bed, a self-professed “born again”  Christian, just started criticizing the Catholic Church, the chaplain, as its local representative and in general, mouthing off.  The good friar took this with gentle equanimity, excused himself and left. I however, as a less evolved being, was furious FOR him. Only my professional discipline kept me from reaming this moron a new one. How dare he! 

Here’s a good and decent man, the friar, who has taken and KEEPS vows of poverty, chastity and piety (talk about medieval–I would fail all three), administering comfort and spiritual aid to a troubled soul, and this pompous a-hole decides one day that he’s going to be “born again”
and he believes this qualifies him to criticize the friar, who has PAID for his beliefs, in the coin of his life.  The friggin’ nerve of this guy! 

While I’m sure there are many devout people of good will in the fundamentalist Christian churches, I’ve always viewed the “born again” like the late, great William F. Buckley, Jr., who said, “I don’t need to be born again. I got it right the first time.”
 
And, as has been my experience with anyone, of any faith, that claims a hotline to the Almighty, this obnoxious guy seemed to have forgotten that the essence of his professed faith is… LOVE. Well, following the example of the good chaplain, I let him live.
 
You see, it doesn’t matter to me that another person has a faith different from mine, or that I might not agree with its theological niceties. What matters to me is the commitment, the genuine dedication to an ideal.  That’s what I revere, what I admire. And for that reason, I used to give “professional courtesy” to pastors, rabbis, priests, nuns and bishops. I would have done so for any Muslim imams, or Buddhist monks, if I had any. 

I saw a surprising number of people in the religious life–the kneeling, you see. All that kneeling and genuflection takes a toll after a while. Many of them had severe knee pain from chondromalacia patellae or patellofemoral arthritis. You can learn about these at  http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html    Many times, I could treat them with conservative measures, like the exercises in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM   http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html    At other times, they needed surgery.

But I was always impressed with their unfailing acceptance of their condition, their serenity, their appreciation of whatever was done for them and their patience with human limitations: their own, the nurses’, and mine.  Their uniform lack of fear, and their complete lack of antagonism, so common among patients today, was striking in its absence. What a tribute to their faiths. And what a pleasure they were to care for. There’s a lesson here for everyone, whatever our beliefs. God bless them all–and may their tribe increase. Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to   http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

April 16, 2008

You know, whenever we’d be in surgery, I’d have the radio playing, or if that was boring, some CD’s. Depending on my mood at the time, I’d ask the circulator nurse to play rock ‘n’ roll, or classical. My tastes ranged from early Beatles, Stones, The Moody Blues (I still think that “Nights in White Satin” may be the most sensual song ever written), Queen  (honestly, doesn’t everyone just love “Bohemian Rhapsody?”), Dire Straits (“Sultans of Swing”),  and Meat Loaf. In fact, after any major surgery was finished, “Bat Out of Hell” was my closing music. The idea was to close the patient’s incision and be entirely finished with the sutures, by the time the CD ended. That high voltage anthem to youthful angst kept me bookin’ along, I can tell you.
 
Sometimes, though, I’d ask them to play Beethoven, generally the 3rd Symphony, or the immortal 9th, anything by Bach, but especially the Brandenburg Concertos, or Handel’s “Water Music.” Right after the film, AMADEUS played, I was on a Mozart jag for months. And after I saw Phantom of the Opera, I’d have them play the entire score, over and over and over again. We’d actually have sing alongs in the OR, kind of like surgical kareoke.
 
Now all this may seem a little bit much for anyone who thinks the Operating Room is all serious and deathly quiet, with a loud beeping from the EKG in the background, and terse, staccato orders from the surgeon: “Scalpel… Sponge… Wipe.” I mean, nobody talks like that in the OR. I can tell you that although  there ARE some guys that do like to work in a scene like that, I always found that to be torture. I’d make fun
of anyone who tried to play that Hollywood scene in my presence, for sure. They would have to be pretty stuffy guys, to start with. All that crap you see in the movies is pure fantasy, to build up the drama. It’s usually much more like “Mash,” than “Not As A Stranger,” though that’s really a reflection of the personality of the surgeon, who is “captain of the ship,” once  surgery is underway. 

Personally, I hated dead silence and tension in my room (that is, any OR where I was working). Hey, if I had to be there, I wanted to have a good time, while I healed the lame and cured the sick. And the nurses, anesthesiologists, my assistant and the OR techs, all loved being in my room, ’cause they knew that the surgery would go smoothly and they’d enjoy spending their time in there, with us. 

I only remember two times in over 23 years in practice where I told them to shut off the music. When it really “hits the fan,” you DO need to concentrate. But the rest of the time, I liked the music in the background, and good conversation with my friends and coworkers, while I operated. In fact, when the patient was awake, under regional, epidural, spinal, or local anesthesia, we’d even offer a choice of tunes to the patient. 
 
What can I tell you–the music relaxed me, so the surgery would just flow. When you’re in “the zone” and you’re exercising your skills in an effortless flow, the result is going to be superb. If you’re comfortable and confident in your abilities (and lack of confidence was never one of my faults), you really don’t need to think much. You just do what you were trained to do, relax and let it flow through you….the goal is
effortless excellence.

This carried over into my office, too, where we played music, or a T.V. for the patients. Occasionally, we’d play DVD’s for them, as well. I always found that this  approach put patients at ease and made my job easier. Lots of folks came in, scared to death. Let’s face it, if you think about what I was actually doing to them, it IS scary. So I saw part of my job as putting their minds at rest, by instilling confidence in me and
by allowing them to relax in pleasant surroundings.
 
Right down the hall from my office was the Department of  Physical Therapy, where I was also the Medical Director.  I had the OR, my office and P.T. all in the same building (really cut down on my commuting time). I would often drop down there, between office visits to check up on my patients. After joint surgery, and even before, in many cases, the physical therapy was critical to a good result. I’ve seen many cases where the surgery was a success,  but the end result less than satisfactory, because of stiffness.

So I’d go down to encourage them and prod them, when necessary. I had a prescription specifically for my patients, that the therapists had to follow. Besides the usual range of motion and strengthening exercises, they had to stretch tendons and the iliotibial band, which might otherwise have a tendency to contract and limit motion. These exercises and stretches were the forerunners of my current PAIN-FREE PROGRAM     http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html     And even here it was common to have music playing in the background (although they had to keep it down more than we did in the OR, so it didn’t sound like a party to the adjacent offices). 

Even today, I like to have something playing in the background, when I do my work, or my exercises. If you find that you’re having a hard time buckling down and doing your own exercises, try playing something you like on the radio, or CD player, and make it fun. If  it helps you relax, like it does for me, it’ll seem less like a chore, and more like a pleasure. And DOING the exercises is key, if you want to prevent or
get rid of your knee pain. And that’s the name of that tune! Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill

P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html

P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

April 15, 2008

Today is tax day, when we all need to give an exhorbitant chunk of what we’ve earned to our beloved IRS, so the government can redistribute what we’ve earned and give it to many who have not earned it, both in this country and in foreign lands. Just yesterday, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal on-line by Dr. Jonathan Keller (a pediatrician and novelist) called “The Insurance Mafia.”

He makes the excellent point that much of the problem in Medicine and Health Care today is the result of the third party payer–the Insurance Industry. He goes on to point out that people were (in the past) and could be again (in the future) far better off paying for their own care, out of pocket. 

Based on the happy coincidence of these two occurences, I thought it appropriate to share with you some of my thoughts on the concept of a government run health care system and also provide you with a reacquaintance with some of the facts of life.
 
The idea of insurance is, at its core, a gambling operation. The Insurance company is betting that you won’t need them to pay for services, so they collect your premium and pay for nothing: pure profit. The policy owner (you) is reassured, believing that, should anything happen, he or she is “covered,” meaning that it is expected that the Insurance Company will pay for any needed care. But the Insurance Companies are in business to make a profit, and–like casinos–profit they do,…at YOUR expense.
 
You see, they increase their profits only by DENYING you the very services you paid for. This is especially obvious if you happen to be in an HMO (laughably named, Health Maintenance Organization). Hurt your knee? Fine. Go see your Primary Care Provider (BTW, notice how they rarely call doctors “doctors?” That’s quite deliberate, to dilute any residual respect or authority of the physician. He or she is now merely one more vendor of “health care services.”) 
 
The PCP will attempt to treat you, first. Not expert care perhaps–a PCP is usually a generalist–but often adequate, and a helluva lot cheaper than a specialist. No better?  OK, try some Physical Therapy for six or eight weeks.
 
Mind you, you still haven’t gotten an expert diagnosis. Still no better? OK, go see the specialist. But now you can’t get an appointment for another eight weeks. So, whatever you eventually need, MRI, Arthroscopic Surgery, etc., the Insurance Company has avoided paying for anything for about three months now. And they’re not done yet.
 
First, they have a “negotiated rate” for each “provider.”  So they pay a fraction of the real list cost. Then, they withhold payment for as long as they can get away with it, often another two or three months. And of course, if they can find any loophole to deny payment entirely, that’s Insurance Nirvana. 
 
Now all this time they have not been paying, they are making beaucoup interest on retained premiums. There’s a reason that many of the tallest buildings in every major city were built by and house insurance companies.

The point is that the interposition of the insurance company between the doctor and the patient has driven up the costs of Medicine, while restricting patient choice and optimal care. In the old days, you would pay the doctor out of pocket. The doctor had to look you in the eye, personally, when you were charged, so the fees were usually reasonable–what people could afford. And you didn’t have a third party horning in, telling you and your doctor what you could and couldn’t do. 

So, with that indictment of the current system, you may think I’m a fan of the “single payer” euphemism for a government run health care system, ala Canada, Europe, or the UK. But you’d be WRONG! 

The problem with that concept is that it’s even worse than what we have now. Think about it. Other than our awesome, kick-a$$ military, what other government-run operation is cost effective, efficient, even marginally competent and minimally compassionate? Answer: there is none.
 
The old joke about “the efficiency of the DMV, the competence of the Post Office and the compassion of the IRS” is so dead on accurate, it’s scary. Why is this? Well, the sad truth is, as artfully inscribed in our culture by the late, great Dean of Science Fiction, Robert A. Heinlein, “TANSTAAFL: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.”  Things and services COST. Someone has to pay. If you think you’re not paying because the government is paying, remember that you ARE the government, or at least that’s where the money comes
from. 

“Ask not for whom the cash register tolls, it tolls for thee (with apologies to Hemingway).” Ch-Ching!   So, much higher taxation, with unlimited demand–a true recipe for financial disaster. Add in the massive influx of illegal aliens, and you have potential catastrophe.
 
So, what to do?  First, for God’s sake, preserve your health!  If you have some mild discomfort in your knees, lose weight, and exercise with my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM    http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise _eliminate.html   That will take care of the majority of problems and
prevent a trip to the doctor. The same principle applies to the rest of your body. For overall fitness and strength, it’s hard to beat Combat Conditioning    http://drbillsclinic.com/combat_conditioning.html    or  Bodysculpting for Women, which you can get at
 http://drbillsclinic.com/body_sculpting.html     Exercise is the single best thing you can do for your health. It helps your blood sugar, cholesterol, heart health, lung power, circulation, pretty much everything.
 
Next, start a special bank account for health care expenses. Then, buy the best insurance coverage you can afford, if possible a PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) or POS (Point Of Service) option. This is worth the extra premium dollars, because you have the option of going directly to a specialist, without having to get jerked around by the “gatekeeper” PCP.  This is nearly as good as indemnity insurance, which is very hard to get and frighteningly expensive.  Finally, pray–because whatever the geniuses in the government come    up with in the future, you can bet it won’t be better for you. Depend on yourself, educate yourself and try to stay clear of “the system,” if    you can.   Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow, 

Dr. Bill
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to   http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!,  everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

April 14, 2008

I’ve just been using this relaxing weekend to catch up on my correspondance in the Dr. Bill’s Clinic mailbox.  Besides the usual mix of new subscribers, new order confirmations, comments on my daily email topics, personal requests for advice, or help and the like, I’ve noticed an inordinate number of “stealth” advertisements for ED, male enhancement and promises of a better love life popping up (you should excuse the phrase) in my BUSINESS emailbox!

I mean, even spammers should be smart enough to target their email blasts. I hardly think that a medically oriented, orthopaedic specific health site should be on their list. It’s not only irritating to me and likely most other recipients, but it’s wasteful of their own money. It’s just stupid! 

But what’s really annoying is that they now have a new wrinkle to get past spam filters–they are now including an entire paragraph of text from some book or other, which has nothing whatsoever to do with what they’re trying to sell. The paragraph usually starts out in the middle of a sentence, and goes on from there for 15 or 20 lines, where it abruptly stops.
 
Just last night, I had to remove about eight of these.  So just now these “stealth emails” are on top of my list of irritants and pet peeves. That got me to thinking about what other petty vexations rank high on my list.

Well, cell phones rank up there. Not the phones themselves; they’re just inanimate objects, that can be used for good or ill (kind of like guns, if you think about it).  No, my argument is with the idiots I see on a daily basis, driving, walking, shopping, or eating, all with a cell
phone stuck to their ears. This is especially great when I see a woman (or a man) trying to make a turn, or other maneuver, in heavy traffic, with one hand and the other attached to that electronic appendage they apparently have growing out of their heads.
 
It’s also just terrific to have to overhear complete conversations at normal speaking volume, while I’m stuck in the checkout line at the grocery store. This couldn’t wait? Even better are the new “hands free” phones, the ones with a wire microphone dangling from the earpiece,
or the Bluetooth Earpieces (which look remarkably like one worn by a young Jean-Luc Piccard, in one of the flash-back episodes on  Star Trek, The Next Generation).  These guys walk around talking to the air. You’d think they were crazy, but then you see the earpiece.
 
And what do they talk about? What is so urgent, or of such great import that it just can’t wait. 99 times out of 100 (and I’m being conservative here), they ain’t discussing Sartre and Existentialism, or the Meaning of Life. No. It is invariably the most banal, insipid drivel that you could imagine. And for this, they disturb my serene emotional tranquility.
 
Now, I recognize that my irritation with this cultural phenomenon is not entirely rational. And I realize that with the advancing years, my tolerance for idiocy is growing thinner: I no longer suffer fools gladly. But I admit that I’m sounding a bit like a curmudgeon.
 
Why does this annoy me so? Perhaps because during all those years as a physician and surgeon, when I HAD to stay in contact, I was tethered to a beeper. When someone called me, it was usually trouble. When I called them, it was usually with important, if not lifesaving information or instructions. But even when cell phones became available, I kept mine off. If I got a page, then I’d turn it on and call in. At that time, unsolicited calls would assail the cell phones, for which you had to pay. There was nothing I treasured more than being ”off call.” That meant no one bugging me by phone for a day or so. So I guess it’s hard for me to understand people who will pay per minute to talk about mostly nonsense. Well, like I said, not entirely rational….
 
While I’m cleaning the psychic attic, what else is on my list of annoying things? Whining and complaining rank pretty high. Like people who complain about how they have pain, they’re told just what to do, they don’t do it, and they complain that they’re still in pain.  Just recently, I gave detailed advice–for FREE– to a woman who has pretty disabling knee pain. Now, I’m very sympathetic. That’s why I gave her advice. Told her exactly what to do, the very steps I teach in my LITTLE GREEN BOOK  (go see what I mean at my web site
 http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html ).  I even taught her a few of the specially modified exercises in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM to eliminate her pain  ( http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html ).  Now, if this woman had seen me in my office, back in
the day, she would have paid a lot for what I gave her for free. But people often don’t value what they don’t pay for. 
 
So, sure enough, when I last asked her how she was doing, she replied that she was still having pain. “Have you done what I told you to do?” I asked. “Well, noooo,” she said sheepishly. I replied, “Then, how do you expect to get better?” She shrugged, “I dunno.”   Indeed.
 
My friend, I tell you, I give great advice; not just good advice, GREAT advice. But YOU have to do your part, or it just won’t work. Well that’s it for today. After venting a little spleen, I don’t know about you, but I feel much better    Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,

Dr. Bill
 
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to   http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved