February 8, 2010

Well, Superbowl XLIV (or 44, which reminds us why Roman numerals were discarded) turned out to be a real contest. And a real surprise. My wife and I surely had a lot of company thinking that Manning’s Indianapolis Colts were going to mop the floor with Brees’ New Orleans Saints. And as the game started out, it looked as though that would be the story.

One of the more exciting moments was in the very first quarter, when Manning handed off the ball to Joesph Addai, number 29, who ran down the field for a touchdown. It just doesn’t get more exciting than that! But then, the tide slowly turned.

Manning’s passes were incomplete. Several calls by the referees were against the Colts, which made a huge difference in the outcome. And the underdogs from New Orleans, on their first showing in franchise history, The Saints went marchin’ in…to Superbowl History, as the 2010 NFL champions.

It had to be a bitter pill for the Colts, favored to win by nearly everyone. They never stopped trying. But finally, they just couldn’t catch up. And the Saints won it 31 to 17, when the smoke cleared.

Congratulations to Drew Brees, winning quarterback and MVP, and his team. They pulled it off! And the fans on Bourbon Street went wild (not that they don’t go wild, normally…).

The halftime show by The Who was pretty spectacular, visually, with lots of lasers, synchronized fireworks, and other great visual effects. The songs were a medley of their past hits and reminded us of what a great band they used to be. But Roger Daltrey couldn’t hit the high notes to “Pinball Wizard” and several other signature numbers. It was almost painful to listen.

It was a performance that reminded me of lines from that old Kenny Roger’s song “The Gambler:” …You gotta know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away….” But, that’s just my opinion.

On a positive note, there were no “wardrobe malfunctions,” for which we can all be thankful.

One thing I noted again and again, while watching the game: the punishment these men take in the course of a hard fought game is astounding. You can especially appreciate it on those slow motion replays, when you can see the enormous impacts they absorb and the awful, twisting forces that threaten to rip their knees apart (and sometimes do).

The only thing that saves them from permanent injury every time they’re hit (besides luck) is relative youth and pre-season training, using many of the very same exercises I teach in my newly expanded PAIN-FREE PROGRAM and the included EXERCISE DVD:

http://www.drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html

It does make you realize why their careers are usually short, though. No one can continue to absorb that much punishment, without long term consequences. Makes you appreciate a guy like Favre, dosen’t it?

And then, there were the commercials. Dorritos was a big sponsor this year. And, in my opinion, the nadir of taste was their bit with the guy in the coffin with all the Dorritos chips, at a funeral. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t think that was funny. It was just dumb.

But a few were cute. I liked the Clydesdale and the Bull commercial by Budweiser. And the sexy babes of GoDaddy.com are always pleasant on the eyes. Again, probably me, but overall, I just thought the advertisements this year were tepid, compared with those of past years. And they cost a reported million bucks a minute, too.

So, Superbowl 44 is history, now. Time to get on with everything else. I’m gonna pop a couple of my ultra pure, pharmaceutical grade fish oil caps 

http://www.favoriteformulas.com

take the rest of my vitamins and get my exercises in. Then, I have to finish a special gift for you, which you can download, IF you sign up for my emails again, later this week.

The time has nearly come for the switch to the new server. So, be prepared. And if you want to keep getting my musings, ravings, commentary and free medical info, opt-in again, when you get the notice. Til next time, my friend, be well. Talk with you soon.

Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,

Dr. Bill

“The Wellness Warrior”             TM

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 conventional and alternative treatments and exercises to relieve knee pain without surgery click on http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html

P.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, 2010 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD, FACS
All rights reserved

January 19, 2010

Last week, while I was perusing my emails for Dr. Bill’s Clinic, I came across a request from one of my older subscribers. By older, I mean (quite naturally) older than ME. Ever notice how when anyone talk about “old guys,” they always mean older than THEM. Right?
 
Anyway, this man is, shall we say, in late middle age, has stayed in good shape and has been a runner for years. Problem is that he recently had a sudden onset of severe knee pain, after running to catch a bus, or something.
 
He was seen by an orthopaedist, who after examining him, decided that he may well have a torn meniscus. 
 
As you may know, there are two crescent shaped fibrocartilages, called menisci, which lie between the end of the femur (thigh bone) and the upper tibia (shin bone), inside the knee. 
 
They act as cushions and guides for motion of the joint, especially in twisting, or cutting movements. For more about these and other causes of painful knee pathology, please refer to my LITTLE GREEN BOOK:  http://www.drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
Because these cartilage structures are invisible on standard x-rays, the doctor ordered an MRI scan of the offending knee. This scan is terrific, because it can show the structures and can predict if they are torn, with an accuracy of about 90-95%, on the medial (inside) compartment of the knee.
 
Sure enough, he had a torn medial meniscus. But he also had a surprise–he had almost completely bare bone exposed on the end of his femur, in the medial compartment. The guy was understandably shocked. How could he have such bad arthritis and not have felt it before this injury?
 
The answer is, this is not an uncommon picture. Sometimes, the articular cartilage becomes degenerative and gradually erodes away, exposing the bone. Though most people will feel this as significant pain, as it happens, a few will compensate (high pain threshhold, endorphins, etc.) and will feel nothing, at all. Until something happens, as did here, to DE-compensate his defenses against pain. THEN, he felt it.
 
Naturally, as a believer in natural healing, he was leery of knee surgery. And studies have demonstrated that arthroscopic surgery added nothing to just medicine, physical therapy and exercises, like those I teach in my newly updated and expanded PAIN-FREE PROGRAM & DVD:  http://www.drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html 
 
HOWEVER…in this case, I DID recommend that he go ahead with surgery. Here’s why.
 
This man is very active and wants to remain so. He has exposed bare bone and therefore, will need at least a partial knee replacement, perhaps a total knee replacement, when his symptoms warrant it. But then, he will NOT be able to run or do any exercises involving impact, which could damage, or loosen the artificial implants.
 
He also has a significant tear, easily fixed, in addition to his arthritis. It seems reasonable to conclude that if the tear were “fixed,” he might well “buy time” and return to his asymptomatic state, at least for a while.
 
The studies that recommended against knee surgery for arthritis were talking about a general “clean out,” or debridement, NOT addressing a specific torn meniscus, with very specific mechanical symptoms, directly attributed to that damaged structure. When dealing with arthritis and knee pain, it IS best to be conservative, in most cases, where there is diffuse disease and no specific mechanical symptoms, as seen here.
 
That’s why I wrote my newest healing program, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY, which you can get here: http://www.drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html 
 
The many treatments from both conventional and alternative medicine are designed to help you avoid the UNNECESSARY procedure. but if the surgery IS necssary, as it was here, then it should be done.
 
Well, he DID have the arthroscopy, he did, in fact have the tear that the MRI predicted, and he DID do very well. He’s now glad he did it, as he has returned to his preoperative state of virtually no pain. And the procedure has bought him time, which he can continue to enjoy, until further progress of his disease makes a total knee unavoidable.
 
I love being right. 
 
And the only other recommendation I gave him that I would give you, too, is to get on my Powerhouse Omega Formula, an ultra pure, highly concentrated, pharmaceutical grade fish oil, with a special enteric coating that prevents any fishy aftertaste and the dreaded “fish burps.”
 
http://www.favoriteformulas.com  
 
Omega 3′s have potent, long term anti-inflammatory properties that help to control the pain of arthritis, a as well as many heart and brain healthy effects, as well.
 
I also advised him to consider giving up the running, in favor of power walking, or hill sprints, which avoid the damaging shocks to the weight bearing joints, seen with running. If he listens to me, these measures may buy him even more time….
 
Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
 
“The Wellness Warrior”    TM
 
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 conventional and alternative treatments and exercises to relieve knee pain without surgery click on http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html 
 
P.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, 2010 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD, FACS
All rights reserved

December 21, 2009

After our recent soujourn in the City, where we enjoyed New York, in all its Christmas finery, it was time to head back to Florida. We’re having the family over for Christmas, so we have a bunch of work to do, before the homestead is fit for company. And besides, the bride was missing her “babies” and needed a fur fix, bad.
 
So, after setting the Southampton thermostats down to subsistence levels, we headed out to the airport. As a matter of convenience, we use Southwest Airlines, out of Macarthur Airport in Islip, because it’s the closest to Southampton. It’s two hours (depending on traffic) to the closest City Airports, LaGuardia or JFK, so Macarthur, it is.
 
We arrived there in plenty of time, to discover that the flight to Orlando was packed. Not a spare seat on the plane. And we were reportedly heading out just ahead of a massive Winter snow storm (even though it isn’t officially Winter, yet). “Global Warming,” right?
 
Fortunately, I had the foresight to buy “Earlybird” seating, which is Southwest’s idea for giving you early boarding for open seating. They claim that this saves them money, though I have never understood how. Anyway, this gives you a better choice of seats, as you get on the plane sooner. With the flight so packed and no empty seats, it usually let’s us pick our seats, get our stuff stashed sooner, with less hassle. 
 
If Jetblue could ever get into that airport, we’d be on that airline, all the time. They have more comfortable seats, they have those cute little TV screens, on the back of the seat in front of you, and the planes are always clean. They also have assigned seating, none of this “lining up” crap.
 
Normally, we head right for the mid-plane exit row. There are several reasons why we like that: 1. The seats have considerably more legroom, 2. If, God forbid, there IS an emergency evacuation of the plane, I want the limiting factor to a quick exit to be cool, fast, competent hands, ie., MINE, not those of some panicky, bumbling moron, and 3. When the plane is NOT packed tight, we can often have an empty seat between us, the closest you can get to “First Class” seating on these “cattlecar” flights.
 
This time, however, someone had beaten us to our favorite row, a big burly guy. And there he was, all spread out in the window seat, with his knees open and his shoulders and arms spreading over the armrest. Great.
 
Now, you need to undetstand that the bride does NOT sit next to strangers, anywhere, if she can help it. No. That’s MY job. So I settled in, as best I could, between my wife on my right and King Kong on my left. Great.
 
Guy never budged. No tendency for accomodation, at all. And he was a big guy. He was pretty broad. He actually took up that space, and then some. It’s not like I could ask him to move over. There WAS no “over.” So, I twisted slightly in the seat, insinuating my left shoulder behind his right.  And so I sat… the entire. miserable. flight.
 
This would have been bad enough, but that slight twist was enough to set my warped, previously fractured spine off, causing some cramping and aches and pains, that I normally don’t have. Part of it was that my wife didn’t have enough of my POWERHOUSE OMEGA FORMULA  http://www.favoriteformulas.com  with her on this trip (I thought she packed them, she thought I’d packed them…), so I lent her some of mine.  And now, I could FEEL the difference of the lower daily dose.
 
If you ever doubted that pharmaceutical grade fish oil really DOES have natural anti-inflammatory properties, just try being without your accustomed dose for a few days and then talk to me. They’re real, alright.
 
So, to take my mind off the discomfort of my contortions, I started doing some of the isometrics that I teach in my all new, expanded PAIN-FREE PROGRAM exercises and stretches, like quad setting and seated calf raises, http://www.drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html   which have the added benefit of moving the blood through the lower legs, reducing the risk of a DVT (deep vein thrombosis, clots that can form in the veins of the legs, from long sitting in one position). 
 
Between these little leg exercise sessions and a few chest compressions (where you press one hand against the other and tense your pectoral muscles, while breathing deeply) and even a few head rolls, side to side and round and round, to loosen up my neck and spine, and a few cat naps, I finally made it. Hallelujah!
 
Talk about “flying the friendly skies…” this was one of the worst flights it has been my experience to suffer through, in quite some time. Thank God it was over. The bride, of course, was just fine. Just as well, though.  Don’t want her turning nasty…I’d still be suffering
 
Well, we picked up the luggage, retrieved the car and got back to the homestead, without incident. Luckily, it was fairly cool for Orlando, about 68-70 degrees, with a nice breeze, so I didn’t have to hear about the insufferable heat and humidity. But a helluva lot better than the 30′s we left in New York and the snow storm we had just missed, by my reckoning. I hate the cold. She hates the heat. How did we stay married for over 35 years? Just lucky, I guess….
 
Well, time for the big push, this week. Christmas is nearly upon us, so lots to do before the big guy in the red suit squeezes down our chimney, once more. Hope you’re getting your shopping done early. Talk to you soon. 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 conventional and alternative treatments and exercises to relieve knee pain without surgery click on http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html 
 
P.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, 2009 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD, FACS
All rights reserved

Well, Christmas is just a week from tonight.  Unbelievable. I’ve expounded before about the Stillwell Theory of Seasonal Relativity. 
 
In brief, for the uninitiated, this theory states that time progressively accelerates, relative to an observer’s proximity to the Christmas Holidays.  In other words, time subjectively seems to speed up from around April, through the rest of the year, hitting a peak from August through December. 
 
I mean, once you reach Halloween, you blink, and it’s Thanksgiving. Blink again, it’s Christmas, then New year’s Eve. 
 
Then suddenly, on January first of the New Year, it’s like the brakes were thrown on–time is suddenly slowed to a crawl, not to speed up again until late Spring and Summer. Just look at how long it takes to arrive at Valentine’s Day. Seems like it takes forever.
 
And of course, the older you get, the faster and faster it all seems to go. Well, it seems that way to me, anyway. But math was always my worst subject…. 
 
There really is a scientific explanation for this subjective phenomenon, though. The older you get, the smaller the fraction of your entire life experience is each new experience. That’s why the two month summer vacation you enjoyed as a kid seemed to stretch forever, but it flashes by as an adult. Two months is a whole lot bigger fraction of the whole when you’re only ten years old, than when you’re fifty.
 
But now that we’re in the week before Christmas, it’s all going at warp speed. And it doesn’t help that I’m spending a lot of time running up and down the East Coast, to prepare the Northern Command and transport our cats. I STILL have to get all that last minute shopping done, even though I DID start during the summer.
 
With all the extra stresses of the Holiday Season, many people have emailed me with their complaints of sore backs and aching knees. Not surprising, though, is it? Everyone is running around, on their feet longer, shopping, going to office parties, shopping, and more shopping, despite the economy. 
 
And the physical stress is compounded by the extra mental and emotional stress, which transforms into biological stress. This kind of stress makes any inflammation in the body worse and reduces the body’s immune system, as well.
 
So, what to do? Well, even though it’s very tough this time of year, you have to keep up with your exercises.  If you have knee pain, my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM (click here:  http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html )  is ideal for this, because it provides a MENU of proven, effective exercises, from which you can choose.
 
But when time is of the essence, I’d recommend that you concentrate on HACK SQUATS, with the heaviest weight you can handle, to meet the criteria that I outline, and the specially modified HINDU SQUATS I describe at  http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
You can also do simple isometric QUAD SETS, while standing in line at stores, or at every red light, if driving. If you’re at a train station, lean against the columns and do WALL SITTING–effective, but inconspicuous in public.
 
And to boost your immune system and increase your strength and stability, try the life-enhancing topical cream that increases your own endogenous growth hormone,  safely and within physiological limits, like I do:   http://drbillsclinic.com/trans_d_tropin.html 
 
If you try to do these few things, every day, despite being in the very midst of the Christmas Countdown, you will feel better, be less likely to get colds  and flu, and will relieve your knee pain. Try these methods and see what I mean.
 
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

Well, the Holiday Season is upon us, recession and all. I just now got back in from Costco (though I still like to call it Price Club–much more euphonious, don’t you think?). I had to stock up on some essential things, prior to taking the flight back to New York, tomorrow night.

Then, the very next day, I get to drive back to Central Florida with the bride, and a bunch of cat carriers, so we can take the last of the brood to New York. The plan is to see Christmas in, here in Florida, then drive the last batch of kitties to the Northern Command.

You see, it’s cold up there, will soon be freezing so naturally, the bride (who LIKES the cold) wants to winter there (while most sane people are COMING to Florida, for the relative warmth and sunshine). Don’t ask me–I just live here (and there, whatever), but I digress….

But before we drive back up north with the cats, we get to festoon the house with Christmas decorations, and that means cleaning the whole place, top to bottom, in preparation for entertaining (though admittedly, it’s a whole lot easier with fewer cats in the house).

And that’s on top of getting in some late Christmas shopping. I always start early (I think I got my wife’s first present in July), but it’s finishing that’s the problem. I’m getting more exhausted, just thinking about all I have to do.

So, with every spare minute accounted for already, naturally I have requests for articles and product reviews and other projects coming up, out of the blue.

This situation reminds me of a handwritten sign we used to see in the O.R. every so often: “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer!” Words to live by. I think the sign was put up by one of the male nurses, a guy who used to work in the Psychiatry Ward, but transferred to the Operating Room. As you might expect, this gave him a rather unique perspective.

His name was Tim, and he was the resident wit and cartoonist of the place. His droll and dry sense of the absurd saw us through many rough times. No one was exempt from his pen–when I was injured (falling through a high ceiling and fracturing my spine, if you’re a newby), he posted a cartoon of me falling behind a couch, with a line of cats all holding up signs with scores (8.9, 9.6, 9.2, 9.8…) just like an olympic event. I saw this my first day back. It WAS pretty funny. Certainly pointed out, in a humorous way, the idiocy of my predicament. But anyway, I think he posted that sign.

Together with the other members of my team, I took that motto to heart. We did some of the most truly outrageous surgical reconstructions ever seen in our region. Stuff that really did border on the impossible. I remember one little wizened lady, deep into her seventies, with horrible rheumatoid arthritis, that had BOTH knees so contactured, she couldn’t even stand.

A contracture is where the joints, in this case both knees, are literally scarred into a fixed, bent position, in her case, well beyond 90 degrees. And no amount of stretching, or force, can straighten them. In this lady, her bones would have shattered before the scar tissue gave way.

Because of ignorance and neglect, very gradually over time, her knees became more and more bent. No one thought to have her evaluated by a doctor; no one had started her on stretches and exercises, like those in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html or got her braces, or splints to keep her knees straight. So eventually, the poor thing was stuck in a Nursing Home bed, in a fetal position.

I don’t remember how I came to care for her, but I remember that the older, wiser heads in the Department all gravely assured me that she was beyond hope, that it was impossible. Luckily for her, I was still in that early phase when I believed in my heart I could do anything–and so, I did.

If there was ever a case that exemplified the necessary surgery, this was the one. I had to release virtually every ligament and muscle around her knee, and cut away a significant amount of bone to allow the knee to both straighten and accept total knee implants. At one point, her leg was literally hanging in the breeze, connected only by the posterior nerve and blood vessels. I should have been scared out of my wits…but you see, it never occurred to me that this could fail. So it didn’t. The ligaments, once released, found their own correct levels and went on to heal at those spots. When we were done, the leg was straight and the knee was stable.

Ideally, she should have had both done the same day, so she could walk. But she couldn’t tolerate that much anesthesia at one time–”The impossible takes a little longer.” So initially she was left with one leg bent up and one leg down and straight (kind of like Superman, when he flies up, up, and away). Next week, we took her back for the other side. This went faster, with the lessons learned from the first go round.

Some months after she was discharged from the hospital, I was giving a talk on knee replacement in a public forum and this same lady WALKED up and thanked me. And damn! Those knees were straight! What a transformation. She was now very talkative and lively, where before she had sunk into a torpor and would surely have died from lack of stimulation and despair. And I knew that THIS was why I did what I did.

Those older wiser heads still shook their heads: “just lucky,” they said. Well, yeah, but better lucky than smart, eh?

The lesson here is that she need not have ever reached that point. Today, we know that there are many ways to prevent knee surgery, or at least delay it. You can combine effective conventional and alternative treatments from across the entire medical spectrum to relieve your pain and restore your function, like those I teach in HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY  http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html

If that patient had only had worn a simple extension brace at night, she might have avoided the magnitude of that complex surgery. In like manner, if you ever have a knee injury or a knee surgery, get your full range of motion back as soon as you can. And KEEP it, even if you need bracing to do it.

Til next time, my friend, be well.

Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,

Dr. Bill

Bright and early Saturday morning (well, 10 AM IS early to me these days), I suited up in my green scrub suit, donned my long white coat, just like the good old days, and drove up to the Fitness Center of the Alaqua Golf & Country Club, in the community in Central Florida, where I live. 
 
The plan was to shoot the necessary footage for the new DVD edition of my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM exercises (which you can check out and purchase, if you wish, by clicking on this link:   http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html )
 
I had lined up a suitable model, Jennifer Kunzig, a personal trainer, to demonstrate the exercises, with the special modifications I’ve developed to prevent or eliminate knee pain. Let’s face it. No one wants to see some middle aged guy doing these exercises, when he can look at a pretty young woman, right? She had been dieting and restricting her water intake over the last week, so her definition would look good on tape.
 
I had also retained a videographer, to produce the DVD, a great guy named Jonah Travik (Jonah–now there’s a name you just don’t hear every day). I had worked with him before, shooting the DVD version of my LITTLE GREEN BOOK FOR ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN
 http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html  (That has yet to be edited, but I expect it to be ready early in the New Year) and he’s great to work with.
 
Finally, I had secured permission to use the Golf Club’s Fitness facilities from the owner and developer of the community, a really nice guy named John Ritenour. His kindness gave us a super venue for the shoot, not to mention very convenient for me, as I live about two minutes  down the street.
 
So all was in readiness, the cast of characters was assembled and the sun was shining brightly. We were ready to roll. I got there on time (not too hard–I WAS only two minutes away) and met Jonah. We set up the lights and planned the camera angles, while we waited for Jennifer to show up, which she did about a half hour later. This was planned–no point in having her sit around while we were setting up.
 
Finally, I placed a neat little sign on the door of the Fitness Center: QUIET PLEASE. PRIVATE VIDEO SHOOT  WITHIN. THANK YOU. This was to discourage the curious and the club members, who might otherwise enter while we were shooting.
 
But with the sign and the obvious evidence that a professional crew was engaged in a project, you would think that once we started with the “lights, camera, etcetera, etcetera…” that anyone with good sense would respect our privacy and return later, after we were done, if they felt the burning desire to work out. Just common courtesy, right?
 
I mean, if the situations were reversed and I came across a film crew working when I showed up for my exercise session, it would never even occur to me to barge into the middle of things.
 
So, you know where I’m going with this, right?
 
First, a nice middle aged woman came in and wanted to get her workout in while we were still setting up. So, she got on the treadmill, then did a few dumbbell exercises, and so on. But she never held us up, as we worked around her. And she was properly deferential and only too happy to get out when we were ready.
 
We started shooting after she left and we had hit a nice, productive rhythm. We were moving right along, with me doing the talking and voice overs and Jenn doing the exercises. And just as we were hitting our stride, the door opens and in walks an elderly guy, presumably right off the golf course, walks over and turns on the T.V., and then gets on a treadmill and proceeds to begin walking on it, filling the room with the mechanical noise of its motor and the thud of his footsteps on the track. 
 
I couldn’t believe the stones on this guy. I guess he either didn’t see the sign, was oblivious to it, saw it but didn’t give a crap, or he thought that “quiet please” just meant, “don’t speak” (which he didn’t). And he DID keep the volume on the T.V. real low. 
 
Well, of course, everything we shot during this time had the rumble of the treadmill running through it. And I couldn’t throw the guy out. After all, I was a guest here, myself. But, still….
 
I was frosted at the impeturbability of this guy and his utter disdain and disregard for what we were trying to do. Maybe it’s just me, but I think he was a rude, thoughtless S.O.B., at a minimum. 
 
I let him live. But it required some considerable restraint. And the other members of the crew felt the same–we were all grinding our teeth at the nerve of this guy.
 
Finally, he finished and left. Unbelievable. One good thing about older guys–you know their workout won’t last too long. But of course, he had broken our rhythm and we had to reshoot all the footage that his treadmill sounds had screwed up. His little workout cost us at least an extra hour.  Thanks, pal.
 
Anyway, we finally got it done–a little later than I had planned, but finished. And I have to tell you, I think what we shot was great! I was really pleased. And I hope you will be too, when I unleash the final product as a set of DVD’s, sometime, early in 2009.
 
And in addition to the video, I reshot all the still photos, with professional lighting, and added a bunch of new stuff: more stretches, more exercises, the proper ways to use the stationary bike, canes, braces, taping, ACE wrapping, a real expansion of the program. It was a lot of work, but it should be great!
 
This is going to replace the current PAIN-FREE PROGRAM, so this current version is going to become a collector’s item. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, NOW’s the time, while you still can. Go to http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html  and order your copy TODAY.
 
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

I was channel surfing last night and I came across one of those Ultimate Fighting channels. You know, the ones where the participants try to beat the living crap out of each other, using virtually every limb and joint available to them and utilizing fighting techniques from every style of martial art extant. There’s a reason they call it Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA.
 
I especially love it when one guy gets the other down on the ground, sits on top of him and  just whales the hell out of his head, over and over again:  BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Almost like an Emeril cookfest.  I can only imagine the damage the hittee is sustaining to his brain, assuming that he had one in that skull, when he started.
 
Why anyone would do this is beyond me. No art, no complexity, no philosphy. Just mauling. Makes boxing especially, but also karate, kung fu, savate, and pretty much anything with rules, look pretty tame by comparison. I find no attraction in this variation of the fighting arts. Yet some people love this.  Go figure.
 
It’s true I was in the martial arts for years, and still maintain an interest to this day. But my days of actual combat are now long behind me. Let’s face it. A guy my age, even if he practiced every day, isn’t going to be a match for a 19 year old, in peak condition. (That’s why these days, I’m licensed to carry heat. Heh. Like the saying goes, never try to fight an older man–he won’t fool with you; he’ll just kill you!)
 
Anyway, this reminded me of my trip to Bangkok, in Thailand, during a sailing cruise on a giant sailship, the Windstar, through Southeast Asia a number of years ago. On the night before we were scheduled to depart, my brother-in-law and I decided to see the night sights in the PatPong –the dark underbelly of the city. My wife wisely opted out of this excursion to the dark side and turned us loose, with a limo driver who knew all the in-spots and promised her that he’d keep us out of trouble. So, off we went….
 
If you’ve never seen this, it’s really something outside the experience of most Americans. It’s kind of like a combination open air market, bordello, red light district, bar, block party and sporting arena, all in one. I’ve never seen anything quite like this, before or since. It’s set back in a separate area, under neon lit “gates” that spell out “PatPong” and define its entrance. The area encompasses what seemed to be multiple city blocks, with people spilling out onto the streets from stores and bars on either side of the street. Cars were forbidden, so everyone wandered in the street, where all the action was. And vendors of everything imaginable, from clothes, to produce, to dried fish and chickens, you name it, lining the streets in rows upon rows. 
 
There were many bars on either side of the street, with a variety of entertainments including singing, snake charming, live s.ecks shows (the real thing–not faked), rooster fights and kick boxing contests that, between regular matches, invited the bar’s patrons to get in the ring with the fighters, for prize money, if they won. 
 
Now this last was what I was reminded of by the MMA. The young guys in these fighting rings were well trained Muay Tai (Thai Kickboxing) fighters. And these guys were good. And in superb condition. Little guys, but MAN! They were lightning fast and they packed a helluva wallop! Let me tell you, the fight promoter who put up the purse for any bout with a spectator was NOT putting his money at risk.
 
These fighters not only can punch you, with these oversized boxing gloves, but they can easily kick you right in the head, or drive a knee into your chest, with such speed and power that it can burst your heart. Literally. You would have to be very drunk, or very crazy to climb in the ring with these guys, unless you harbored a death wish.  (Hey if you wanted to die, you could always go off with one of the AIDS infested girls from those live shows.) 
 
It was really something to see. I wouldn’t be entertained by a steady diet of it, but once was pretty interesting, in a voyeuristic way. I remember thinking about the effects of the repetitive impacts on the fighters’ knees. No sore knees there.  But why?
 
Well, they hyperflex their knees, so their kneecaps are pulled BELOW the groove in the lower thigh bone (the trochlea groove) and they actually strike with the condyles of the femur. So the joint itself doesn’t suffer from the impacts. Only the target does.
 
And of course, these guys train morning noon and night. Just great muscle development. So their muscles help to absorb shock, as well as driving their kicks.  The exercises they do are naturally extremely intense. But the principles they follow are the same as those I teach you in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM. See it here at   http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
So if you’re ever in Bangkok, and want to absorb some real “local color,” try a walk on the wild side in the PatPong district. But be sure you go with a guide, for your own protection. Plenty of pick-pockets there, to go with everything else. Better to be safe. But it IS something to see–at least once.
 
Til next time, my friend, keep up your exercises, to prevent or eliminate knee pain, and restore function:  http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html   And be well. Talk to you again soon.
 
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

It’s early morning in my Southampton study, and as I look outside the window at the beautiful stone waterfall my wife had built (which she still has running, despite freezing temperatures), I reflect on the really nice time our family had yesterday. My wife had arranged this for her Dad, his wife and a family friend, as well as the two of us, as a treat to open the Holidays. 
 
So this past morning, we got up early and drove to the Jitney station. Although I have always loved going into The City, we have taken to travelling in on a giant bus, The Hampton Jitney.
 
The advantages are pretty substantial: you sit in comfort, without the tension and stress that are inescapable when driving yourself. Here, someone else does the driving and deposits you right outside your destination. And when your entertainment is over, they pick you up, drive you back and drop you off where you left your car. I’m telling you, you can’t beat it.
 
You can’t put a premium on the lack of tension brought about by having someone else drive you. As many times as I’ve driven into the City for some very nice times, there was always that wearing tension from trying to keep other drivers on the LIE (Long Island Expressway) from running into you, at high speed. As good a time as you may have had, you lose the glow real fast when you have to drive home yourself. Take it from me, this is a whole lot better. Very civilized.
 
Anyway, for this trip, the plan was to get into The City by noon and have lunch at a nice little French Restaurant on 28th Street and Lexington Avenue, La Petite L’Auberge. The bus let us out right in front of the restaurant at the appointed time. And another benefit–no worries about trying to find a parking space!
 
Let me tell you, it was terrific! The cuisine was Country French and, although our lunch was included in the theatre package, I understand from our guide that their prices are very reasonable–especially for a French restaurant. And more amazing still, they gave us a goodly amount of food.
 
We had a choice of three appetizers, three entrees, and three desserts. The food was wonderful. And the service was very pleasant, friendly and efficient, with none of the stereotypical hauteur that one sometimes sees in such places. If you’re ever in New York City, I highly recommend this establishment. I think you’ll be very pleased.
 
After a leisurely two hours, we all piled back into the bus for a ride to the Marquis Theatre on 46th Street. The play was the musical “White Christmas” (not Winter Wonderland, as I mistakenly reported yesterday–hey, my wife got the tickets. I just go where I’m told!) featuring Irving Berlin evergreens like “White Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” etc.
 
Although I’d naturally heard the songs over the years (they’ve long ago become part of our cultural lexicon), I had no idea what the story of the play was about. So, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me.
 
It was set in the post WW II America of 1954 and concerned the efforts of a couple of soldiers, who had become famous and successful Broadway song and dance men, who attempt to produce a Broadway musical in a Vermont Inn’s barn, for the benefit of their old commanding General, who is now the owner of this failing Country Inn. Along the way, they both discover true love and the real meaning of Christmas. Corny? Maybe. But real traditional Americana and a thoroughly enjoyable family show. 
 
I really enjoyed it and my father-in-law, who is a real part of that WW II generation, was in his element. He loves those old songs and those synchronized dance numbers. He was a pretty good dancer himself, in his day.
 
These days, however, he’s been slowed down by arthritis in his back and his knees. So, sadly, his dancing days are over. I know for a fact that he had arthritis in his knees years ago, because I operated on him back in the early eighties and saw he had arthritis back then. Of course, I tried to advise him to do the exercises I teach in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM (see it here, at http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html),  but you can’t do a thing with him! He does what he wants. So now, it is what it is. But after all, he IS 84+.
 
But IF I could’ve gotten to him years ago, and IF I could’ve given him the advice I have to give, now in my newest healing program, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html  and IF he had actually followed that advice, then maybe he’d be in better shape today. 
 
The point is, there ARE things you can do to alter your destiny. You CAN prevent knee pain, you CAN  slow the progress of arthritis and you CAN, in many cases, avoid unnecessary knee surgery. To see how, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html 
 
Until you do, if you have knee pain when walking, you can keep yourself from falling and minimize your pain by using a CANE, when you walk. Stubborn as my father-in-law is, even he does that, now. You should, too.
 
Well, that’s it for today. Only a week to go til Thanksgiving–can you believe it? 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

This morning, I was going through some old boxes stored in my garage (no basements in Orlando–the water table is so high that you can strike water eighteen inches into the ground). I’m trying to get rid of some stuff that has been lying around for far too long and to do that, I have to go through it all. I’m trying to be ruthless, but it’s hard.
 
I’m a “pack rat” by nature. I save books, old notebooks from school, articles, pages cut from magazines, illustrations that took my fancy, paintings, posters, art prints, sculpture, electronics, tools, guns, coins, items of clothing, weights, exercise equipment, office and tax records, you name it. Then, there’s the stuff my wife likes, like multiple sets of china, clothes, pocketbooks, and enough shoes to give Imelda Marcos a run for her money. And on top of all of that is furniture and more furniture. You name it, I’ve saved it. Never know when it might come in handy….
 
In digging through this stuff, it’s like being an archeologist, or treasure hunting. Every new box I open is filled with stuff. Everything I touch evokes a memory. Which is why it’s hard to part with this stuff–it’s like throwing away a part of my life, in a way. But it’s got to be done.
 
The trouble with stuff is that after a while, you don’t own your possessions–they own YOU. We’re now married for over 34 years and I still have stuff from Grammar School, Junior High, High School, College and Medical School for God’s sake! Little by little, like barnacles on the hull of a ship, the stuff accumulates. This, of course, makes every move a nightmare. So the stuff has to go.
 
But, as it’s contrary to my nature, I can’t simply pitch everything. No, I have to go through it, to be sure I’m not throwing away some long buried treasure from my past. It’s sick, I admit it. In my own defense, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and I don’t fool around on the bride–hey, you’ve gotta do SOMETHING, right? Could be worse.
 
So, while I’m digging through the boxes, I came across my old bones collection, from the office: near perfect skull, probably a young woman, a femur, tibia, a vertebral body, a bag of foot bones. Thing is, these are REAL human bones. Can’t get these any more. The countries that used to produce them, chiefly India, under Indira Ghandi, outlawed the practice many years ago. 
 
Today, plastic models are the best a young medical student can do. Not the same thing, though–they can’t capture the subtle details, especially in the delicate internal bones of the skull. So I’m thinking, good thing I didn’t just throw these out. Can you imagine these bones coming to light in the garbage dump? I can see the cops knocking on my door now….
 
Then, I came across my old knee model. This IS plastic and shows the menisci and all the ligaments. I used to use this to explain why someone was having pain, to demonstrate which part of the joint was damaged. Then, under these items, I came across my teaching handouts. I used to give these to the patients as “take aways” so they’d remember some of what I told them during their office visits. Even though I could tell what was wrong with someone and formulate a treatment plan in under a minute, I would often spend the next hour or so explaining everything to the patient and family. But as studies done at the University of Florida showed years ago, people just don’t remember what they were told. They retain less than 27%, especially stuff like complications of surgery, after only 24
hours. 

So, my handouts were my way of reminding them. Each one was a single page, with all the pertinent information we had just discussed. One for each of the most common clinical problems I treated. And then, there was my physical therapy prescription. The therapist loved my Rx, because I gave them the diagnosis, the surgery (if any), with exactly what was done, and specified exercises and modalities to be done. This was the prototype of the exercises I teach in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM, which you can get at
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
The therapists liked this because most docs sent them a prescription that said “P.T.” They left pretty much everything up to the therapist, who of course had NO clinical information about the patient. Incredible. How could they help, if they didn’t know what they were treating? Made no sense to me. So they generally gave the patients knee extensions, or leg presses with resistance, to strengthen the quads, followed by ice and later, hot packs and electrical stimulation. Hard to go too wrong with those.
 
The miracle was that many people got better, anyway. That’s a tribute to the power of exercise to relieve pain, even if done in a very general way. Better, by far, if exercise is done strategically, to alter the dynamics of the knee, according to the pathology causing the problem. That’s what the PAIN-FREE PROGRAM does. See it at http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html 
 
Well, back to the junk heap. I’m sure I can get rid of a lot of this stuff. Just have to keep digging…. 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

 Since I was on the topic of SCUBA diving (an acronym for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), I thought of a few stories you might enjoy. These all occurred in the mid to late eighties, after my initial certification at Divers Way SCUBA School, in Bayshore New York, out on the south shore of Long Island, like I described yesterday.
 
One thing about training on Long Island–the visibility underwater is absolute crap. You can barely see three feet in front of your face. And it’s cold, even in summer. The only thing it’s good for is wreck diving, that is, exploring sunken ships that litter the ocean bottom around Long Island, even a German U-Boat that lies offshore. Even on a great day, though, the water is milky and cloudy. If it’s stormy or the bottom mud is stirred up, forget it. You can barely see at all.
 
But if you can dive there, you can dive anywhere in the world. Huh. You go down to the Caribbean, where the water is so warm, pure and clear and the visibility is so good, you can look straight up from 100 feet down and see the sun, shining in the sky. “Blue Water” diving, as we call it, ruins you. Once you’ve tried it, why would you want to dive anywhere else?
 
And then, my brother-in-law, John, had the idea of a dive vacation on the island paradise of Bonaire. If you don’t know, Bonaire is one of the ABC Islands in the Western Caribbean: Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. And, after the Red Sea in the Middle East, Bonaire is supposed to be the best diving site in the world. 
 
So, we went. We managed to convince my wife that this was a great idea and we were in Divers’ Heaven. Stayed at a hotel called the Sand Dollar, with a deep water dock, right off the back deck of the hotel. You just suited up and stepped off right into the water. We did three dives a day and drank rum drinks in the evening, watching for the “Green Flash” on the horizon, at sunset. It was pretty cool, I can tell you.
 
Then, one day, John talked me into doing a night dive. If you’ve never done this , it’s hard to express how weird and silent and wonderful the deep sea is at night. You’re 80 feet under crystal clear water, look up and see the moon hanging in the night sky. Breathtaking.  And the colors of the corals, lobsters and fish in the light of the electric torch are incredible. If you turn off the light and sweep your arm through the water, thousands of tiny sparks trail your arm, like pixie dust, from microscopic bioluminescent organisms, suspended in the sea.
 
Dangerous? Oh yeah. But beautiful. I remember seeing a seven foot baracuda lazily swimming by us and a giant pike that was out there, behind the hotel, waiting for us. Very, very cool. But my knees kept aching from the indirect torsion of all that kicking with the fins against the resistance of the ocean. 
 
By this time, I recognized that same problem again. Of course, I had slacked off my exercises, which had helped me eliminate the ache in my knees, last time. The same ones I teach today in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM  http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
So I went back to the gym and started them up again. And they helped quite a bit. Kept me going through the rest of our stay. That’s the thing about these exercises. They work. And FAST. It’s common to see some improvement within a week. If you have any knee pain, just try them for yourself and see:  http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
Then, the next time we went out at night, we found a sunken Tug Boat from New York City, of all places, and inside it was…but that’s another story, for another time….
 
Til next time, 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