January 8, 2010

As luck would have it, everything seems to break down, or go wrong, all at the same time. Ever notice that? We’ve just finished the stress of the Holidays, gotten past the loss of our oldest cat, Misty, had and dealt with my recovery from recent surgery and… wouldn’t you know it? The toilet breaks down and was running and running and running….and it’s only a week into the New Year.
 
Now these are old toilets, original equipment in this house, which makes them about 19 years old. So even the old bolts are rusted. Because they’re located in guest rooms, on the second floor, they don’t get much use. 
 
We only found out there was a problem when my wife decided to sleep up there, so as not to inadvertantly injure me during sleep, in my postop recovery (belly’s still pretty sore, but getting better, daily). Naturally, with me physically out of action and my wife lacking the physical strength to turn a rusted bolt, or even turn off the water, we had a problem.
 
So, we called our plumber. Normally, he would come right over. But, as we were in the midst of a true “when it rains, it pours” episode, he was tied up installing a massive water heater for a hotel, in which 4,000 people had no hot water. Figures, right?
 
So, he sent over an assistant today. Nice guy. John’s his name. He’s only 28, next month. And he’s making his living as a plumber. We took him up and showed him the problematic toilet.
 
He knelt on the marble floor, while he opened the commode and saw what was what. Turns out that, given the age of the old unit, it would be smarter to simply replace the old appliance with a new one. Figures, right? 
 
He turned off the water, so at least we weren’t still wasting it, by letting it endlessly run. But because he was a young guy and a nice guy, I decided to give him some free advice, that will make a big difference to his future comfort.
 
You see, a plumber, like a bricklayer, roofer, rug layer, or any trade that must kneel on unyielding surfaces to do their work, all have the same problem. They MUST assume that position, but it eventually causes severe knee pain. That’s the plumber’s dilemma. Here’s the solution:
 
Never, NEVER kneel on a hard floor, especially marble, concrete, brick, porcelain tile, or even wood, without a knee pad, of some kind. Here’s why.
 
The knee joint is designed to bear weight from top to bottom, NOT front to back. In other words, the kneecap (patella) is not designed to directly bear the stresses of weight bearing. This has consequences for the protective cartilage coating behind the kneecap, over time.
 
These abnormal forces may lead to degenerative softening of that cartilage coating, leading to knee pain due to chondromalacia patellae. I describe this and what to do about it in great detail in my LITTLE GREEN BOOK FOR ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, which you can get here:  http://www.drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html   and the specific, startegic exercises, that can relieve that knee pain over the long term, are outlined, step by step, in my newly re-written, greatly expanded PAIN-FREE PROGRAM & DVD, which was designed as the perfect companion to the Little Green Book.
 
http://www.drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html 
 
In the short term, knee pads are the way to go. The problem is that for some, like this guy, John, the straps of knee pads pinch and bind the backs of their knees, thereby discouraging their use.
 
So, instead, he should use a small pad upon which he can kneel, either cloth, a section of carpet, or a gel pad. In any case, the object is to spread out the body weight over a larger area. This effectively reduces the unit stress on the relatively small kneecaps, same principle as snowshoes, reducing pain and preventing compression damage to the retropatellar cartilage.
 
Simple. Easy. Cheap. And, most important, effective. And likely to keep this young man from developing knee pain and arthritis in the years to come. Keep this in mind, whenever you have a similar home care project, that requires kneeling. 
 
And be sure to take my POWERHOUSE OMEGA FORMULA,   http://www.favoriteformulas.com   an ultra pure, enteric coated, pharmaceutical grade fish oil, with maximal omega-3 fatty acids and potent, proven anti-inflammatory properties, that reduce joint pain, back pain and have numerous heart, brain and blood vessel benefits. I take it, twice a day, every day (at least when I’m not pre-or post-surgery). You should, too.
 
Well, that’s my tip o’ the day, my friend. Have a great weekend and be well. Talk to you again real soon.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow and your optimal health,
 
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

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