Later this morning, I have to break down and clear out all the furniture and other crap that has accumulated around and in front of my bookcases. These are the same bookcases I had in my medical office when I was in practice. They’ve “seen” a lot. I got them originally back in the mid- eighties, when I first set up my “satellite” office, with the rheumatologists.

You see, when I was first in practice, I had a “baby face.” I looked younger than my stated age, as we say in the trade. Now, considering that I was the only fellowship trained orthopaedic joint surgeon on Long Island at that time, I was trained and hot to do some major reconstructive surgery. But when little old ladies who needed their hips replaced came in, I could almost “hear” them thinking: “Right, kid! Where’s your father?” And who could blame them?
 
So I figured that I needed to reassure them, with visual cues, that I was competent and worthy of their trust. After all, they were being asked to put their lives in my hands. And that commitment requires a leap of faith. So I set about getting them to “believe.” I couldn’t do much about my face, so I had to find a way to instill confidence, without saying anything that could be interpreted as empty bluster or boasting. 

Nonverbal cues, as the shrinks call them, are very effective for this purpose. So I had real engraved stationery and business cards made–not cheap thermographed cards, that mimic engraving, but the real thing, on Crane’s Crest linen paper, no less. The difference is subtle, but those who recognize the difference KNOW and those who don’t still FEEL the weight of the paper stock. Either way, it goes right to their subconscious and screams QUALITY, albeit quietly, in an understated way.
 
Then, I got a real antique oak partner’s desk, circa 1865, large, long and supported by smooth turned columns on each corner. I bought real leather furniture, brown tufted wing chairs for the patients to sit on and an even larger cordovan leather wing chair for myself, all sitting on plush wine colored carpeting. 
 
There was mahogany chair rail all around the room, and there was a set of richly polished cherry bookcases, some open, some with windowed doors, backlit with subtle lighting. The very same bookcases I still have. 
 
The overall effect was more like a lawyer’s office than a physician’s. But it stated, without saying so, that this was an office of substance, of permanence, of quality and traditional values. In short, it projected an aura of gravitas and competence that compensated for my youthful appearance. And you know, it worked. And once I showed what I could do, the issue of my relatively tender years never came up again….
 
Well, time has had its way with my face, like everyone else. But I still love my bookcases and have them filled with leatherbound volumes, novels as well as medical texts, these days. They still make a nice backdrop for an office, or a video set. So, I’m going to use them as a backdrop for my next major production.
 
I have a video producer coming over and we’re about to shoot my very first video DVD. As you may know, I’ve written a number of books and produced a few audio CD’s to teach you about the various problems that can result in knee pain and the various options you have to relieve that pain, especially those options that allow you to stay out of the operating room and avoid knee surgery. These topics are well covered in my LITTLE GREEN BOOK FOR ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN   http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
But now, I’ll have the opportunity to SHOW you what I’m talking about. I can SHOW you the bones, show you where the ligaments attach, show you what torn menisci look like, and what actually happens in surgery, from videos taken during actual procedures. There isn’t anything like this for lay people on the market. So, I’m pretty excited about it. I hope when it’s released that you’ll like it and find it useful, as well.  I guess we’ll see….
 
Well, have a great weekend and I’ll talk to you next week, with some new tips and things you can do for yourself, to prevent or eliminate knee pain. 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