Knee or joint pain is common these days. And, to get some relief, people end up getting surgery done. Well, it seems like you may not have to take the surgery path if you are suffering from such a problem.
A research was conducted by Dr Ashley Blome, professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, and his team in this regard. They scrutinised a set of studies on 10 surgeries, including knee, wrist and spine. While in a few cases surgeries proved beneficial, the majority showed that exercise, physiotherapy, proper medication among other factors have worked better.
Speaking about the findings, Dr Blom said, “Our study doesn’t show that these operations don’t make patients better. And, it does not say that treatments do not work if they have not undergone testing by randomised controlled trials. It’s just that some don’t work any better than the best nonsurgical treatments,” quoted The New York Times as saying.
The study was published in the medical journal BMJ.
Sharing his point of view as an outsider, Dr. Saam Morshed said, “I think it’s fair that we hold the mirror up to ourselves and scrutinize effectiveness for some of these operations. It’s important to understand where we have gaps in knowledge of the efficacy or non-efficacy of common surgical treatments.” Dr Morshed is also one of the professors of orthopedic surgery the University.
The study has focused on the key elements of an operation and how patients can look for a non-surgical ways. It also tried to narrow down the gap between what requires surgery and what doesn’t.
