As an orthopedic surgeon with a fellowship in sports medicine surgery, I have talked to and operated on thousands of patients with joint pain. I have seen cartilage with my naked eye and the use of a small camera inside joints. I have dissected cadavers and performed surgery. I have seen healthy joints, unhealthy joints, and angry joints. I have seen patients get better, and unfortunately, some patients who have pain no matter what we try. I have seen patients with bone-on-bone x-rays and no pain, and patients with nothing on x-ray or MRI and tons of pain. I am not alone. This is what orthopedic surgeons do every day.
But what I think is different is accepting that some things need to change. With my background as a medical doctor, I often have the answer for my patients, especially if that answer is surgery. But some patients don’t want or even need surgery. Yet they still want answers. That’s why I started to look into other areas of treatment like functional root cause medicine that rely on non-traditional lab testing or integrative medicine that brings in holistic disciplines like acupuncture or reiki. As a society, we have begun to question more than in past decades the tenets of science and medicine and that has opened the door for all sorts of new testing and treatment options to walk in from the fringe.
We are standing on the precipice of a new world. A world where genetic testing is just a mail-order delivery from a drone away. A world where organs are grown in petri dishes and billionaires are trying to live to 120. A world where medicine and the doctor-patient relationship is changing. Doctors are no longer expected to just prescribe “a pill for an ill”, but instead to try and prevent or reverse disease. These expectations are slowly becoming the norm for organ systems such as the heart or kidneys. Why are we waiting until someone’s glucose level is 120 to say they have diabetes and start treating them? What’s so special about that number that wasn’t there two days ago or two years ago? The same can be said about high blood pressure or cholesterol. We need to try and treat these diseases before they have reached a point of no return. That, in essence, is what is now being called Medicine 3.0.
There’s no arguing that treating kidneys and hearts is important. They are integral parts of how our bodies work. But from my perspective as an orthopedic surgeon, I think we should also be focusing on the joints in our body. Ask anyone to name a disease of old age, and right up there with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, I bet you will hear arthritis and joint pain. In this book, we will get into what arthritis is including that it’s subject to a progression, just like high blood pressure and diabetes. Why wait until someone has no cartilage left and their bones are rubbing painfully together to treat them with a total joint replacement? Cutting the ends of bones and replacing them with metal and plastic is an effective surgery, but it’s also clearly very invasive. Maybe we can do something before we get to that point. Maybe we can treat joint aches and pains with something more natural than pills and steroid shots.
With a focus on JOINT LONGEVITY, Dr. Gelber will provide medical services and advice to keep your joints healthy for a forever active lifestyle.
