Cutting Drew
May 18, 2008 | 4:14
pm
Not from the team, or even with big knives or scalpels. Though Andrew Bynum will indeed get his knee scoped on Wednesday to clean up some rough spots under his kneecap. We'll know more about it later in the week, but at this point, it's certainly no surprise to see he needs more work.
BK
I say a title for THE BEAST.
Nice relaxing weekend. Should be a nice game tonight. I say bring on either team. Lakers is 6 both ways.
Posted by: "Pig" Miller | May 19, 2008 at 11:07 AM
I definitely agree with you that Western Medicine does not have all the answers. There are many bone setters in Asia (a higher degree than quacks and faith healers) wherein orthopedic surgeons refer cases to them if there are no fructures only displacement. I have seen so many patients who walked out of the clinic without their wheelchairs and canes walking and happy with the treatment. They were cured by bare hands, castor oil, wintergreen, and x rays (no cats scan yet) verification that the nerves, ligaments and muscles were back in their proper places. We have also heard of chinese acupuncture and traditional herbal medicine discussed by Jon K.
Posted by: Edwin Gueco | May 19, 2008 at 09:57 AM
UCSF, one of the top medical schools in the country, institutionalized an integrative medicine program that includes various alternative therapies a few years ago. It may take some time, but medicine in the US is moving in a direction toward integrative medicine.
The problem, from the standpoint of allopathic medicine (Western medicine) with much of alternative medicine lies in the fact that there's no data about efficacy of treatment. Due to the power of the placebo effect, many completely useless treatments result in positive outcomes for patients, at least a higher rate of positive outcomes than chance. Alternative medical treatments still must work within the framework of material reality. You can test these treatments in a study with a good structure (double-blind, placebo controlled, as random a pool of subjects as possible) and if they show efficacy, then they're worth it.
There is a serious amount of medical quackery out there. Everyone needs to make a living. And less critical individuals look for miracles because that's what they want to see. Before medicine was more seriously regulated in the US, there were plenty of scam artists and charlatans. There are many less now since the AMA did its thing. Unfortunately, we lost useful disciplines like midwifery for a while because of it.
Acupuncture is one such treatment that has demonstrated efficacy. So has biofeedback and massage therapy.
It is only the arrogant that assume they know everything, especially in an area as unexplored as human health.
Alternative medicine hasn't shown itself to be useful for certain conditions, notably trauma. I'm not sure what the record is with orthopedics, but I'd be surprised if any alternative medicine had close to the same treatment efficacy as Western orthopedic surgeons.
Alternative medical treatment has shown itself to be better than Western medicine for viral infection and certain chronic conditions (asthma not being one of them--even Kaiser can treat asthma well) like rheumatoid arthritis. Western medicine has been severely lacking in the ability to treat these conditions.
Just because AB's knee hasn't healed properly is no reason to assume Western medicine doesn't work. Check out the success rates for orthopedic procedures under allopathic medicine and I think you'll find they are quite successful.
Posted by: Benjamin | May 19, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Nobody is vindicated.
What I heard from others here, is AB should suck it up and play through pain. What a disaster that would've been if he tried that.
All doctors said to go for a conservative approach, rest, heal, then rehab. (Vitti has nothing to do with that)
When he tried to go, the pain and swelling would come up.
Something unseen was causing issues and so now, they have to take a looksee.
Even if a doctor was posting here, he couldn't give us a full assessment, because he doesn't have all the facts, and neither do we.
I don't understand all the negative talk and judgment of our Lakers training and med staff.
Let's just hope its just a minor clean up and he be good as new for October.
Posted by: Fairweather Fatty | May 19, 2008 at 12:08 PM
Look, let's wait and see what the prognosis for Drew's recovery is AFTER his surgery. Arthroscopic surgery is often minimally invasive and we've all seen athletes return to form relatively quickly after an arthroscopic procedure. Let's all hope for the best.
Mamba 24....
Great lines of verse, my friend!! You are amazing...I believe you can fly!!! And actually someone very near and dear to me was treated at the NY Hospital for Special Surgery. They were treated with compassion, skill and diligence. Drew is in very capable hands. Any doctor associated with that hospital is an All-Star in his field.
Hopefully, Drew will be STACH (Standing Tall And Completely Healed) during the ring ceremony at Staples early next season!!!!
GO LAKERS!!!!
Posted by: bronxlakerfan | May 19, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Ariza is my concern.
A stress fracture on Jan 13. and still not completely healed.
My wife just broke her foot, a stress fracture. (she dropped a bottle of Blue Goo on her foot) jk It was a glass.
6 weeks before resuming full activity
19 weeks for Ariza so far, and not fully healed. He's got a serious problem. That's far from normal.
Posted by: Fairweather Fatty | May 19, 2008 at 12:18 PM
BronxLakerFan Thanks! I do what I can for Laker Nation.
Exhelodrvr come on I served you a pitch on platter up there. LOL!
Posted by: Mamba24 | May 19, 2008 at 12:47 PM
>>>he will come back, he won't, he may, he may not. I'm tired
>>>of this, get it over already. He shouldnt wait till now to have
>>>surgery.
If he'd have had the surgery right after he got injured, it would
have been a guarantee that he couldn't play for the rest of this
season. So at the time of the injury, the choices were to let Drew
have surgery and rely on Kwame Brown for the rest of the
season (and post season), or have him rest it and see if it came
back to full enough strength that he could play.
I think the Lakers played it just right. If Bynum could have
made it back and contributed by now, that would be great. But
since he hasn't and they're doing alright without him, it's best
to get this done and get him on the road to recovery for next season.
Posted by: Long Time Laker Fan | May 19, 2008 at 03:03 PM