Wizard of Woodstock wrote:
On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:14:10 -0400, John H
wrote:

On Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:45:14 -0400, Wizard of Woodstock
wrote:

This looks like a pretty cool product.

http://www.seaspension.com/recreatio...49&It emid=57
Save the money. Bend your knees.

I would - if I could. :)


Get 'em replaced.

MSNBC.com

Knee replacement surgery worth the price
When compared with other procedures, operation deemed ‘cost-effective’
Reuters
updated 9:01 p.m. ET June 22, 2009

CHICAGO - Knee replacement surgery is expensive but worth the cost,
especially if performed by experienced surgeons, U.S. researchers said
on Monday.

Some $11 billion is spent on 500,000 total knee replacements each year
in the United States, and the number is projected to multiply seven
times by 2030 because of the aging, overweight population.

Elena Losina and colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the
Boston University School of Public Health set out to determine if the
operations on Medicare patients aged 65 and older were cost-effective —
a subjective threshold based on years of life spent in good health.

Some nine out of 10 knee replacements are successful — knee pain goes
away and patients become more mobile.

In the study, knee replacement surgery and subsequent costs added up to
$57,900 per patient, which was $20,800 more than was spent on those who
did not get the surgery.

Those who got artificial knees lived more than a year longer in good
health than those who did not, and the researchers calculated the added
cost per year of good-quality life at $18,300.

They deemed that outlay, when compared to other procedures to treat
aging bones, "highly cost-effective."

The surgery's cost-effectiveness rose with the experience of the
surgeons who worked at high-volume hospitals, as is true with many
complicated procedures. Results were generally not as good for blacks,
Hispanics, and older patients, according to the report published in the
Archives of Internal Medicine.

The prosthetics are made by companies such as Stryker Corp, Zimmer
Holdings Inc, Johnson & Johnson and Smith & Nephew.

President Barack Obama has identified cost-effectiveness studies as a
way to trim U.S. health costs and steer doctors away from wasteful
procedures.

Some $1.1 billion was included in the federal stimulus package to fund
such studies.

Stephen Lyman of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York said in an
editorial that translating cost-effectiveness to medical practice was an
uphill climb.

"At least in the United States, even well-performed cost-effectiveness
analyses do not influence either payers or physicians directly. Payers
do not use the results to make coverage determinations nor do physicians
use them to make treatment decisions," Lyman wrote.
Copyright 2009 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31494123...e_health_news/