"Need New Knees? Now May Be The Time, " was the title of a press release by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons last week.
"These results suggest that we might be waiting too long to suggest
total knee arthroplasty as a treatment option for women with end-stage
knee OA," says Stephanie Petterson, MPT, PhD, one of the study’s
authors and a senior lecturer at the School of Health and Bioscience at
the University of East London, "or that women with knee OA are waiting
too long to access the appropriate care."
Hey, marketing and research are two different things! This is a good example of working them both. The release reported the findings of this article in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. The basic gist was that women wait longer than men to seek care and so their outcomes may be worse after TKR. Common sense, really.
Another interpretation might have been, "PT’s not helping prevent progression of knee osteoarthritis." That’s not really science either, but surely must be a more wholesome recommendation than the press release encouraging a shopping spree for major surgery!
Petterson, S.C. (2007). Disease-specific gender differences among total knee arthroplasty candidates.. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 89(11), 2327-2333.