Dear Reader,

This is for you. For those who need advice on living, whether you know it or not, I hope to provide information which may enable you to reach better levels of health and well-being. Whether it is an ailment or disease you may be suffering from or questions and concerns about healthcare, I hope to provide an interesting and provocative forum.

For those who don’t know me already, I am a physician and Orthopedic surgeon. I began my career in Orthopedics in Augusta, Ga. in 1982. I practised general and spinal surgery until 2005, when I moved to Potsdam, New York. There I began a more focused practice in general orthopedics, but focused on providing joint reconstructions for advanced arthritis. My aim along the way has also been to help those with a desire to understand the nature and cause of their ailments. My hope has been to educate greater and greater numbers of people in the origins of various types of disease common to Americans and provide knowledge capable of catalyzing action toward correcting the wrongs that are causing disease, whether prevalent or inevitable. Without a change in lifestyle and habits there can be no resolution in most cases.  I want to not only fix existing problems people may be suffering from, but I hope that with the proper education disease may be prevented altogether.

Some may think that I, as an Orthopedic surgeon, would only know about bones and joints. I am an MD and spent four years in medical school learning about all pertaining to the human body. That included anatomy, physiology, pathology, medicine and pharmacology, psychiatry, various subspecialty diciplines in medicine and surgery. It was a long four years. The learning has really never stopped since then as my patients teach me daily the diversity of personality effects on various diseases. No patient of mine is treated as the next ‘arthritic knee’ needing a knee replacement. But rather, each person is given individual attention and their needs are addressed based on what can be done to best manage or cure the disease in question.

Each and every one of you is a complex and miraculous phenomenon of life. The human body is incredibly resilient and capable of living vigorously for many decades in excellent health. I see daily people who are doing just that into their 90’s and beyond. Unfortunately, I see many more who are succumbing to disease at a young age and who are lucky to live into their 6th decade of life.The Bible states in Psalm 90, man has three score and ten years to live his life. Science has stated the average lifespan for man is 67 worldwide. It may be as high as 82 years in Japan or 40 in equatorial Africa. Cultural differences are important, but health is more than where you are born. Even America, which is the richest country on earth has one of the highest rates of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.  Why is this so? Even people who have thought they have done everything right to be healthy are mystified when they are stricken with disease. I hear so often the phrase,”it sucks to get old”. Well, people are saying this in their 30’s and 40’s when they should be enjoying the prime of their lives.

It’s not about luck or good genes. Your health and life are dependent wholly on your lifestyle and circumstances. Most of which is determined by choice or acceptance. Only through education can any changes take place which may correct the wrongs perpetrated by bad education and circumstances. Changes can only come from within. No heathcare worker can make someone well who is not willing to make changes in their life. We can treat symptoms all day long and make a difference for the short run. We can also address the root cause of disease and make life worth living for the long run. The root causes, however, are not treatable with a pill or surgery. The reason any one is sick is very simple. They have succumbed to disease either through neglect of their needs for proper nutrition and exercise, they have indulged in excessive calories and foods of negative nutritional value, they have exposure to injury, infection, or poisons capable of causing disease and their genes may allow expression of various diseases in the face of certain provocative circumstances.  Even in the face of a history of bad “genes”, all is not lost. You have the power to change your history…