Life A Surgeon's Foray into Finlands Health Care System

**Dave Lane** · 04-02-2016, 03:53 PM

This article is by a really good surgeon that is a friend of mine. Brilliant in his field but surprised by his experience as a patient in the US. I just put the first couple paragraphs here, the full article is at the link. Excellent read and overall pretty short. Should be safe for the Lounge but mods feel free to move if it swerves off course.

The story of my foray as a patient into a foreign healthcare system began almost a year prior to writing this piece.To condense a very long story I developed an uncommon painful condition known as high hamstring tendinopathy (HHT) in both legs as a result of a lifetime of exercise.

As a physician I was determined to educate myself thoroughly on this uncommon condition. I learned there were fairly divergent geographical approaches and strategies for its treatment. Much of the literature describing the condition and operative treatment came from Finland.The Finnish group first described the condition in 1988 [1] and also developed a unique and effective surgical approach which targeted the specific tendon and pathology, and proved to be highly successful and safe.The conservative nature of the surgery also permitted treatment of both legs at the same operation if necessary [2–4].

Most Americans with HHT are triaged to physical therapy and therapeutic injections despite the lack of proven success of those interventions. Those seeking surgery are offered the same operation performed for traumatic tears. Although successful, it is an excessive operation requiring a much longer recovery and rehabilitation which also limits its application to only one leg at a time.

Full article and not much longer here.

http://sjp.sagepub.com/content/44/3/...keytype=finite

04-02-2016, 03:53 PM	Topic Starter
Dave Lane Space Cadet and Aczabel Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Kanab, UT, USA Casino cash: $9333275 VARSITY	A Surgeon's Foray into Finlands Health Care System This article is by a really good surgeon that is a friend of mine. Brilliant in his field but surprised by his experience as a patient in the US. I just put the first couple paragraphs here, the full article is at the link. Excellent read and overall pretty short. Should be safe for the Lounge but mods feel free to move if it swerves off course. The story of my foray as a patient into a foreign healthcare system began almost a year prior to writing this piece.To condense a very long story I developed an uncommon painful condition known as high hamstring tendinopathy (HHT) in both legs as a result of a lifetime of exercise. As a physician I was determined to educate myself thoroughly on this uncommon condition. I learned there were fairly divergent geographical approaches and strategies for its treatment. Much of the literature describing the condition and operative treatment came from Finland.The Finnish group first described the condition in 1988 [1] and also developed a unique and effective surgical approach which targeted the specific tendon and pathology, and proved to be highly successful and safe.The conservative nature of the surgery also permitted treatment of both legs at the same operation if necessary [2–4]. Most Americans with HHT are triaged to physical therapy and therapeutic injections despite the lack of proven success of those interventions. Those seeking surgery are offered the same operation performed for traumatic tears. Although successful, it is an excessive operation requiring a much longer recovery and rehabilitation which also limits its application to only one leg at a time. Full article and not much longer here. http://sjp.sagepub.com/content/44/3/...keytype=finite
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