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| Knee Implant / Prosthesis |
Once upon a time, back when Osmany was living in Cuba, he became acquainted with a guy who collected bones. He got these bones from graves in cemeteries (no details on the circumstances available). Of particular interest were bones from people who had been subjected to surgery to repair injuries. One prime example was a femur where the knee end of the bone had been replaced with prostheses made of platinum. The prostheses must have weighed a pound and in the free world that much platinum would be worth $10K, but since he was in Cuba where there is no free market, it was worth nothing except as a curiosity to be added to his macabre collection.
When I was young, and working at McGill University as a black-and-white TV camera operator, I handled a video of a knee replacement operation. The replacement knee part was the size of a lamb chop and the surgeon had to cut off the end of the existing bone and drill into the stump of the patient's existing bone to insert the shank of the prosthesis into the end of the bone. That was in 1956. Fast forward to 2017 when my wife had a knee replacement operation. No comparison. Today, two small titanium and plastic parts replace the knee surfaces. The surgeon cuts away the damaged bone surfaces and glues the replacement surfaces in place. In case we have to go thru TSA, her knees have their own ID cards. More: https://www.smith-nephew.com/patient/treatments/knee-treatments/knee-replacement/
ReplyDeleteSorry, that was 1966.
ReplyDeleteI just watched Joe Rogan interview body builder Ronnie Coleman who had 10 back operations and a bunch of joints replaced all the while continuing to train, albeit reducing his squats to 350 lbs from 600 lbs.
ReplyDeleteWhy? "That's what I like to do, train, it makes me happy." he claimed while sitting in his wheelchair.
https://youtu.be/mi5OlUE3BLc
A most unusual interview with a most unusual man.