What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Knee Pain and Surgery and What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery by Ronald P. Grelsamer MD ’75 (Warner).

When, early this year, I began training for my first marathon, my left knee objected. Painfully. After reading runners’ online pleas for help diagnosing infinite types of knee pain, I was worried.

Near at hand, though, was Ronald P. Grelsamer’s 2002 guide to knee pain and surgery. (His guide to hip and knee replacement was published earlier this year.) Grelsamer’s book is not only a clear description of what can go wrong with a knee; it’s also a skeptical guide to knee doctors. Grelsamer, himself an orthopedic surgeon, is highly critical of his colleagues: he is especially good at showing patients how to tell if their orthopedist is providing a sloppy diagnosis.

Thanks in part to Grelsamer, by the time I was wheeled in for arthroscopic surgery, I knew I had exhausted my other options. Anyone with knee or hip pain should consult his books and make sure to learn just what those options are.

Norman Boucher is editor of the BAM.