A past patient of mine asked for a referral for an orthopedic surgeon. She was experiencing knee pain and was told by her first orthopedic surgeon that she had “severe arthritis” of the knee and surgery was the only solution to reduce her pain. To be sure she was receiving sound advice, she got a second opinion from another well respected orthopedic surgeon who viewed the same x-ray provided by my patient within a 4 week period. The second surgeon determined that she had only mild osteoarthritis of the knee, and felt the more accurate diagnosis was of a torn ligament on the inside of the knee. Truly a very different diagnosis. After a short course of rehabilitation she felt significantly better and never had surgery for her knee ( about 5 years). The moral of the story is Always get a second opinion!