Dr. David Fischer

But the new plastic is good.

And that

You know, that was discovered by accident by John Charnley in England.

Sir John Charnley, back in the 50s, he was orthopedic surgery in England, interested in one of his interests was in joint replacement.

And he was testing things.

He couldn't find a frictionless bearing surface.

And somebody brought a piece of this plastic in and he put it in one of his machines and

got up and looked at it a couple of days later and found out that the thing didn't wear it didn't seem to be and it was sort of a fortuitous now it was you know accidents happen to people that have more than just luck yeah you know it was an interest of his but he recognized that immediately and that changed that that was a big change in joint replacement because now there was a bearing surface that was essentially

friction-free or wouldn't wear.

And so that just went from then.

The design has always been a cooperative effort between industry and basic science, the engineers.

It's been the engineers studying the joints, studying their motion in the laboratory, and then trying to mimic that function in the body.

and that's changed over the years but boy over the past couple of decades there there really hasn't been you know i'd say over the past 25 or 30 years there there probably hasn't been any monumental you know changes we still we still don't know for example as good as these joints are how to put them into a professional athlete and have them

you know, it's not, it's not the million dollar man yet.

You know, and Stan, you mentioned it.

I mean, they're, they're good.

And they, they, they generally help a lot with the chief complaint, which is pain, but they are not normal.

They're, they're not normal needs.

I think it depends on how long you live, probably.

Golly, I think the survival rate now has got to be well over 90% for at least 20 years.