I recently received a call from a young guy (late twenties), who was recommended by his friend to contact me as he was in need of acute post-operative rehabilitation following a recent knee menisectomy. Upon asking him, “What instructions were you given to manage your situation until your first follow-up appointment with the doc?” He responded by listing off the following recommendations given by the physician’s assistant (PA)…

• Take pain pills as needed (prescription for 40 percocet)
• Don’t do anything that hurts or causes pain
• Don’t bend your knee past 90 degrees

This represents a microcosm of our current state of affairs in relation to pain management and opioid addiction. The potential societal repercussions of this situation are disconcerting. I’m hopeful we can do better!