IT IS said that you can't believe everything you read in newspapers. That is proved by a recent report by Shaun Wooller, health correspondent for the Daily Mail.
"'Lack of evidence' that hip and knee ops actually help", the headline shouts. Yet another expensive study, this time suggesting many common bone and joint operations (hip replacements and knee repairs ) may be no more effective than physiotherapy or treatment with drugs. Really!
Listen to this: researchers at the University of Bristol claim that "shoulder rotator cuff repair and lumber spine decompression trials found no benefit of surgery over non-operative care". The full report is published in the British Medical Journal.
I have had two knee replacements. Whereas before I couldn't bear the pain when I moved as bone would grind on bone, now I am grand. My inspiration was John Linehan who has a very physical life as May McFettridge every year at the Grand Opera House and on the golf course.
I was moaning one day about my painful knees. "Get new ones", he told me. And with that he danced round the restaurant proving that new knees give you a truly positive outlook on life.
"The best thing I ever did," he told me.
"That first knee was eight years ago and I had no hesitation in getting my second knee operation last month. I threw away the crutches inside a couple of weeks except when I'm going out, so healing was fast. However, you have to listen to the advice about exercise, to get full movement. The surgeon said he did 50 per cent and it was up to me to do the other 50."
It's important to keep the tendons stretched and strengthen the muscles. John's aim is to be leaping around the golf course by Captain's Day. He reckons, as do I, that would not be possible without surgery.
Last year it was my shoulder. Things went wrong and the pain was unbearable. Rotator cuff operation recommended. Now, a year later, I'm as right as rain. No amount of physio or drug-taking could do that, of that I am quite sure.
I've no doubt that there are bone and joint problems that can be dealt with without surgery but suggesting that hip, knee and shoulder operations bring doubtful relief is, in my opinion, just madness.
:: Pain relief in a packet
Recently, researchers in Australia came up with the Earth-shattering information that muscle relaxants prescribed for lower back pain can reduce short term discomfort but that it's "too small to be meaningful".
Oh yes? Oh no! It may be mind over matter, but a couple of Paracetamol and a nice wee cup of tea eases away a lot of discomfort in my life.
:: Oh, to be young again
What would I do differently? I'd learn an instrument, preferably piano, and I'd make every effort to become a jazz singer. In my day that wouldn't have been easy but this summer a number of talented young people have been selected to work with artists who have reached the pinnacle of their professions, to be mentored, to learn, to experience and to fulfil their dreams.
21 Artists for the 21st Century is part of this year's Northern Ireland centenary programme and aims to encourage culture to thrive. Actually, there are 34 participating in the initiative; individuals, an ensemble of actors and one collective of five singer-songwriters, selected from schools, colleges and universities.
All disciplines are involved; music, theatre, film, poetry, choreography, photography – and street dance. This intrigued me, it has the sound of freedom about it, the rhythm of life, colour, music and energy. Think Michael Jackson or the dance group Diversity who won Britain's Got Talent and you'll remember the furious tempo, the footwork, body-popping and hip-hop. You certainly have to be young and fit for this form of dance.
It has its roots in 1970s America when young people had nowhere to go to improvise informal dance, so they turned to open spaces like parks and the street to play their music and strut their stuff.
The local student concerned is 20-year-old Rhys Devlin from Larne. His mother is a choreographer so he has grown up with music and movement and he has now set his heart on a career in dance.
"There are a lot of ways to go in dance and this scheme is a valuable way of exploring," he says.
"I've been an Irish dancer for 17 years and a street dancer for 6 years and now I devise choreography for other dancers and teach street dance as well as performing and competing in various championships."
Rhys was an all-Ireland street champion and a three-time all-Ireland duet champion alongside his dance partner Zara Janahi, with whom he has recently organised the online dance event FORGE.
Their dance crew ADC are also multi-award champions in Ireland, making it to the United Dance Organisation WORLD championships in both 2016 and 2017, being placed 3rd in the world in the Quad category in 2017.
I'm impressed and looking forward to hearing more.
His mentor, Omagh born Robby Graham, artistic director of Southpaw Dance Company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, specialises in mass movement production with a cast of hundreds. He will be working with Dylan on choreography as well as developing body movement.
Although they have started working together it will be next month before all the artists and their mentors come together to share their experience at the Lyric Theatre and the Ulster Hall.
Something to look forward to.
