Cooper is an orthopedic surgeon who cuts as a last resort.
These days, such a stance means he's swimming upstream. Ortho-docs are under pressure to wield their scalpels early and often. There are times, of course, when surgery is unavoidable. But he also applauds self-reliant bozos like me. After mutilating my rotator-cuff, I shunned the knife, rehabbing my shoulder myself through a careful program of progressive resistance exercise.