That was the headline of the full page ad on page A6 of Monday’s Austin American-Statesman. I’ve seen the ad before – I do still read the print version of the newspaper with my morning coffee – but for some reason, on that particular day it grabbed my attention.

It was like playing the game where you look at the image and see the picture of the old woman or the young lady – or any number of visual puzzles. I read on with intrigue.

I’ve been a physiotherapist for 23 years. I have reviewed a few MRIs over the years. Out of curiosity today, I took a look at the MRI image in the ad. At first glance, it was a mild herniated disc. Lo and behold, the first line of the ad stated such: “Do you see it? It’s called a herniated disc, a painful condition that can cause severe sciatic nerve pain”.

It only took two sentences, and I was on a rant.

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... because of all the trees right there in front of you.

Yes, this would be the auto industry these days.

If you make a product that nobody wants to buy, or a product that is behind the times, or doesn't meet the needs of the consumer - you either a) change the product, or b) change the approach to your market, or c) watch your business whither away and fail. Please note that there are options a) and b) prior to option c). So when does the auto industry want to acknowledge either of these options?

Thus far, their executives have continued to arrive at meetings in their private jets. They have flaunted their status in this time of financial crisis. It has taken weeks for them to agree to any level of re-structuring. I am still not sure why it should be demanded of them to do so, because it should be pretty #$%?$?# obvious by now that they need to re-structure how they do business and what products they produce and how they produce them. It doesn't require a scientist from NASA to establish this, nor a Wall Street financial wizard. If you head on down to Main Street, Mom and Pop will tell you more about all of this.

I guess there are just too many trees in the way to figure this one out.

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The debate rages amongst clinicians and students alike. Which is better - manual therapy (in all of its myriad of forms) or mechanical therapy (otherwise known as MDT, or the McKenzie Method)? For some reason, clinicians seem to be very polarized when it comes to their approach to orthopaedics. This makes for some rather entertaining dialogue between the factions involved.

At the entry-level of education and beyond,  students continually ask faculty which is "better". I have had physical therapy students sit in a classroom and debate, with great passion I might add (given their lack of experience), that one approach is better than the other. This extends to practicing clinicians that are also struggling with where to spend their continuing education dollars. It seems like it has evolved into an "us versus them" mentality. At best, it is an entertaining dialogue; at worst, a fine example of ignorance amongst well-educated clinicians.

One must be better, yes? Isn't that the way it has to be? Someone has to lose, no?

Is the great debate – manual therapy or mechanical therapy – just a great perceptual divide?

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Eight seconds.

It's hard to believe that the Longhorn's season came down to 8 seconds in Lubbock. With eight seconds left, Graham Harrell throws an interception ... almost. 

But let's not play "coulda shoulda woulda". It is what it is, and all it does now is highlight the stupidity that is the BCS. There is a good possibility (if you believe the pigskin prognosticators) that Texas will play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. Hold on a second - that gives the Big 10, the craptastic Big 10, two teams in the BCS. Ohio State is barely scratching into the top 10. Texas Tech, who has been there all season and is still number 7 or 8 in most polls (and who's only loss was to Oklahoma, lest we have selective attention again) is getting the short end of the BCS stick. And yes, let's not forget that Texas beat OU - regardless of whether it was October or December. They were still number one at the time.

Here's a thought - I think we should send Texas and Texas Tech to Tempe. Better yet, let's just cancel Tempe and have the game in Waco or Dallas. Surely we can line up a decent high school field somewhere between Lubbock and Austin.

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