Good News: Doug Kelsey Has a New Book

I recently got an e-mail from Doug Kelsey (a pleasant surprise). He wanted to tell me about his new electronic book, The 90 Day Knee Arthritis Remedy. The book is being offered for sale here.

First, I prefer this choice of title to his earlier Runner’s Knee Bible. No, it’s not that I’m a deeply devout Christian who believes the word “Bible” must be reserved solely for The Book. Rather, I see the words “Runner’s Knee” in the title and think that many would-be readers -- in fact, should-be readers -- will turn away, thinking, “I’m not a runner.” And that’s unfortunate because runner’s knee afflicts more people than runners.

“Arthritis” though is more of a catchall word that will attract many of exactly the sort of people who would benefit from Doug’s message about exercising the right way, in the right amounts, to build up your knee instead of further breaking it down (he also addresses strengthening the core muscles, something that I’ve never really gone into).

And for those who didn’t like my book (or liked it less) because of the lack of exercises, Doug includes plenty of those, with links to videos showing you how to do them.

I’ll be taking a deeper look at The 90 Day Knee Arthritis Remedy later, telling you what I like most about it. Doug floated me a review copy, and I’m finding it an inspiring, thorough and well-detailed read: the complete DIY knee repair kit for people with achy, grumbling joints.

One final thing.

The price.

At $28.95, it’s not the cheapest knee book out there certainly. But here’s how I look at that:

* I can find you cheaper how-to-fix-your-knees books that don’t work, or don’t work as well. So the question as I see it boils down to: Do you want to fix your knees or save a few bucks?

* Right now the specialist co-pay under my health plan is $40. So I could spend $40 to see an orthopedist (if I still had knee pain) who would say something like, “Your knees look fine” or “You’re not a candidate for surgery yet” or “There’s not much I can do” -- or some rather unhelpful combination of the above. So which would you prefer -- that or a detailed plan of action (note: of course you should always start by seeing a knee doctor, not by buying a book, but after your first or second doctor, chances are good they’ll start sounding pretty much the same).

* $28.95 is certainly cheap if your alternative is surgery. Now surgery, that’s expensive -- even if you have good health insurance. Start adding all your co-pays for an entire surgical procedure, plus the stuff that’s not covered, plus the bandages, rehab clothes/equipment (some not covered), the co-pay on your pain medication, then the harder-to-value opportunity cost of being laid up for x days ... that’ll make $28.95 seem like the price of a candy bar.