Don't throw away the cane.

In his Presidential Address to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in January 1956, Dr. Blount, one of the true giants in orthopaedics, presented an eloquent argument for encouraging patients to use a cane to help with walking. The argument begins with an admonition to "educate the doctors, patients, employers, and the general public to turn back to the old order and to look upon the stick as a good friend." Blount said that we must counteract the prejudices against the cane that developed in the middle of …