farmdoc's blog post number 96

Art Linkletter. Heard of him? He was host of one of the longest running shows in US broadcast history: People are Funny. They are. Part of the physical examination of the shoulder is testing the range of movement. And putting the hand as far up the back as possible tests shoulder internal rotation. Because a man I examined recently had a right frozen shoulder, he couldn’t get his hand up his back further than the hip pocket of his trousers. His wife said that given her husband’s difficulty accessing his wallet, she’d suggested he put it in his left hip pocket, and he’d replied he couldn’t – it just wouldn’t feel right. I know: Once after the right hip pocket in a pair of my jeans frayed right through, I tried carrying my wallet in the left hip pocket, but that made me feel somehow lopsided. (I solved the problem by buying new jeans.) Folks, there’s a PhD thesis here for the taking: Is right or left handedness related to which hip pocket a man carries his wallet in; and if so, what do mollydookers do with their wallets when their trousers only have a right-sided hip pocket? Yes Mr Linkletter, people are funny. And every one has something interesting to tell. We just need to be open to listening to it. That’s all.