Dibblego, i have just caught your thread and im finding the responses interesting. I have to agree with ATTIreland - most surgeons are into end stage intervention - that is, they get to see all the patients who fail with physio, physicians, alternate therapists, fringe therapies. Therefore pretty much all the patients they see usually need surgery in some way - that is their underlying perception of medical pathologies. Their top end clinical diagnostic skills are actually pretty ordinary as they rely on 'gold' standard imaging or arthroscopies to confirm their diagnosis. This makes them clinically lazy (and to really throw fuel into the fire - i see your thread is from Australia - most Oz surgeons make 90% of their money from surgery - they have to see people like you in their clinic to fill their surgical lists. For this pleasure they sting you about $160 for 15 minutes. Believe me, you are COSTING them money by being seen in a consult room he has to pay rent on. He would much prefer to be performing high dollar return surgery - or out playing golf). So don't be surprised by this attitude of specialists.

If you tell me where you are from (city) i may know of some clever sports doctors who may be more responsive to your needs.