Arthroscopic surgery is a common treatment for moderate to severe knee arthritis.  Through scopes inserted through small incisions the knee is irrigated and irregularities in the cartilage are shaved off. In fact, no study has ever demonstrated that this surgery is effective for arthritis.  Even worse, in a study in 2002 that randomized patients with knee arthritis to either arthroscopic surgery or sham surgery (in which skin incisions are made but nothing is done to the joint), the surgery gro...