KNOCK KNOCK! WHO’S THERE?
THE FIRST MRI SCAN OF A HUMAN Integrating Medicine and Sports Whether it’s football, hockey, rugby, or any other contact sport, when a player goes down, fans immediately want to know why. An injury could mean a player is out for the season, which could also cause the entire team to falter. Concerned fans will wait for hours to hear the player’s prognosis. A sports injury is severely damaging because it can potentially end the athlete’s career or alter their quality of life. Injured players hope to get a diagnosis and treatment from the medical professionals around them and get back in the game as soon as possible. MRI technology is an essential part of that process. An MRI scan is used to produce an accurate diagnosis of the player’s injury, but that’s not all. It can also assist doctors in estimating recovery time and determining if the player will need surgery. With so much depending on the MRI scan, it’s no wonder that fans, coaches, teammates, and injured players themselves wait anxiously for the results. Though it’s now standard practice to use MRI scans to help diagnose sports injuries, the MRI device itself is less than 50 years old. On July 3, 1977, the first recorded MRI scan of a human body was performed by Dr. Raymond Damadian. Although it took five hours to produce that first image of the patient, the machine successfully scanned his chest and revealed his lungs and heart. Damadian named the machine Indomitable, an homage to his team’s struggle in developing the technology that allowed the device to succeed. Thanks to Damadian’s determination and the brilliant people on his team, today’s medical professionals can use MRI machines to scan broken bones, detect cancerous cells, take full photos of the brain, and reveal blood clots. MRI scans are useful for athletes and nonathletes alike. The results inform a diagnostic plan that will help them get back to playing the sport they love, whether it be their career or a hobby.
The Wacky Evolution of the Knock-Knock Joke
Knock knock! Who’s there? Theresa. Theresa who? Theresa crowd!
Unless you’re living under a rock, odds are you’ve laughed, grumbled, or groaned in response to a knock-knock joke. You may have even told a few yourself before you realized knock-knock jokes had gone out of style in favor of sarcasm and memes. That’s because at their core, knock-knock jokes are a quintessential American experience — and the perfect homegrown fodder for International Joke Day, which falls on July 1. But where did they come from, and why do so many people knock the knock-knock joke today? Well, according to NPR, knock-knock jokes have had a roller coaster of a history. Near as we can tell, they actually evolved from another kind of joke: the “Do You Know” joke. This style of joke was popular in the early 1900s, and according to an Oakland Tribune article NPR dug up, this was a typical one: Do you knowArthur? Arthur who? Arthurmometer! Not very funny, is it? Well, over the years this style of back-and-forth jesting evolved into knock-knock jokes. The popularity of the “knock knock” bit of the joke could harken back to Shakespeare, who BestLife credits with “the first-known occurrence of a knock knock, who’s-there dialogue” in Act 2 of “Macbeth” (though it likely wasn’t intended to be funny), or it could be a reference to 1936 vice presidential hopeful Frank Knox, whose name made “knock knock” irresistible wordplay for the radio. Whatever the reason, knock knocks were all the rage in the 1930s, to the extent that people formed knock-knock clubs, businesses held knock-knock contests, and orchestras set them to music. However, the heyday was short-lived. In the following years, people started getting sick of knock knocks, and even psychologists turned against them. According to NPR, “people who loved knock-knock jokes were said to have social problems.” Today, knock-knock jokes are still around, but they’re mostly considered a game for kids or demoted to the realm of “bad dad jokes.” Maybe you think that’s warranted, maybe you think it’s tragic — either way, odds are the format will continue to evolve and probably outlive us all! Cronin Law Firm | +1-248-258-3500
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