Well I have managed to break my ankle at work yesterday and I spent a few hours at A&E to get things checked out. Thankfully all I have is a very painful sprain and a small fracture but I did participate in a study to see if a tuning fork could detect a fracture in the ankle. I know it sounds (pun not intended) odd but I can see how sound waves could be used for to replace the need to x-ray and therefore reduce the exposure to radiation.
In a few months I will have a telephone conversation to check how it went etc and receive a £10 voucher for my troubles

Sounds cool.

I had an MRI scan where they asked if they could experiment with a new method that meant the could do away with contrast fluid for the scan.

I did it but I didn't get any money for it.

Anything to aid medical research though.

No harm in helping out while you are there

My stoopid surgeon keeps trying to send me for MRIs! Plonker!

If a Doc tried to diagnose me with a tuning fork rather than an xray, I'd want a second opinion pronto.

I think i'd ask to be transposed to a different key practice.

There's nothing wrong in principal, and to see if it works in practice requires experimentation. Experimentation requires subjects and as there's no harm done then I would willingly volunteer.

Maybe they should change their tune

Not all fractures can be picked up on X-ray. I remember one lady who had had a fall. But apart from pain, she was able to stand and walk normally. X-ray ruled out any fractures. She came back in because physiotherapy wasn't working and a CT scan showed there was a very fine fracture. It got fixed and she was okay but if a tuning fork could have detected it when an X-ray couldn't, surely it would be a better discriminating test?

Why is that a bad thing? I was amazed at the results they got when I had my knee done. So much more useful than an X-Ray. Kinda cool looking at why your knee's buggered in colourful 3D maps than an X-Ray.

Yeah, I had one on my collarbones when I broke them (Broke both at the same time! Chuffing motocross. ) and it's awesome. Can see like "into" your skin in full HD, compared to the 128x128 Gameboy screen that is an X-ray, if you get that analogy.

I wonder if the vibrations would be enough to cause pain to the fracture, especially if there's some resonance going on.

This was hours after I'd been on the table and he'd been putting metal work into my knee. He's a brilliant surgeon, just a bit clumsy and forgetful.

That's exactly what I thought. It shouldn't cause as much pain if there was no fracture and it was all just soft tissue injury.

Maybe they'll use a decibel meter for diagnosis then. It's have the added benefit of reducing queues in A & E as people change their mind.