Editor’s Note–August 2024

Conceived of as the setting of a segment of the radio show The Prairie Home Companion in the late 1970s, Lake Wobegon was a fictional Minnesota town described as a place “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” While the characterization of the town served as fitting context for the amusing stories of the “News from Lake Wobegon,” it also points to the human tendency to overestimate our own performance or abilities.

In this issue, we examine how this predisposition plays out in O&P with “Prosthetic Alignment and the Lake Wobegon Effect,” which posits that clinicians’ overestimation of their alignment skills and self-created success standards may cause them to ignore critical thought that would improve results. The point is not that practitioners should dismiss their own experience and personal expertise, but rather to encourage self-reflection in alignment practices.