Posted on 04/15/2006 6:04:49 PM PDT by neverdem
For America's baby boomers, a generation weaned on Jack LaLanne, shaped by Jane Fonda videos and sculpted in the modern-day gym, too much of a good thing has consequences.
Encouraged by doctors to continue to exercise three to five times a week for their health, a legion of running, swimming and biking boomers are flouting the conventional limits of the middle-aged body's abilities, and filling the nation's operating rooms and orthopedists' offices in the process.
They need knee and hip replacements, surgery for cartilage and ligament damage, and treatment for tendinitis, arthritis, bursitis and stress fractures. The phenomenon even has a name in medical circles: boomeritis.
"Boomers are the first generation that grew up exercising, and the first that expects, indeed demands, that they be able to exercise into their 70's," said Dr. Nicholas A. DiNubile, a Philadelphia-area orthopedic surgeon, who coined and trademarked the term boomeritis.
"But evolution doesn't work that quick. Physically, you can't necessarily do at 50 what you did at 25. We've worn out the warranty on some body parts. That's why so many boomers are breaking down. It ought to be called Generation Ouch."
Led by baby boomers, loosely defined as the 78 million Americans born from 1946 to 1964, sports injuries have become the No. 2 reason for visits to a doctor's office nationwide, behind the common cold, according to a 2003 survey by National Ambulatory Medical Care.
A Bureau of Labor Statistics study said infirmities associated with the athletic activities of middle-aged adults were the source of 488 million days of restricted work in 2002. When the Consumer Product Safety Commission examined emergency-room visits in 1998, it discovered that sports-related injuries to baby boomers had risen by 33 percent since 1991 and amounted to $18.7 billion in medical costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
As a lazy 63 year old i can attest to the fact that one doesnt have to excercise to be laid away by Arthritis, bersitis or tendonitis.
It's called low impact. Do it and your joints will thank you.
I dont have those problems anymore. Im 62.
I'm not as quick or have the stamina to go 12 hours a day that I had at 40 or 50 but at 68 I can still hold my own with the best of them in construction.
That's better than filling the offices of cardiovascular surgeons.
BS. Previous generations exercised every bit as much and more. They just called it "work".
two words...
Jim Fixx
*sigh* here's my open wallet
Running and jogging are nasty business for soft-tissues.
A badge of honor, doncha think?
We walk a few miles every day...it's great for fitness without stress! The dogs appreciate the exercise too.
I was born in June '45, so I guess I missed being a boomer by a year or so.
Agreed. Low impact can be really tough, too! I work out with free weights and do step aerobics. My Dad is in his 70's and ran a few too many marathons. He's looking at a hip replacement right now. I have no desire to follow that path.
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My doctor mandates exercise. It brings about weight loss, which lowers blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
Walking's great. I'm lucky enough to live where I can take hikes in the mountains on a regular bases. Cycling is a wonderful form of low-impact (as long as you don't crash) exercise that provides some great cardio benefits. Moderate weight-lifting routines are also quite healthy.
Dogs are good for a person's health in more ways than one.
Boomers remain extremely active in self-absorption.
That certainly seems to be the case. This entire article in fact seems to be an effort in self-congratulation.
Ever notice that no other generation really thinks of itself in generational terms? I rarely ever hear the WW2 generation, silent generation, or gen's X or Y make reference to themselves as a group, yet in the media at least it's still common for the boomers to do it even as they enter their 60's. You don't hear about things like the "generation gap" anymore either.
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