It appears that I have . . . Boomeritis

The New York Times had a great article last week on the active and aging population in the US.  It seems that sports injuries have crept up to become the number two reason for doctor’s office visits nationwide, now only trailing the common cold.  These visits, for the most part, aren’t being made by masses of X-geners, but by baby boomers who are doing everything within their power to exercise and to stay healthy for as long as possible. 

It appears that the Boomer generation is the first one to grow up exercising and the first one in the history of mankind to push their bodies so consistently and so hard.  Bodies were just not built for the rigorous punishment that their owners are subjecting them to.  As an orthopedist friend of mine says: “Knees are only made to last about 40 years, you can’t do much about it.” 

Since I have tendonitis in both knees and I’m having surgery on my elbow in a couple of weeks, I suppose I’m like most middle-age, health conscious people out there – breaking down.  The problem isn’t that my body is old, it’s that my mentality is young.