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Baby Boomers taking a beating Doctors who specialize in disorders of the skeletal system and associated muscles, joints and ligaments are being kept busy these days, as increasing numbers of baby boomer athletes and exercise enthusiasts hit middle age and beyond. "We are seeing a number of overuse or 'wear and tear' injuries in the foot, ankle, knees, hip, shoulders and elbows, in baby boomers," said Dr. Jeffrey A. Ross, a foot and ankle podiatrist from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. "Baby boomers suffer injuries over a period of time, and a lot has to do with biomechanics, poor flexibility, wear and tear, and pounding on hard surfaces" that come with sports like running, tennis, step aerobics, and basketball, Ross added. As people age, Ross believes it's worth considering alternative activities that put less stress on joints. "It is really important that people continue to be physically active, but they need to be reasonable about how they active as they age," he said. Ross spoke about overuse injuries in baby boomers at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine underway in Indianapolis. "We need to be rational and logical to avoid hurting ourselves and developing overuse injuries that can really become debilitating as we get older," Ross said. For example, he suggests aging marathoners cut back on distance and think about cross-training instead. "Probably, when you get into your 40s and 50s, the half-marathon is enough, or opt for the 10K or 5K runs," Ross said. A marathon runner himself, Ross fully admits that some marathoners will have a tough time cutting back on their runs. "Having run 25 marathons, it was hard for me to cut back. Psychologically, a lot of runners don't want to hear that and they continue even against the advice of their doctors," Ross said. Ross is also concerned about the alarming rise in sports-related injuries suffered by children and adolescents who overdo it on the playing field. "Today, injuries occur in kids who do sports like soccer, baseball, and ballet year-round, without taking a break. What happens to them 20 to 30 years later, after suffering an injury as a teenager? It's a concern," Ross said. Dr. Cinque's comments: I hardly ever run. Sometimes I like to run up a hill or up a flight of stairs because it feels good to defy gravity and because I know that I am unlikely to hurt myself running uphill. When the earth is rising up to meet you as you run, you're not falling very far when you put your foot down, and you don't build much downward momentum. Running uphill is the least traumatic running you can do. And if you're not fit enough to run uphill, just walk uphill. Otherwise, I bicycle, and I figure the only way I'm going to get hurt doing that is if I collide with something or fall off the bike. And I swim, and I'm not going to get hurt doing that unless I drown, which isn't too likely unless I get caught in a tsunami. But, I agree that we have to be diligent about preventing athletic injuries. We just don't recover from them as quickly as we did when we were younger. Tennis, which I enjoyed watching this weekend at the French Open, is absolutely brutal on the body. All that twisting and turning, reaching and stretching, pounding and straining, etc. is murder. If people are going to play tennis, they should at least be sensible about it. Don't be a hero and try to make every shot no matter what the cost to your body. Nobody is paying YOU to do that. And even more risky is weightlifting, which requires a lot of caution and control if you are going to avoid getting hurt. First, you should never lift weights that are too heavy for you. It's risky even when you're younger, but when you're older, you're certain to get injured. Second, think about form and never sacrifice it to make a lift. Third, some of the lifts people do make no mechanical sense at all and should not be done. I could write a book about that. E-mail to a friend Next Article |
