New
Service for TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
readers...roll mouse over, click on
highlighted links in stories to review items
from Amazon
Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Injury
Boom for Baby Boomers
Newswise — Tennis elbow. Knee pain. Muscle
tears. These injuries are no longer solely
experienced by a younger class of athlete.
More and more baby boomers are suffering
serious sports-related aches and pains, or
boomeritis. And while it may be a
pseudo-medical term, the aches and pains are
very real.
“Joint replacements used
to be limited to the elderly, but not
anymore,” says Asif Ilyas, M.D., orthopaedic
surgeon at Temple University.
“The bottom line is
boomers are more active and we’re seeing
more of these high-impact injuries that are
otherwise more common in a younger
population.”
Census records show baby
boomers, those born between 1946 and the
early 1960’s, are the fastest growing
segment of the population.
That means there are more
middle-aged people, living longer and
participating in sports that their
counterparts a generation ago might not have
taken up, at least, not at the level seen
today.
Simply put, more baby
boomers are staying active at a later age,
but that activity comes at a cost. Sports
injuries have become the number two reason
for boomers to visit their doctor, right
behind the common cold, according to a 2003
survey by National Ambulatory Medical Care.
A closer look at trips to
the emergency room in 1998 revealed a
dramatic rise: sports-related injuries to
baby boomers rose 33% over a seven year
period, according the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission.
“It was very uncommon to see so many people
become avid runners into their 60’s and 70’s
a generation ago,” says Dr. Ilyas, “but it’s
very common now to have middle-aged people
take up such a high-endurance sport and run
at a much later age.”
And with that come knee and ankle complaints
and other over-use ailments. After all, a
seventy year-old joint is a seventy year-old
joint, and baby boomers’ bodies are simply
showing their age.
There is an upside,
though. According to Dr. Ilyas, baby boomers
are medically savvy patients who seek out
treatment and are much more vigilant about
their health than other populations.
Finding the right balance,
he says, is the best way for boomers to stay
active and injury free. That means warming
up regularly, not overdoing it and knowing
one’s physical limitations.
...
...
...