Article from BMH
for January 18, 2006
Brattleboro Reformer

Exercise – Use It or Lose It

By Jon C. Thatcher, M.D.

Over the past several decades, our society’s rapid advances in technology have nearly eliminated physical activity from our daily routines. Throughout human history we have depended on our musculoskeletal system for all aspects of life. Now we can accomplish most tasks with a plasma screen and keyboard, or the push of a button or turn of a key.

Jay Leno quipped that, when he was a kid, his father told him that he walked five miles to school everyday. Jay tells his kids that when he was their age he had to get up to change the channel on the T.V. Now we just stay on the couch and use the remote.

While our lives seem easier, our immobility has been detrimental to our general health. Obesity in all age groups is rampant in the U.S. and is usually the result of poor diet and lack of exercise. Kids are spending as much time sitting in front of a screen as they are in school. Adults use escalators, elevators, ride engines, have sit-down jobs and will park their cars as close to their destination as possible to avoid even the briefest walk. However, it is exercise that helps with weight control and helps prevent and control hypertension, strokes, diabetes, anxiety, depression and digestive disorders such as constipation.

As an orthopedic surgeon, I am acutely aware of the importance of using our muscles and joints every day to improve our health and sense of well being. We are forever repairing injured parts and prescribing physical therapy and exercise routines so people can stay active or become more active. This is not just for the high performance athlete and “sports medicine.” After all, walking is an Olympic event. So, keeping our bodies in good working order is important for everyone, especially as we age.

The hardest part about exercising, like homework, is getting started. Once you get started, unlike homework, it is enjoyable and we all feel better for it. It does not take much to reap the benefits. Just 30-40 minutes, 4 or 5 times a week is all you need to maintain cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health.

Here are a few tips I often share with patients. Make it fun! Join a health club, walk or bike with friends. Try a new sport or activity. Mix it up, also known as cross-training, so you avoid over-using certain muscle groups. Bike, swim, hike or go dancing. If you have exercise equipment to get through the long winter, bring it up from the basement and park it in front of the T.V. Then you have no excuse.

If you are just starting out, begin slowly and be patient. Our bodies begin the aging process which includes the slow loss of muscle and bone after age 35. That is why there are so few professional athletes this age. After age 35 if you do not use it, you will lose it. If you are in this age group, do not push through pain. Stop, rest, stretch, apply ice and change your activity to allow the injured or over-used part to recuperate. When you are twenty, you wake up in shape; when you are fifty, it takes months to condition muscles and tendons. Do not expect to perform at the level you did when you were a “whiz kid.” Enjoy the participation. Gain satisfaction from being in the game, not from being the star.

As we age, exercise becomes more important for it keeps the heart and lungs functioning well and keeps blood flowing to all parts of the body, including the brain, which provides necessary nourishment for cell metabolism.

So get up off your duff and start moving. You will feel better, look better and last longer. What more could you ask for! See you out there.