There was a patient who once came through the front doors twisted, bent over, and in a great deal of pain. He filled out his paperwork and we began our gathering his health history. Halfway through the consultation he shook his head and said, “I don’t know if I should even be here. I’m thinking that maybe this is just old age.” I glanced at his paperwork and looked back at him and reminded him that he was only 31 years old! How could he possibly be thinking this right now? I’ve seen 80-year-olds that aren’t even leaning on this notion of old age settling in!
It makes me think of a quote by the baseball player, Satchel Paige: “If you didn’t know how old you were, how old would you be?” Take a moment to think about that.
Over the years we’ve seen many generations of patients. The most common denominator in how they feel has nothing to do with age. Instead, it depends more on one very different indicator. The health of their joints is the strongest indicator of how old they “feel.”
There are approximately 360 joints in the human body. When they start to wear out due to injury or neglect, you start to feel older. The crazy thing is that it almost doesn’t matter which joints. Pick a few. For example, if you had a shoulder, ankle, neck, low back, jaw, or hip that wasn’t working well, how would that affect your life? Chances are there are some activities that you need or want to do that you would either start doing slower or perhaps even completely shy away from because of that joint. Only too many times have I heard the phrase, “I could do that...when I was younger.” (When you hear that next, catalog in your head the ages of those that say it. It will be said at almost any age range past your twenties.)
Almost always, a poor joint is the common denominator in making someone “feel older.” And what exactly does feeling older affect? Examples are activities like performing your job well, recreational activities you enjoy, chores that need tending to around the house, and the quality and quantity of your relationships.
Keep this point in mind: if you don’t take care of your joints, you will feel older sooner that you should. Remember that your joints wear through either injury or neglect. Either way they need to be taken care of, and chiropractic is the best profession out there that has the training to address your joints.
It’s your life. Your joints. How old you feel. What are you going to do about it?
“If you didn’t know how old you were, how old would you be?”
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