11 ms·

Kind of a tough read, I just turned 37 and this was the year when it really hit home that your body degrades and sometimes it never goes back to "normal". I was

Kind of a tough read, I just turned 37 and this was the year when it really hit home that your body degrades and sometimes it never goes back to "normal". I was used to sports injuries being a pattern of injury -> recovery -> ramp back up to 100%, but have suffered some injuries recently and am coming to terms with realizing I will never return to 100%. They will be lingering things I deal with for the rest of my life. It is terrifying transitioning from seeing health as innate to viewing it as something you need to carefully nurture or it will slip away.

silverquiet 2y ago
Not everyone gets even that - I've had mobility issues since I was seven years old. It's been strange to realize that it probably shaped my personality somewhat; I always felt older than my peers in some way. The silver lining might be that while now they are starting to say how old they feel (I'm basically the same age as you), I'll often tell them that I don't feel any older.
- ryukafalz 2y ago
  > The silver lining might be that while now they are starting to say how old they feel (I'm basically the same age as you), I'll often tell them that I don't feel any older. As someone with chronic back pain since my late teens, this is... a nice perspective. My friend group isn't old enough yet for it to come up very often but I feel like I can relate.
  - spoiler 2y ago
    Sorry if I'm being nosey, but I'm curious about the chronic back pain. Is it something that developed over time, is it gwneti, is it an injury? How do you cope and manage it?
cjk2 2y ago
Hey you're me 15 years ago. I stopped the sports and switched to sustained low damage exercise like cycling, hiking, swimming etc. While you can't undo the damage done if you have a very high level of fitness, you can reduce the effects of the further progression of time. Better be as fit as a 50 year old with some damage when you're 70 than as fit as a 70 year old with some damage. End game is not pretty. My ex wife didn't do any fitness stuff at all and she's walking with a stick while I'm doing 30km hikes at 3000m...
- rqtwteye 2y ago
  Same here. I had to switch from doing crazy stuff to just maintaining health. Hiking really fits the spot. I still get a lot of cardio (I have hiking trails with 1000m elevation gain within 10 minutes of driving) that way. But things like running or martial arts are out of the question. I am glad that I was able to adapt to a declining body. Some people my age still do high impact stuff and constantly get injured, take lots of painkillers and get surgeries.
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  Part of me really wants to pick up hockey - just for fun, recreationally - but at 40, I'm worried that I'll get injured to the point where I won't be able to do other things I enjoy, like cycling. Hell, I fell off my bike from a stop a few weeks ago, and landed on my knee, and it took a week and a half before I felt like I could trust my leg to hold weight.
  - cjk2 2y ago
    Don't do it. My sister took up hockey when she was 16 and lost 4 front teeth within 3 months. She's 45 now and just had the second set of replacements...
    - pavel_lishin 2y ago
      My teeth are already sufficiently bad that I'll likely need implants in the future anyway; I don't want to lose them, but it wouldn't impact my life as negatively as, say, a permanent back or knee injury would.
    - el_duderino_ 2y ago
      Of all the hockey injuries, this one rates pretty low for adult beer league if you just wear a cage. Wearing a full face cage reduces the risk of losing teeth to almost 0% chance of happening. Hockey does have risks of course, but playing in a non checking league takes the risk down to manageable levels in my opinion.
  - el_duderino_ 2y ago
riku_iki 2y ago
your situation is probably not completely relevant to age, many injuries are not recoverable no matter how old you are. You accumulated risks of such injuries which produced result. If you switch to safer kinds of sport/workout, you still can have a chance to be very active for many years until old age.
kingkongjaffa 2y ago
This really resonates with me. I’m 30 now. I had a rotator cuff injury last year and lost some range of motion in my shoulder for about 6 months. This year I got a personal trainer for the first time. I’m really trying to fight to get in shape and stay in shape. I spent my 20’s working and for the last 5 years I work remotely, largely ignoring my health. Sitting in a home office all day is really bad for you.
- xenospn 2y ago
  Go on walks! The sun/allergen exposure and vitamin D will be good for you. Literally put walks on your calendar so it’s easier to remember.
- blue_dragon 2y ago
  Use the next several years to build as much muscle as you can without damaging your joints. It gets extraordinarily difficult to add new muscle as you enter your mid-30s, but fortunately you still have time. I work out 3-4 days per week for ~90 minutes each. If you've never done strength training before, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn how much extra mass you can add, while remaining on a typical diet, with zero chemical assistance. Your trainer will be able to help you.
  - silverquiet 2y ago
    I started lifting weights at 37 after 10 years of being very sedentary, and within a few months people were mentioning that I had put on muscle. My impression was that sarcopenia doesn't start until the 60's and even then there are benefits to resistance training.
    - kiba 2y ago
      Reduced physical activity in old age will accelerate sarcopenia. If you're hospitalized, especially for long period of time, that will also accelerate muscle loss.
    - throwaway7ahgb 2y ago
adaptbrian 2y ago
On the flip side changing diet and it's effects on what folks might have seen as something they can never fix/change without _____ drug, might be transformational. With that said, my better half can't bend her arm past a certain part on her body, however, b.c of a really small/stupid collision/fall coming down a Tahoe MTN ski run. It always depends on the problem.
nsguy 2y ago
I'm a fair bit older than you... What you're saying is true but it's also worth mentioning your body has capabilities you're probably far from reaching. Most people your age can still exceed any physical accomplishment they've had in their lifetime if they really want to. E.g. they can play sports better than they ever had and they can achieve personal bests in any physical ability. If you were a top level professional athlete that's probably not true (though even professional athletes have longer careers than they used to) or if you've been a top 10 GM in chess than that's probably behind you too, but otherwise you're young! I don't know what specific injuries you're suffering from but I've suffered from back pain and really improved my situation a lot. I'm physically stronger than I've ever been in my life. I've worked through some knee injuries. I've even recently improved my gum health (in a way someone said wasn't possible). It takes more work and more focus but our bodies are amazing machines and 37 ain't old.
- fibonachos 2y ago
  I’m in my late forties and sprained my back/hip pretty badly right at the start of COVID. A year later I was having trouble descending stairs and starting to develop knee pain on the same side of my body. So I began a fairly rigorous resistance training program about two years ago with hopes of regaining full mobility. The results have been fantastic. I still have a bit of pain from in both the knee and back, but it’s not disruptive. Most importantly, I have normal mobility and the injured areas have stabilized. With any luck it will continue to improve so long as I stick with it. That’s in addition to all the other benefits that come with being in better physical shape.
  - nsguy 2y ago
    Nice! In my experience small issues can escalate if left unchecked because you start compensating and your body also "learns" to do things the wrong way.
- squidbeak 2y ago
  I'm unsure your first point can be true. The pinnacle for a 37 year old is surely lower than for his 23 or 24 year old incarnation, if both life stages were given the same fitness programme. 37 is still very young, but there's already some trace of physical deterioration by then, most apparent in athletes who in almost all sports aside from golf, are off their peak by then.
ttcbj 2y ago
I hear you. I’m almost 50, and see it coming as well. I highly recommend the book Outlive by Peter Attia. Just found it recently, wish I had read it at 37. It has really good ideas on extending your “health span “.
crazygringo 2y ago
It might not be applicable for you, but just in case -- take a look at myofascial release, similar to trigger point therapy. Basically foam rolling on your legs, using a lacrosse ball and progressively smaller rubber balls across your back and shoulders and pecs, and a TheraCane on shoulders, neck, sides, etc. Also Alexander Technique lessons, which retrains you to use your muscles without the tension habits you've accumulated over your lifetime. The two of them together have changed my life. A lot of acute injuries of mine had healed, but had left my muscles extremely tight and essentially kind of frozen, which then creates problems with movement and posture and which then generates other kinds of pain. I too thought I'd never get back to "normal", and then was shocked to discover that I basically could, after a couple of years of undoing all the muscular tightness and "frozenness" through myofascial release and Alexander Technique. (Basically, the myofascial release gets rid of it, while Alexander teaches you how to prevent immediately re-forming it.) It's funny that myofascial release is only just starting to gain awareness among the medical community, while Alexander Technique still mainly only has awareness in the acting and musical performance communities.
mock-possum 2y ago
Same age, same realization - stuff that used to be just ‘tiring’ now knocks me out the next day too while I recover; and everything, bumps and bruises and blood etc, seems to take nearly 3x the time to heal now.

silverquiet 2y ago

Not everyone gets even that - I've had mobility issues since I was seven years old. It's been strange to realize that it probably shaped my personality somewhat; I always felt older than my peers in some way. The silver lining might be that while now they are starting to say how old they feel (I'm basically the same age as you), I'll often tell them that I don't feel any older.

ryukafalz 2y ago
> The silver lining might be that while now they are starting to say how old they feel (I'm basically the same age as you), I'll often tell them that I don't feel any older. As someone with chronic back pain since my late teens, this is... a nice perspective. My friend group isn't old enough yet for it to come up very often but I feel like I can relate.
- spoiler 2y ago
  Sorry if I'm being nosey, but I'm curious about the chronic back pain. Is it something that developed over time, is it gwneti, is it an injury? How do you cope and manage it?

cjk2 2y ago

Hey you're me 15 years ago. I stopped the sports and switched to sustained low damage exercise like cycling, hiking, swimming etc. While you can't undo the damage done if you have a very high level of fitness, you can reduce the effects of the further progression of time. Better be as fit as a 50 year old with some damage when you're 70 than as fit as a 70 year old with some damage. End game is not pretty. My ex wife didn't do any fitness stuff at all and she's walking with a stick while I'm doing 30km hikes at 3000m...

rqtwteye 2y ago
Same here. I had to switch from doing crazy stuff to just maintaining health. Hiking really fits the spot. I still get a lot of cardio (I have hiking trails with 1000m elevation gain within 10 minutes of driving) that way. But things like running or martial arts are out of the question. I am glad that I was able to adapt to a declining body. Some people my age still do high impact stuff and constantly get injured, take lots of painkillers and get surgeries.
pavel_lishin 2y ago
Part of me really wants to pick up hockey - just for fun, recreationally - but at 40, I'm worried that I'll get injured to the point where I won't be able to do other things I enjoy, like cycling. Hell, I fell off my bike from a stop a few weeks ago, and landed on my knee, and it took a week and a half before I felt like I could trust my leg to hold weight.
- cjk2 2y ago
  Don't do it. My sister took up hockey when she was 16 and lost 4 front teeth within 3 months. She's 45 now and just had the second set of replacements...
  - pavel_lishin 2y ago
    My teeth are already sufficiently bad that I'll likely need implants in the future anyway; I don't want to lose them, but it wouldn't impact my life as negatively as, say, a permanent back or knee injury would.
  - el_duderino_ 2y ago
    Of all the hockey injuries, this one rates pretty low for adult beer league if you just wear a cage. Wearing a full face cage reduces the risk of losing teeth to almost 0% chance of happening. Hockey does have risks of course, but playing in a non checking league takes the risk down to manageable levels in my opinion.
- el_duderino_ 2y ago

riku_iki 2y ago

your situation is probably not completely relevant to age, many injuries are not recoverable no matter how old you are. You accumulated risks of such injuries which produced result. If you switch to safer kinds of sport/workout, you still can have a chance to be very active for many years until old age.

kingkongjaffa 2y ago

This really resonates with me. I’m 30 now. I had a rotator cuff injury last year and lost some range of motion in my shoulder for about 6 months. This year I got a personal trainer for the first time. I’m really trying to fight to get in shape and stay in shape. I spent my 20’s working and for the last 5 years I work remotely, largely ignoring my health. Sitting in a home office all day is really bad for you.

xenospn 2y ago
Go on walks! The sun/allergen exposure and vitamin D will be good for you. Literally put walks on your calendar so it’s easier to remember.
blue_dragon 2y ago
Use the next several years to build as much muscle as you can without damaging your joints. It gets extraordinarily difficult to add new muscle as you enter your mid-30s, but fortunately you still have time. I work out 3-4 days per week for ~90 minutes each. If you've never done strength training before, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn how much extra mass you can add, while remaining on a typical diet, with zero chemical assistance. Your trainer will be able to help you.
- silverquiet 2y ago
  I started lifting weights at 37 after 10 years of being very sedentary, and within a few months people were mentioning that I had put on muscle. My impression was that sarcopenia doesn't start until the 60's and even then there are benefits to resistance training.
  - kiba 2y ago
    Reduced physical activity in old age will accelerate sarcopenia. If you're hospitalized, especially for long period of time, that will also accelerate muscle loss.
  - throwaway7ahgb 2y ago

adaptbrian 2y ago

On the flip side changing diet and it's effects on what folks might have seen as something they can never fix/change without _____ drug, might be transformational. With that said, my better half can't bend her arm past a certain part on her body, however, b.c of a really small/stupid collision/fall coming down a Tahoe MTN ski run. It always depends on the problem.

nsguy 2y ago

I'm a fair bit older than you... What you're saying is true but it's also worth mentioning your body has capabilities you're probably far from reaching. Most people your age can still exceed any physical accomplishment they've had in their lifetime if they really want to. E.g. they can play sports better than they ever had and they can achieve personal bests in any physical ability. If you were a top level professional athlete that's probably not true (though even professional athletes have longer careers than they used to) or if you've been a top 10 GM in chess than that's probably behind you too, but otherwise you're young! I don't know what specific injuries you're suffering from but I've suffered from back pain and really improved my situation a lot. I'm physically stronger than I've ever been in my life. I've worked through some knee injuries. I've even recently improved my gum health (in a way someone said wasn't possible). It takes more work and more focus but our bodies are amazing machines and 37 ain't old.

fibonachos 2y ago
I’m in my late forties and sprained my back/hip pretty badly right at the start of COVID. A year later I was having trouble descending stairs and starting to develop knee pain on the same side of my body. So I began a fairly rigorous resistance training program about two years ago with hopes of regaining full mobility. The results have been fantastic. I still have a bit of pain from in both the knee and back, but it’s not disruptive. Most importantly, I have normal mobility and the injured areas have stabilized. With any luck it will continue to improve so long as I stick with it. That’s in addition to all the other benefits that come with being in better physical shape.
- nsguy 2y ago
  Nice! In my experience small issues can escalate if left unchecked because you start compensating and your body also "learns" to do things the wrong way.
squidbeak 2y ago
I'm unsure your first point can be true. The pinnacle for a 37 year old is surely lower than for his 23 or 24 year old incarnation, if both life stages were given the same fitness programme. 37 is still very young, but there's already some trace of physical deterioration by then, most apparent in athletes who in almost all sports aside from golf, are off their peak by then.

ttcbj 2y ago

I hear you. I’m almost 50, and see it coming as well. I highly recommend the book Outlive by Peter Attia. Just found it recently, wish I had read it at 37. It has really good ideas on extending your “health span “.

crazygringo 2y ago

It might not be applicable for you, but just in case -- take a look at myofascial release, similar to trigger point therapy. Basically foam rolling on your legs, using a lacrosse ball and progressively smaller rubber balls across your back and shoulders and pecs, and a TheraCane on shoulders, neck, sides, etc. Also Alexander Technique lessons, which retrains you to use your muscles without the tension habits you've accumulated over your lifetime. The two of them together have changed my life. A lot of acute injuries of mine had healed, but had left my muscles extremely tight and essentially kind of frozen, which then creates problems with movement and posture and which then generates other kinds of pain. I too thought I'd never get back to "normal", and then was shocked to discover that I basically could, after a couple of years of undoing all the muscular tightness and "frozenness" through myofascial release and Alexander Technique. (Basically, the myofascial release gets rid of it, while Alexander teaches you how to prevent immediately re-forming it.) It's funny that myofascial release is only just starting to gain awareness among the medical community, while Alexander Technique still mainly only has awareness in the acting and musical performance communities.

mock-possum 2y ago

Same age, same realization - stuff that used to be just ‘tiring’ now knocks me out the next day too while I recover; and everything, bumps and bruises and blood etc, seems to take nearly 3x the time to heal now.