I turned 44 years old the other day. To some, that makes me “old AF.“ To others, I’m still a whipper snapper. Case in point–I was speaking to my mother about a picture she had seen of me from my birthday festivities. She commented that I was “getting thin on top, just like your grandfather.” The reference was to my retreating hairline.
It gave me pause. Not because it causes me great shame, but because I never really noticed. Aspects of my age had begun to creep up on me and I didn’t really notice. Hair loss is not painful. Perhaps it is emotionally, but definitely not physically. In fact, hair loss is entirely normal. Recently, I have begun to notice a few wrinkles here and there. Again, not painful at all and causes me no distress. I accept that it’s time for me to start seeing age-related change.
My own birthday forced me to think about aging and expectations. They say age, death and taxes are guaranteed.
Have your ever stopped to consider what comes with the “age” part?
I feel confident no one would argue that wrinkles, be it on your face or elsewhere, are normal and expected. You may not like it, but you know it’s a fact of life.
So, if we are willing to accept that skin sagging and wrinkles are normal, why can’t we accept that there may be other age-related changes to our bodies?
Let me give an example. I will use my whisper voice so as to avoid shaming everyone that that has…arthritis (!)
Everyone over the age of, let’s call it 40ish, has some form of it. And it’s 100% normal. NORMAL. Not a disease, but a normal process of aging.
It’s not wear and tear or any derivative that you’ve heard from a healthcare practitioner.
It won’t paralyze you. And, here comes the truth. For many people, arthritis isn’t painful at all. Zero pain. Zilch. Nada. Nope. No pain.
Recent research demonstrates this perfectly. People with arthritis of the knee, spine, shoulder, etc had MRIs performed. Notice that I said these folks had arthritis of the areas that had imaging. Oddly, even though many of them had arthritis, based upon imaging, many of them had no pain. Zero pain. Zilch. Nada. They were diagnosed with arthritis of the area that was imaged, but had no pain in that area……
Based on research, I’m left to ponder; ‘Is arthritis really a diagnosis?’ Or, is it something a normal finding that average clinicians like to blame because they have no other answer.
Because after all…if arthritis is merely equivalent to the wrinkles on your skin and those don’t hurt…
Then is it not fair to assume that since EVERYONE that is a certain age has arthritis, then arthritis IS NOT the source of your pain?
If you want to get to the underlying cause of pain or stiffness, don’t hesitate to reach out–I would be happy to help!
