He pulled off to the side of the path and bent over. I thought he wanted to vomit, but as I came up closer to where I could hear him, he painfully volunteered an explanation that enlightened my suspicion.
"It's my back," he said. "It's killing me."
This baby boomer and his wife (let's call them Mr. and Mrs. Boomer) were making their morning walk along the 1-mile trail at Ronald Reagan Park, Lawrenceville, Georgia. It was about 7:45 and the gurgling stream to our left was as audible as the morning traffic 300 feet to the right.
A few minutes earlier I had caught up with them going in my direction along the trail. I noticed that Mrs. Boomer was walking ahead of, and faster than, Mr. Boomer who also carried a more pregnant physique than she did.
It may have been about two laps later, that as I passed Lady Boomer again that I noticed her husband bending over just off the path in front of me. On hearing his complaint about his back pain, I lingered for a few moments until Mrs. Boomer caught up with him.
Without even thinking, I heard myself uttered, "Oh my..." and noticed that I was caught in the middle of not wanting to give advice and not showing sympathy for his apparent discomfort. I really wanted to do both, so I continued speaking.
"Don't let that stop you, though," I said.
"Oh no, not at all," he reassured me. I felt thankful that this stranger was kind enough to let me know he wasn't about to pass out in a recreational park.
I continued walking and was soon back into my brisk clock-work stride. My thoughts trailed me though. They were on Mr. and Mrs. Boomer, whom I imagined may have been thinking what it would be like to be spritely young and healthy again. I hope he managed to walk away from his back pain.
The lesson I learned
I'm sharing this with you in order to make these two points:
- Don't let anything kill your desire to go out and exercise. I was encouraged by Mr. Boomer's response and his desire to continue to exercise. Even though pain says you should quit, even a few minutes of muscular activity on a regular basis is better than cooperating with paralysis.
- Do it while you can. Many of us will neglect to do regular exercise while we are healthy and able, only to find out later that we need to do more than we are comfortable with just so we can survive the last few days of our lives.
There is mounting evidence that physical exercise such as walking, is beneficial at every stage of life. In fact you may even benefit from increasing your physical activity.
According to Warburton, Nicol, and Bredin, (2006) suggest, "a further increase in physical activity and fitness will lead to additional improvements in health status."
Even though Mr. Boomer was in pain, I had to encourage him to continue his physical activity. I remember reading about the influence of a muscular aerobic activity on fibromyalgia patients.
In that particular study, it was said that these patients received "increased muscle performances associated with a reduction of pain and an improvement of quality of life." So keep trekking Mr Boomer, even though it is painful!
So to those who have no pain and still won't move, I'd say, let's just do it now. Physical exercise is key. Everyone knows that, but how many of us put it off until we are less able to enjoy it? I think the answer is, "too many of us."
References:
Maquet D., Croisier J. L., Demoulin C., Faymonville M., Crielaard J. M. (2006). Value of aerobic rehabilitation in the management of fibromyalgia. Rev Med Liege. 2006 Feb;61(2):109-16.
Warburton D. E., Nicol C. W., Bredin S. S. (2006). Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence. CMAJ. 2006 Mar;174(6):801-9.
