insanelupus
WKR
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2015
- Messages
- 501
My apologies to you aged gents, I'm seeking your wisdom and thoughts. I'm not over 60, still 2 years off of 50, but I thought y'all might help me understand something.
The question is, has your perception of pain and discomfort changed as you've gotten older?
I find pain and discomfort still hurt, but my ability to contend with it has improved. Rarely, if ever, does it severely limit what I can or will do, just the speed at which I may do it.
I have a relative in his 70s that still operates a small farm, but you'd swear some days he's 80+. Often he'll make up his mind he can't do something long before trying it and seems to seek out surgeries or devices to fix things. He has a back issue with his spine, but the doctor wanted him to try physical therapy before surgery. He said it wasn't helping and when he's done he won't do the stuff anyway. They are trying to improve his core strength and back strength, and it's not working. In the next breath he's telling me about a back brace that's so helpful. He acknowledged the brace is doing what the PT is intended to do, but he likes the brace better. I asked if the brace would be temporary until he strengthened up and he kind of shrugged off the question. I also asked if in 5-10 years, the brace would still help, because without him trying to strengthen himself, the condition might/probably get worse. That's typically where the "...you don't know how bad it hurts" line comes in.
I'm sure it is painful, extremely. But the idea of hurting worse in the future because you do very little about it now is hard to wrap my head around. In my mind it comes down to hurt now our hurt worse later, of course there are no guarantees, but the odds seem to say work now and at least have potential to keep it from getting worse.
Time to do the PT isn't an issue, it genuinely appears to be lack of motivation and no desire to put the work into it.
What am i missing? Is there a huge perception difference in pain as you age? Sure, I can see more stuff does hurt after multiple decades, but isn't that expected? What other facet am I not comprehending?
The question is, has your perception of pain and discomfort changed as you've gotten older?
I find pain and discomfort still hurt, but my ability to contend with it has improved. Rarely, if ever, does it severely limit what I can or will do, just the speed at which I may do it.
I have a relative in his 70s that still operates a small farm, but you'd swear some days he's 80+. Often he'll make up his mind he can't do something long before trying it and seems to seek out surgeries or devices to fix things. He has a back issue with his spine, but the doctor wanted him to try physical therapy before surgery. He said it wasn't helping and when he's done he won't do the stuff anyway. They are trying to improve his core strength and back strength, and it's not working. In the next breath he's telling me about a back brace that's so helpful. He acknowledged the brace is doing what the PT is intended to do, but he likes the brace better. I asked if the brace would be temporary until he strengthened up and he kind of shrugged off the question. I also asked if in 5-10 years, the brace would still help, because without him trying to strengthen himself, the condition might/probably get worse. That's typically where the "...you don't know how bad it hurts" line comes in.
I'm sure it is painful, extremely. But the idea of hurting worse in the future because you do very little about it now is hard to wrap my head around. In my mind it comes down to hurt now our hurt worse later, of course there are no guarantees, but the odds seem to say work now and at least have potential to keep it from getting worse.
Time to do the PT isn't an issue, it genuinely appears to be lack of motivation and no desire to put the work into it.
What am i missing? Is there a huge perception difference in pain as you age? Sure, I can see more stuff does hurt after multiple decades, but isn't that expected? What other facet am I not comprehending?