Now many of you are familiar with me and my minor obsession with Prof Lorimer Moseley but he also has a wonderful partner in crime called David Butler who I was lucky enough to train with, many, many moons ago when I lived in the UK. In fact I would go so far as to say that his training played a major role in the kind of physio I am today.

Now David Butler, as well as training, researching, writing books and treating patients also writes a very interesting blog for medical practitioners called Noijam and today posted this wonderful article which I just had to share!

This is the essence of what I believe – life should be enjoyed pain free every single minute!

Oldies are goldies   

Most of us are living longer! Sixty is the new 40, 80 the new 60 so we hear. Phew! Living longer is usually a good thing but ageism is in the air. Ageism is a negative perception of getting older and of older people. It’s a really big personal and societal DIM (Danger in Me neurotag) and it needs to be challenged. Young and old people can be ageist, older people can be ageist about themselves, health professionals and sometimes government departments and companies are ageist. Let’s challenge it, first by obliterating some myths about pain and ageing.

Four Myths about pain and ageing

Myth 1:  Pain is inevitable with ageing. This is not true but most people including some health professionals think it is. Someone said to me last week –“what do you expect, you are in your 60s”. Sure  – there may be a few more illnesses and surgical procedures but people over 60 have no more migraines,  no more back pain, no more neck pain than younger people have. In fact, the oldies may have less pain!

Myth 2: If you have some pain now, then you will have worse pain later. This is not true either. Pain comes and goes in older people just like it does in younger people. Even though X-Rays and scans may show things such as narrowing of joint spaces, this has NO relation to increased pain. These are age changes and more age does not equal more pain. Rest easy!

Myth 3: Toughing it out makes it easier to tolerate. Some of us oldies think  ‘I’ll  grin and bear it!’ This might be true for a while, but we know that it doesn’t make anything easier in the long run and being stoic can lead to depression, which in turn increases pain more in oldies than it does in youngies. So you don’t have to ‘grin and bear it’, ‘suck it up’ or accept it as part of ageing – seek help from an up to date health professional, just as you would if you were younger.

Myth 4: There is nothing you can do for it. This is not true! There are treatments that work for youngies, middlies, oldies and ultra-oldies, such as Explain Pain combined with contextual activity exposure. Knowledge and movement rules. The Protectometer approach is ideal for oldies.

So – age is only a number, it is not an excuse.

Finally

Next time someone complains to you about their back or knee and says “it’s just old age”, ask them whether their knee or back is older than the rest of their body.

If I had to pick one thing leading to successful ageing, I would go for persistent curiousity.

And only last week I heard – “keep some twinkles in your wrinkles”. Go oldies!