“What do you expect at your Age”

In the 20 years that I have been in practice, it is a regular occurrence for an older patient to present with chronic discomfort and pain that they have been told by their GP to “live with”. A phrase that is often said in association with the disparaging comment “well what do you expect at your age”.

Regrettably, we still live in an era where most patients believe that their GP is a demi-god. That their knowledge is all encompassing, and their opinion the most valued. Hence disparaging comments like “what do you expect at your age” are not seen as offensive, or degrading, but sadly accepted as a reasoned comment from a well respected professional.

If one took an older car to a mechanic with rust in the door cills and the mechanic said that there was nothing that could be done and that the customer had to “live with” the car in that state, the customer would give the mechanic short shrift and move onto another more considered mechanic. Our bodies are not dissimilar to the older car. However, the difference is that we well understand that, in order for the older car to continue to function, the older it gets, the more love and attention it needs. The human body is an ageing machine that deserves the same respect and needs that increased love and attention so that it too will continue to perform to its optimum.

Biomechanically, as we age things do not function as well as they did in the past. But just because you have an muscular ache or a joint pain, that persists, does not mean that regular maintenance care would not noticeably reduce the level of the muscular ache or the joint pain.

If you needed surgery, would you prefer to see the surgeon who had three weeks training in the field that he was just about to operate on, or the surgeon who had trained for five full years. If you choose to consult your GP for a muscular skeletal problem you will be choosing the first surgeon, if you choose to consult with a chiropractor, you will be choosing the second surgeon. Why take the risk on the inexperienced guy, just because he is apparently free?

You have invested a considerable amount of time and effort into your body during your life, so why not show it some respect and go to the trained professional as opposed to the part time amateur?