Diagnosis? Boomeritis.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer and intially coined by a local orthopedic surgeon, the informal term describes the swelling number of boomers - the oldest are 63 this year - plagued by twinges and pangs and even serious injuries that have not been seen at these levels before.
"This is the generation, 78 million strong, intent on staying forever young. Not everyone does Botox. Many in the over-45 crowd stay fit through rigorous exercise that can wear the kids out even as the costs to those seasoned bodies mount.Sore shoulders, inflamed tendons, arthritic knees.
"People like myself are trying to hold back the clock," said Nicholas DiNubile, 57. The Havertown orthopedic surgeon is credited with first using boomeritis (now trademarked by him) to describe the growing number of middle-age patients with exercise-related ailments. "Baby boomers are the first generation in droves trying to stay active in an aging frame."
According to the paper, DiNubile is an adjunct professor of orthopedics at the University of Pennsylvania and avid tennis player who has issues with his own knee. DiNubile cowrote FrameWork: Your 7-Step Program for Healthy Muscles, Bones, and Joints in 2005, which argues that the body's musculoskeletal frame was designed for only 40 years of pounding activity. Yet over the last century, life expectancy has risen more than 50 percent. The U.S. rate is at a record high of nearly 78 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If you do the math, problems were sure to eventually arise.
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