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BODYWORK FOR BOOMERS Clearly, Levy's an adrenaline junkie and he's willing to hike in order to get the most mileage out of the slopes. But what's interesting isn't the way Levy ascended or how far he descended Mount Adams, it's the fact that he's 62. "There's only one guy on the mountain older than me," he says. Maybe that's true on Mount Adams, but America's trails, tracks, and pools are teeming with older adults. A GENERATION ON THE MOVE Baby boomers are a generation raised during the running craze of the '70s (remember Jim Fixx in those skimpy running shorts?), and the aerobics craze of the '80s (Jane Fonda in leg warmers!). They're used to hiking, walking, running, biking, kayaking, surfing, and just about every other activity imaginable. The website for the AARP (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons) has an extensive forum devoted to fitness (www.aarpfitness.com), and it's not just the Sit and Be Fit brand usually prescribed for older adults. In addition to advice on how to start walking and swimming programs, AARP provides a beginning training program for triathletes. It features a regular column by tennis great Martina Navratilova, who won her last of 59 Grand Slam titles when she was six weeks shy of her 50th birthday. It's clear that this is a generation that won't stop being active simply because their bodies are getting older. The only problem is, their bodies' are getting older. Age is a state of mind, goes the bumper-sticker maxim, but age is also a state of the body. Even if someone feels 30 mentally, his or her body most definitely is not. The joints, ligaments, and muscles that make sports possible have all endured years of wear and tear. It doesn't matter if you're talking about a coffee maker or a quadriceps: if you use something day in and day out for 60 years, it's going to wear down. A 2000 report released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that in 1998, hospital emergency rooms treated more than 1 million sports injuries sustained by people born between 1946 and 1964 (i.e., the baby boomers). This represented a 33 percent increase from seven years earlier.1 The increase was not so much attributed to more baby boomers engaging in more physical activity; roughly, the same number of people born in that post-World War II era were as active as before. The difference was that, suddenly, those same active adults were aging and therefore more susceptible to injury. Sports-related injuries tend to occur mostly to the muscles and joints in people of all ages, and that likelihood only increases as people's muscles and joints wear down. In 1999, Nicholas A. DiNubile, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, referred to this new intersection of age and sports injuries as "boomeritis."2 BY THE NUMBERS As baby boomers continue to age (7,918 people are turning 60 every day),3 massage therapists have an opportunity to expand their practices to assist this generation, especially since the Western medical system is ill-prepared for the huge influx of aging adults. There are about 7,100 doctors certified in geriatrics in the United States—one per every 2,500 older Americans. A study by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that as the boomers age, older Americans' healthcare will be compromised due to Medicare's low reimbursement rates and its focus on treating short-term health problems rather than managing chronic conditions or age-related syndromes. Medicare's lack of coverage for preventative services will also negatively impact boomers' managed healthcare.4 THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF MASSAGE While massage cannot repair an injury as serious as a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament, for instance, it can go a long way toward warding off some of the more serious injuries. "I really believe massage is the best preventative medicine," says Dr. Gaynl Keefe, a doctor of traditional Oriental medicine in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who recommends massage to many of her clients. Between 50–60 percent of Keefe's patients are 45 years and older, and almost all are trying to stay active. Part of it is because they want to look thin. Part is because they want to ward off many of the diseases that often accompany age, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Part of it is because retired people simply have more time to be active than when they were chained to a desk all day. They're taking exercise classes, traveling, and chasing their grandkids. As people age, "the body's whole chemical factory slows down," Keefe explained in a July 2008 telephone interview. "In Chinese medicine, it's called a kidney chi deficiency." Whether you call it chi deficiency or aging, the symptoms include: joints and ligaments drying out and becoming less elastic, disc degeneration causing back pain (especially the lower back), recovery time from illness or injury increasing, and the immune system wearing down, making people more susceptible to infection. Enter the healing art of massage. A GOOD ROUTINE Levy received his first massage in 1981 to address the problem of chronic lower back pain. He had been athletic his whole life, but the back pain persisted. 36 massage & bodywork november/december 2008