What Were We Meant to Be

I find myself giving this speech more and more these days. What Were We Meant to Be? What were human beings meant to be? Like when we evolved into Homo sapiens. We didn’t just appear here on earth as creatures with roofs over our heads and transportation and soccer fields, you know. We slowly evolved from animals with no idea of what we were to become. And we walked, and we gathered nuts and berries, and at some point a lowlier animal died at our feet and we ate it and then figured out how to catch some more.

Just think of it in terms of other creatures. Take the earth worm. No one would ever expect anything more than slithering from an earthworm. Like dogs. They’re walking and trotting critters. They run occasionally to catch something to eat, but when we start getting them to jump and catch Frisbees, what happens? They tear their ACLs. Hello. If they accidentally tore their ACLs 150,000 years ago, then hello bigger predator. Rover becomes someone’s dinner and doesn’t get to pass on his genes.

Let’s look at ourselves. Because we were so intelligent, after only a moment of time in the scheme of things, we started protecting ourselves. We invented tools, we got fire, we built roofs over our heads. Our life spans gradually increased because of these protections. We learned how to set a bone and then shield ourselves against predators and the environment while we healed that bone so a tibia fracture wouldn’t result in our death. And pretty soon we got medicines. And then we got C-sections and birth control pills, which were so important for women. We limited the number of children we had and we stopped dying in childbirth. For the most part the female really didn’t consistently outlast the child bearing years until modern times. You had baby after baby until you died, unless you had a really big pelvis or little bitty babies. Then you lived to thirty six and were the old sage of the tribe.

So because we live so long and because we are so healthy and because we have so much time on our hands because we no longer have to build our own homes, grow our own food and prepare it from scratch, and we don’t have to protect ourselves from our environment…we can participate in activities that tear us up. Like football, and basketball, and jogging and motocross and mountain climbing. You name it. It’s out there and we aren’t put together to do it…for long anyway. Because of our brains we cut short the evolutionary cycle that might have given us better knees and shoulders. We don’t select our mates for good ankles or backs. We select them for nice eyes, a good sense of humor, ability to earn a living or get us drugs and other things I don’t need to elucidate right here. Suffice it to say, our knee genes aren’t likely to improve over time.

So people come to see me because they’ve torn up their knees or their ankles or backs. I can help them, but I can’t take it back. The damage has been done and the wheels of arthritis set in motion. But they want to keep doing what they’re doing. They want me to keep them doing what they’re doing. But what they’re doing isn’t what we’re meant to do. We’re hunter gatherers. Well, there are a few Ethiopians out there who are engineered to be long distance runners. The rest of us…fageddaboutit. We’re walkers. And the sooner we realize that, the better. Okay, get it out of your system. There’s no stopping that now. Sports are too huge a part of our culture. So go ahead and get it out of your system. But then, when you’re beat, when you’re torn up, when I tell you that you only have half the cartilage left in your knee and that your next choice will be a total knee replacement, then just think about getting back to the way you were meant to be. Don’t question why you can’t climb rock walls anymore. You’re not a monkey. Stay on the ground. Stay on the flat ground. Lift weights just to maintain your strength. Settle into that because you’re only fifty years old and you may live to be 100 and unless someone is inventing something really amazing right now in a garage, the only choice for you is going to be metal and plastic and even that won’t last forever.

Now I know a lot of people are going to hate me for this. I may even lose some patients who don’t want to hear it. But just think about it. Think about what each animal is meant to do. The only ones who do things other than what they were meant to do are humans and the domesticated animals. Look at the poor horse for example. It’s supposed to be a grass-eating walker, a trotter and only a runner to get away from something that’s trying to eat it. But we make it jump, race other horses, cut cattle and do tricks. Then look at the money we have to spend to keep it doing those things. I have never purchased a horse over the age of five who didn’t have arthritis in his hocks or stifles because of early training and high impact activities. We’re the same way, only at least we have a choice and it’s self-imposed.

The point is that the human creature, as just a creature, wasn’t meant to last as long as we are lasting. The gals died in childbirth and the guys broke their legs and were eaten by some predator. And if that didn’t happen, when you got too old to hang with the tribe, then you were left behind. Animals are the same way. But the difference is that when we get old and beat up, our expectation is that we’re going to be able to keep doing the things we want to do; run marathons, or maybe just the half, sky dive and play basketball with twenty year olds. We let our dogs and our horses take it easy. They get to lay around on a pallet all day or go out to pasture.

So just listen when your doctor tells you to slow down, lose weight and walk, don’t run. They may not be able to take the time to give you this lecture, but the message needs to be heard. Be gentle with your body. And ask yourself…what were you meant to be?