Originally Posted by
VegasTriker
A gerontologist is not a 70 year old MD but a doctor who specializes in treating the complications that come with old age. It's a new branch of medicine so there aren't many of this specialty available. It's too bad because as a society with a lot of aging individuals, we need doctors who understand us. I gather that you don't trust doctors so go with whatever you get here. My own primary care physician isn't much good for this either. She's fairly young and seems to think that you just have to put up with any problem that may arise and just dispenses pills to mask the problem.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I know what a gerontologist is. I was just saying that a doctor's understanding of one's problems would be deeper had they some personal experience of one's issues, or indeed any medical experience. One of our problems here is that we are a cohort that's new to this society. To say that the problems of the 60+ endurance athlete are poorly understood would be an understatement. I ride with a 64 y.o. research physiologist who tells me that he doesn't know of anyone my age who is as active as I. Most folks get broken in one way or another by the time they get this old. The pool of people to study is currently very small, but increasing every day. In another generation there will be a lot more knowledge concerning the care and feeding of the aging athlete.