Joint Pain
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17)
youthful healing response in older
adults. Still other investigators are us-
ing vessel-choking “sclerosing agents”
and minimally invasive surgery to put
the kibosh on tendinotic pain.
As for me, after zeroing in on the
tendon fibers, Gary Chimes finds
nothing significantly abnormal—just
the low-grade wear and tear that’s
impossible to avoid in an active guy on
the cusp of 60.
“It’s not that there’s something struc-
turally wrong,” Chimes tells me. “It’s
that you’re asking a body part to do
more than it was designed to do.” To
remedy this, he gives me two prescrip-
tions—neither of which involves pills.
“First,” he recommends, “see a tennis
pro about improving your technique,
particularly your serve and one-hand-
ed backhand.” Powering these shots
with the arm alone concentrates a huge
amount of stress on the elbow.
Second, visit a physical therapist for
rehab exercises. “A well-designed pro-
gram of physical therapy will help you
learn to use your whole body more ef-
fectively,” he says. “That way, you won’t
always be asking little muscles to do the
big muscles’ job, putting more pressure
on tendons than they were designed to
handle.”
Two months later, I can’t believe my
improvement. A local pro has taught
me how to hit a two-handed back-
hand, effectively eliminating the major
source of on-court elbow twinges. At
the rehab center, my physical therapist
has shown me a series of exercises that
has not only further aided my elbow’s
recovery but provides significant relief
for my other chronic tendinosis prob-
lem: swimmer’s shoulder, the bane of
diehard swimmers like me.
So while it’s comforting to know that
cutting-edge treatments exist for my
tendinosis, I’m happy that I don’t need
them quite yet—or maybe ever. ;
Pennsylvania freelancer Jim Thornton
writes for
Men’s Health, Field & Stream,
and
Swimmer,
among other magazines.
Car Guys
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 53)
going to be playing in this era forever?”
Keith asks.
A lot of market experts predict
just that—the collectible era of auto-
mobiles has essentially ended, and
future gearheads will churn through a
dwindling stock of ever-more-elderly
cars until the gas finally runs out and
the last V- 8 sputters. Few anticipate
that aging Gen Xers, gripped with
nostalgia, will rescue their high school
Corollas from junkyards a decade
hence. The emotional bond that
boomers forged with their wheels
in car-crazy postwar America didn’t
reproduce itself, and few modern
cars possess the soulful intangibles
that elevate a machine into a vessel of
dreams. Andy Smith motions at the
crowd. “Look at all this gray hair,” he
says. “I fear we’re the last ones. This is
the peak right here.”
If he’s right, this is less a Super Bowl
of car collecting than a jazz funeral—a
riotous send-off to a culture lead-
footing into oblivion. Whether we
know it or not, we are gathered here to
wave good-bye to the automobile, or at
least what we loved about them, before
they are gone for good.
Or maybe it just feels that way after
the sun goes down and the desert chills.
Behind the auction tent, sold cars
emerge in a steady stream, led off to
new owners. Most drive off under their
own power. A few are towed behind
golf carts, which buzz about the site
like tugboats attending ocean liners.
There’s that ’ 59 Cadillac, the one
with the epic fins. A white-haired
man is futzing around under the hood.
It’s the battery, or the alternator, or
something. The engine fires, but the
car manages to move only a few feet
before it stalls. It’s frustrating. A golf
cart stands ready to escort the giant
Caddy out of the way. But then the
white-haired guy gets it running again
and gently lays down the hood. The
motor burbles on.
“Try it again,” he tells the driver one
last time. “Let’s see how far it’ll go.” ;
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