Thought Bytes...
August 2004

Broken Baby Boomers

…”Baby boomers hurt less often, but worse.”… (Let me start by saying, no, I don’t know where I got that quote from. I have a lousy memory for that kind of thing, and I didn’t write down the reference. But I did read it somewhere!)

It’s the kind of statement that gets you thinking. There is a huge segment of the population somewhere between age 40 and retirement that have been using their bodies and extremities in the workplace for 20- 45 years. If it was a car, you would expect some of the parts to wear out. Humans however, have the capacity to heal. Most of the time.

Actually, I don’t agree with the statement. My opposition is based on the experience of performing hundreds of office and light industrial assessments every year. The vast majority of my clients are older than me – that makes them baby boomers. If anything, I think that Baby Boomers are not hurt any less often than the rest of the workforce – possibly more often.

We know that the human body has a decreased ability to heal as we age (i.e. arthritis, etc.). Therefore, it is far more likely that Baby Boomers hurt more frequently than their younger counterparts. But, the BB’s may be better able to cope with discomforts and injuries. The BB’s may be more likely to speak up and get a better chair or actually use a lifting device. They find ways to reduce the physical stresses and demands of the job. Or, they may have moved on to work that is a better fit with their abilities.

In other words, Baby Boomers have wisdom on their side. They may have learned the old adage – if it hurts, don’t do it!

I think there is also tendency to suffer in silence until it becomes unbearable. This brings up the last part of the statement that says that once they are hurt, it is more severe. The downside of experience is that sometimes in the past, the aches and pains have gone away on their own. My clients tell me that the episode that became debilitating started out just like the one that happened two years ago – but this one kept getting worse. And they kept expecting it to miraculously get better like the previous episode. So, they don’t seek treatment. When the injury is finally treated, it is far worse than that experienced under the same circumstances by their younger colleagues.

The younger workforce does not appear to tolerate poor working conditions as well as the BB’s. The younger workforce seems to have fewer concerns about letting management know when improvements are needed to help them work better and harder. It may be that the BB’s had to fight for jobs in the 70’s and 80’s and learned not to rock the boat.

The danger to the Baby Boomers is that delaying treatment until it is a more severe injury means that there is less likelihood of complete success in the treatment. There may be more scar tissue at the injury site and the worker may have learned compensating behaviors that cause additional strain to other joints. This contributes to greater costs for treatment and compensation if the worker is unable to continue their occupation. The older workers also tend to make more money. The higher payouts in disability and WCB eventually results in increased premiums.

The moral of the story is – if it hurts, get treatment. Start with conservative treatments like ice and (if you can tolerate them) anti-inflammatories. If the discomfort lasts more than a couple of weeks, seek medical or paramedical attention. Massage, chiropractic and physio can get muscles and joints functioning properly again so that you can get back to full functioning.

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