Comment by HarHarVeryFunny
3 days ago
I'd rather be outside exercising / having fun and get the occasional twisted ankle or whatever, then staying home sitting on the couch and feeling like crap.
Personally the only, very minor, sports injury I have had is jamming my thumb pretty badly when my skis came off (poor bindings). Was better in a couple of weeks - no big deal. I'm 64 and started skiing 6-7 years ago, now happily going down blacks.
I did partially tear my shoulder muscle off the bone (rotator cuff tear), but that wasn't due to sports - was due to carrying my daughter around for too long (as she got bigger/heavier) with one arm and the constant bouncing. Painful at the time, but not a big deal - got better in the end just by using it and building up the joint strength again. You could also twist an ankle at home tripping over the dog - stuff happens.
Due to age/genetics I don't have the best knees, but still run, just on a rubber running track rather than on the road/sidewalk which is too jolting. You adapt.
Hmm, what else ... I have an occasional inner ear balance issue (age again?) that gets brought on by too rapid head movement or jolts, so I just avoid that. I swim outdoors in the summer all the time, and just avoid the crawl since side breathing is the kind of thing that may cause it. Again, not even caused by sports, and swimming has to be about as safe a type of exercise as you can get.
Get out there and enjoy yourself, and get some exercise!
Now tell me how many years extra you live compared to the you that just eats healthy but doesn't exercise outside of 3000 steps a day (not bedridden, not intentionally exercising)
I think it's more about quality of life rather than extending it - enjoying outdoor activities (skiing is a blast!), enjoying looking good and being in shape, able to do all my own yard work and snow shovelling etc without it being an effort.
Now, while I choose to do things that I enjoy (and the skiing is purely for enjoyment, even though it requires a lot of energy), I will say that part of the motivation for wanting to keep in good shape is seeing what happened to my Dad who had an office job (professor) and didn't exercise at all other than a bit of walking to the grocery store etc, and in his old age had all sorts of pinched nerve and mobility issues due to lack of muscle tone and strength, and realized it was too late to do anything about it.