This Monday at 7:30 in the morning I got a call from one of my schoolmates. Since I was busy writing my column, I put the phone on speaker and said, ‘Speak.’ Then, after hearing the voice of a frightened woman, I put the phone to my ear. His wife said, ‘Brother, can you come home quickly? They are in a lot of pain. Bring your car so that you can take us to the hospital. I asked, ‘What happened?’ Then he told about an accident which his friend had kept hidden even from him. I said, ‘I will be there in ten minutes’ and disconnected the call. The X-ray technician saw and wrote – ‘1 cm displaced fracture in olecranon, action required.’ I searched Google for the answer to the apprehension on my friend’s face and told him, ‘Your left elbow is broken.’ The doctor will decide whether there will be surgery or physiotherapy. He had retired nine years ago at the age of 58. But today, even at the age of 67, his belief about himself has not changed that he is completely self-reliant, active and physically strong. He is one of seven bike riders in our group. Five friends have been ordered by their children not to even touch the bike. A friend rides the bike occasionally to keep it in working condition. But he is the only one for whom the bike is like a second wife. Even if his wife needs kitchen items, he wears a helmet and rides a bike just four blocks away. He did not even tell his wife that while passing through a narrow street, a 20-year-old biker from the front drove like a stuntman and he fell down. Self-medicating by taking painkillers for two weeks and his attitude of ‘nothing will happen’ was now making me angry while waiting outside the doctor’s chamber. The orthopedic surgeon applied a soft plaster and ordered no weight lifting, no pushing, no pulling – just complete rest. With this advice, it was now decided how he would move about in the house. He was told to hold on to the handrail of the stairs while going up to the bedroom on the first floor, so as to avoid the increased risk of falling among people of his age. But here, the railing was on the left side and he had plaster in his left hand, so while climbing the stairs, he used to push the wall with his right hand. Since now he had to live in changed circumstances for some time, we shifted his bedroom to the guest room on the ground floor. Since then there is discussion about his ability to walk, i.e. his mobility. At this age, we take mobility for granted, but it will mostly determine the quality of our life. If you think that instead of using a vehicle, you will walk on foot, then I would say that there is danger in that too. Now the footpaths are also being used by impatient two-wheeler drivers whose only aim is speed. My advice is to first look up and down the road and assume that drivers are not looking at you. For retired people, the ‘go-go’ life of running around in every task is now left behind. Either adopt a ‘slow-go’ lifestyle, in which you have plenty of time and don’t mind giving way to everyone, or choose a ‘no-go’ approach, in which you go out only when absolutely necessary. Injury-free life after 60 years is very important. The bottom line is that before an injury forces retirees to think about future mobility, they should adopt a ‘slow-go’ approach, so that life does not turn into a complete ‘no-go’. Please, forget those ‘go-go’ days of running around all the time now that you are no longer in your 30s or 40s.
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N. Raghuraman’s Column: Injury-free life does not come by ‘go-go’ or ‘slow-go’ or ‘no-go’ method.
