Pre-Habilitation

Pre-habilitation?  Sounds like a made up word, right?  Actually its' a word that some exercise scientists use to describe a way to "PRE-vent" physical "re-HABILITIATION."  The idea is that movement can often keep a body working such that we prevent certain problems. 

For example:  The American Heart Association recommends that the average adult exercise moderately 3 to 5 times a week.  The higher the intensity of the exercise the fewer times an average adult needs to workout (or perhaps more time to rest). 

Pre-vent is a word that we don't like to use in our medical industry.  Is it?  Our industry is designed to respond after-the-fact of an injury or other problem.  Generally we don't go to a doctor to prevent a problem.  Sometimes we do.  Mostly we go to the doctor once we've got a problem.   We rely on the doctor to diagnose illness / injuries and then treat them.  How do we prevent health problems?  Hmmm.  It's not cultural.

Re-habiliation is a word we use most often to describe reforming a problem.  Dictionary.com gives us the roots of rehabilitation as:

1533, from M.Fr. réhabilitation, from M.L. rehabilitationem "restoration," from rehabilitatus, pp. of rehabilitare, from re- "again" + habitare "make fit," from L. habilis "easily managed, fit." Specifically of criminals, addicts, etc., from 1940. Slang shortening rehab is from 1948. The verb

 

So, rehabilitation is literally, to make fit again.  Not make more fit.  Hmmmm.

 

I knew a woman who once had a child when she was about 39 years old.  She wound up with gestational diabetes primarily because she didn't know how to take care of her health.  Although the baby was premature, she has subsequently grown up to be an impressive young woman.  However, the mothers story

 

didn't go the same direction.  Often Gestational diabetes is a response of the hormones during pregnancy that affects how the body metabolizes sugar.  When the pregnancy is over, so is the diabetes.  Not for this mother, however. 

 

In fact as the years passed by her diabetes not only got worse, she contracted other ailments: high blood pressure, gout, and many other ailments.  Her moods often swung uncontrollably in no small part due to the diabetes and uncontrolled health problems.  She was often ill and complained endlessly of feeling exhausted.   And her attitude was that she would live for the now, eating and living the way she wanted to live with no acknowledgement of the consequences. 

 

One day in march of 2001, after a lovely meal with family, the mother retired to her bedroom to prepare to rest.  The family was downstairs for a bit longer, laughing and enjoying each others company.  About 20 minutes later the mothers' other daughter ( a little older than the premie) went upstairs to say so long when she saw the mother laying face down on the bed un responsive to her name.  As her daughter moved closer, she realized something was incredibly wrong.  The mother was not responding because she was unconscious and cold.  The diabetic mother was in fact, Dead at the age of 56.   

 

 

I don't like to talk about my mothers' death.   But her story is an important story.  It is a tale of how a little prevention could have added decades to her life.  My mother wasn't born with Diabetes.  Although she contracted diabetes during a pregnancy, her death WAS NOT the fault of my sister.  My mothers death was a statement of her life, how she ignored a problem that eventually came to extract a price. 

 

I wasn't there for my  mom when she died.  That's a hard truth.  Strangely enough I received the news of her passing at 6:30am the next morning.  I was so shocked, I couldn't cry.  Instead, believe it or not, I went to the gym.  During my strange workout, I was pushing an barbell incline chest press when I decided, nearly immediately, that I wouldn't let my health determine my future or the future of my loved ones.  Today, I try to help others achieve their fitness goals and to enjoy their life to it's fullest potential.

 

One day, we shall all pass.  But let's do so having enjoyed and shared our lives with our loved ones for as long as possible.  Little steps today can help us move giant leaps forward over time.  Moderate exercise can help us "Pre-vent" poor health. 

 

Mo-tate.  Motivate your life.