The Boomeritis Syndrome

According to Canadian Press, knee replacement surgeries have doubled over the last decade and more than tripled in the 45-to-64 age group. Hips are trending that way too. We may think it’s obesity, but it’s more than that. Baby boomers, in their keenness to stay fit and avoid extra pounds, are suffering from ‘boomeritis,’ a term coined by Philadelphia surgeon Dr. Nicholas DiNubile, that is increasingly unique to boomers’ joint and bone problems.

Boomers are less willing than their grandparents to use a cane or put up with pain or stiffness. A huge industry says they don’t have to. The CP report indicated that TV ads show people water skiing with new hips. Also, ads tout ‘the athletic knee,’ ‘the custom knee’ and ‘the female knee.’ Tennis legend Billie Jean King, 67, is promoting the ’30-year Smith and Nephew’ knees she got last year.

Joint replacements have enabled millions of boomers and seniors to lead better lives, and surgeons are increasingly comfortable to offer them to younger people. But like other new scientific technologies, no one really knows how well these implants will perform in the active baby boomers getting them now. Most studies were done in older people whose expectations were to be able to watch a grandchild’s  soccer game – not play the sport themselves!

Besides the usual risks of surgery – infection, blood clots, anesthesia problems – replacing joints in younger people increases the likelihood that they might need future operations when these wear out, according to specialists.

Even so, people still go to orthopaedic surgeons for ‘fix’ jobs. There were 288,471 total hip replacements in 2009, nearly half of them in people under 65, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which tracks hospitalizations in the U.S.  From 1997 to 2007, the population of 45- to 64-year-olds grew by 36 percent, but knee replacements in this group more than tripled. Obesity didn’t increase enough to account for this trend.

Experts warn that boomers need to modify their exercise habits because a lot of them are overdoing it and not spending enough time to warm up or stretch. Even if they go so far as having a joint replacement, boomers should bear in mind that doing the post-surgery physical therapy is almost as important as the surgery itself.