Paging Doctor Sub4

You're a runner; a swimmer; a mountain biker. Should your doctor be one as well? That's the question an article in the NY Times seeks to answer. Are the needs of athletic people, both physical and psychological, so specific that it would be beneficial to have a doctor that understands these needs as a participant as well?

The short answer seems to be, "We don't know." At least in scientific terms, there have been no formal studies to suggest that athletic individuals benefit more from having a doctor who understands the physical lifestyle of these patients.

Anecdotally, however, it seems that athletic individuals would be better off with a physician who isn't a couch potato with a pack-a-day habit. Dr. William Kraus, a cardiologist who runs 35 miles a week, said athletic doctors are less likely to take the easy way out and tell an active person who is injured or ill to stop exercising. Dr. Paul Thompson, a 60-year-old marathon runner who finished second in his age group in the Chicago Marathon last year, said he often gives different advice to athletes than to more sedentary patients.

Personally, I know I would feel more comfortable with a physician who understands where I am coming from as an armchair athlete. I'm no Laird Hamilton, but I would like my doctor to work with me instead of saying something like "running kills your knees, stop doing that."

When I busted my hamstring, I felt reassurred when I saw that my consulting doctor was the team physician for the New York Rangers. That is, until I saw the article where he operated on the wrong knee of a patient.

Check out the NY Times article here.

Photo by Filip Kwiatkowski for The New York Times