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Originally Posted by
Jdcuth
Very interesting. I have become aware of the advice given by some of my physician peers surrounding exercise and it is woefully inaccurate. Besides me wondering why someone would ever ask me or another doctor about exercise, especially the specifics of what is safe or not, I’ve realised it’s much easier to tell people just to use the cross trainer or resistance machines because injury is very difficult on these, and even if you did get injured it’s unlikely you would be blamed for giving that advice as these things are considered “safe” by the general medical/fitness community. Their actual effectiveness is a secondary concern. However if I recommended starting strength to a 55 year old overweight woman, despite it having the potential to reverse or prevent a huge amount of the diseases she is at risk of (osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, OA), any injuries would be assumed to be because I suggested a crazy program of squats and deadlifts!
In essence risk aversion rules in medicine because no one wants to recommend anything where a bad outcome can be directly traced to them, even if that risk aversion leads to a huge loss of potential in improving the health of a population. Hopefully as people take charge of their health more they will be happy to start a program like starting strength without a clinicians approval. I’m not saying it’s terrible to seek a well qualified professionals advice before starting on a fitness regime but that can be like trying to offset any risk on to their shoulders and they might prefer to recommend a less effective program that is considered “safe” in the eyes of their peers.
Happy training everyone!