John Kerry: Presidential Candidate and Sports Medicine Patient
BY JOHN MCCORMICK, APRIL 5, 2004
Presidential contender John Kerry is probably wishing he had a war story to tell about his torn subscapularis tendon, but alas, a mundane fall on a stopping bus is all he had to report. What is not widely discussed is that the incident may have aggravated an earlier injury from a 1992 bicycle accident. Still, it was not enough of a problem to prevent him from snowboarding last month. Last Wednesday, the Senator from Massachusetts elected to undergo a 45 minute procedure to repair the subscapularis and - as it turned out - an additional tear in his adjoining bicep tendon.
Dr. Bertram Zarins, chief of sports medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, operated on Kerry using an incision about an inch and a half long. Once in, Zarins found the additional bicep tendon tear next to the subscapularis. Zarins then made a smaller, second incision and proceeded to deftly repair both tendons. The surgery, which required general anesthesia, was complication free and stitches should be coming out during the course of this week. Zarins also treats the New England Patriots, the New England Revolution and the Boston Bruins and he's used to having is patients up and running in short order. Naturally, Kerry will be pressing the flesh as soon as possible, but he'll have to do it gingerly. While recovery will not involve substantial rehabilitation, the Senator is in some pain and needs an ice pack and painkillers.
Seeing a presidential candidate this active reminds us of the famous image of a youthful John F. Kennedy in a t-shirt throwing a football with his brothers. Today's JFK (John Forbes Kerry) looks just as active if not more. The Senator enjoys all kinds of exercise, especially outdoor activities such as windsurfing, snowboarding and bike riding. The big difference between the two JFKs, however, is that yesterday's JFK was in his early 40's and today's perhaps not so youthful JFK has crossed the 60 threshold. If we try to imagine Eisenhower - about the same age as Kerry during his own campaign - taking a break to go snowboarding it's inconceivable. 'Ike' went fly fishing and to people in 1952 that looked pretty darn boisterous for a 60-something.
What does all this say about the baby boomer generation and the image of the nation's leader? Quite simply, the extraordinary advances in medical technology, particularly in orthopedics such as MIS, imaging and implant technology, have allowed people to expect to get into bike accidents, fall down stairs (remember Bill Clinton's torn quadriceps tendon?) and still keep snowboarding well into their 50's and 60's.
You could say we have developed an entrenched expectation of a sort of physical freedom over the last few commensurate to all of our customary civil liberties. It is inconceivable that a condition such as a torn tendon or osteoarthritis should ruin the party and prevent us from playing tennis or waterskiing. Just get the 45 minute tendon repair or the MIS hip replacement and keep going. We are not trying to solve the riddle of whether it is the demand for orthopedic technology or the supply of orthopedic technology that has created this 21st century lifestyle expectation. We just think that it is fascinating how advances in orthopedics have done so much to augment the promise of a free society as compared to the liberties we try to achieve in civic life. No wonder we expect any contender for the White House to drop the fishing pole, get out on the ski slopes, break a sweat and show the world that age and injuries are not going impede our pursuit of happiness.
