Tag : bones

Like the rest of our body, our bones are living and growing tissue, but we rarely think of it as living. Bone tissue is made of collagen and calcium phosphate. Throughout our lifetime, bone is being both built and resorbed at the same time. In childhood, more bone is laid down than resorbed and bone tissue becomes bigger and stronger. Peak bone density occurs in the mid-20s. However...

When doctors say "normal" patients hear "good". But in medicine, normal has a very specific meaning.

Normal is arbitrarily defined as encompassing 95% of the population. When your doctor says your test was normal, what he is really saying is that you are better off than at least 2.5% of the population on one end of the scale or the other. If your brain, heart, lungs, or bones are better than 3% or 97% of the people, you are equally normal. I don’t know about you, but given a choice, I will choose to be better than 97% rather than 3% every time. When your doctor says your test was normal for your age, it means at least 2% of the old fogies in your age group are worse off than you.

That is not acceptable. Tell your doctor that you won’t accept normal; you want optimal.