Arthritis, in the medical world, elicits a general sense of resignation. There is much that can be fixed, improved, healed, cured in medicine. Indeed, potential for healing is the basis of medicine. But when the word arthritis enters a room, it is accompanied by a sigh from patients and providers alike.
I am familiar with the general concept of arthritis -- wearing away of the cartilage protecting joint. However, only more recently have I understood the second component of the disease: the laying down of calcium deposits in the damaged area.
It's as if the body, recognizing that something is missing, is eager to repair it but the workers have run out of the right materials. Indeed, as people age, osteoporosis-- loss of bone density-- may also occur. It's as if the body's miners have found their source in the bones and are exporting the goods elsewhere. So instead of pliable, supple cartilage comes little deposits of bone.
When too does our flexible, cushioning support worn thin, and due to age we replace it with something more fail-proof, more certain? Stability and mobility are two ends of a see-saw: the shoulder, the joint complex with the most range of motion in the body, is the least stable and for that reason most prone to injury.
The specific area in the body most prone to arthritis is the basal joint -- the base of the thumb. Thinking of how many ways we use our hands during the day, you can see why this wear and tear might occur in such an area.
I think of the political climate, paired with an understanding of terms of human functional movement. Opposition in the hand means the ability of the thumb and pinky to move towards each other: "opposable thumb." When did opposition in the political or business arena consist of moving towards each other? Yet it's what allows the hand to function as a hand, to hold a mug, a cup.
Arthur Ashe on Monument Avenue,
using his arthritic shoulders to raise a racquet and book.
Uniquely stable shoulders.
