{"id":9510,"date":"2014-05-19T11:32:42","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T15:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=9510"},"modified":"2014-05-19T11:32:42","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T15:32:42","slug":"when-health-doesnt-leave-room-for-scars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/05\/when-health-doesnt-leave-room-for-scars.html","title":{"rendered":"When “Health” Doesn’t Leave Room for Scars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Technically, I\u2019m writing about sports this morning for\u00a0The American Conservative<\/em>, but, unsurprisingly, it\u2019s a feint to talk about bodily integrity and philosophy of medicine.<\/p>\n

\n

When the Pursuit of Health Turns Pathological<\/a><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why doesn\u2019t Tommy John surgery draw comparisons to doping? The surgery isn\u2019t just more natural with respect to its methods, but also in terms of its aims. Although some baseball players believe that they\u2019ll come back stronger from the procedure, the goal isn\u2019t to augment the player\u2019s pitching, but to repair an injury. The players are being returned to natural health, not pushed past normal (well, normal for a pro athlete) ability. The surgery passes the same test as double-amputee Oscar Pistorius\u2019s carbon fiber legs\u2014acceptable\u00a0as long as they don\u2019t make him\u00a0better<\/em>\u00a0than he was with his original, flesh and blood legs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the surgeries may simply restore pitchers to their pre-injury abilities, there is something about them that does fly in the face of the natural order. Of the 80 percent of pitchers who return to form, some will be\u00a0re-injured and repatched. The cycle of injury, surgery, re-injury, new surgery treats the human body like one of Henry Ford\u2019s cars; plentifully stocked with swappable parts. The damage is treated less like a wound and more like an ordinary part of work.<\/p>\n

The erasure of injuries isn\u2019t limited to baseball players or professional athletes. Glowing, vibrant health is treated as the natural state of every American, prompting suspicion or censure when individuals fall short of the ideal. Recent mothers have faced particular pressure to return to the \u201cnatural\u201d state of their pre-baby bodies, treating the natural side-effects of pregnancy as aberrant.<\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When repairs (however invasive) become the new normal, there\u2019s less room for people to be weak and remain respected, and less pressure to think about preventative treatment, instead of post-hoc fixes. \u00a0I\u2019d certainly concede that Tommy John surgery is useful (and interesting!), but there\u2019s something very odd about surgery becoming so normal and expected in a line of work.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Technically, I\u2019m writing about sports this morning for\u00a0The American Conservative, but, unsurprisingly, it\u2019s a feint to talk about bodily integrity and philosophy of medicine. When the Pursuit of Health Turns Pathological \u00a0 Why doesn\u2019t Tommy John surgery draw comparisons to doping? The surgery isn\u2019t just more natural with respect to its methods, but also in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":9513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen "Health" Doesn't Leave Room for Scars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Technically, I'm writing about sports this morning for\u00a0The American Conservative, but, unsurprisingly, it's a feint to talk about bodily integrity and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/05\/when-health-doesnt-leave-room-for-scars.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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