Question

Hi Michi,
 
Before I move on to discuss lofty matters, I want to share with you something beautiful—understatement of the year!—that I experienced in recent days.
About six weeks ago I started feeling pain in my left hip joint. It was about two weeks after I gave up using an ancient mobility scooter that the kibbutz had made available to me, and went back—accompanied by the applause of the kibbutz—to riding my bicycle.
Many years ago I raised the bike seat to the maximum height, in order to increase the leverage of my leg pressing on the pedals. That way I could pedal without shifting down on the moderate inclines inside the kibbutz. But here was the problem: in order to get on or off the bike, I had to swing my right leg very high—over the seat—and that caused my entire body weight to rest on my left hip joint. In short, things kept getting worse, and I had to stop riding my bike and go back to using the mobility scooter. The kibbutz nurse, and also the doctor, told me I had to rest and take painkillers. The rest that was forced on me really sank me into depression!
Then I checked and discovered that walking while leaning on two walking poles allows me to walk without any distance limitation. The bonus: it works the upper body too! I googled and found that physical therapy could help. The physical therapist gave me a few simple exercises that improved the situation a lot.
So I walked quite a lot and pretty fast, but then pain in my right knee came back. In the past I was treated with the Apostherapy method, which really did improve my knee function, except that it required a checkup every few months and adjustment of the special shoes.
Apostherapy works by activating the knees using special shoes that change the position of the foot. That change challenges the muscles in the area to build muscle tissue in place of the damaged cartilage.
So it occurred to me to try walking that way without the special shoes, which require adjustment by a physical therapist. I started walking by placing the foot heel-first, and as the movement continues the body weight shifts to the toes. And you won’t believe it—my knee pain disappeared, and after two more days the hip-joint pain had almost completely faded too.
Believe me, Michi, I’m really on a high. I feel a need to share this with “the whole wide world and his wife,” so people will know that with attentiveness to the body, and some thought, all kinds of medical problems can be solved even without professionals!
My invention is progressing at a snail’s pace, but since I remember that something relatively simple like developing a bicycle with a gasoline engine took two and a half years, I understand that patience is needed.
And now something more serious:
A few days ago I watched a television report about an initiative to extend life, with an emphasis on old age without disease.
The driving idea is that instead of treating each disease that comes from old age separately, they should find a way to slow down the aging process.