When “Health” Doesn’t Leave Room for Scars

Last updated on: May 19, 2014 at 11:32 am by Leah Libresco

When “Health” Doesn’t Leave Room for Scars 2014-05-19T11:32:42-04:00 Leah Libresco

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Technically, I’m writing about sports this morning for The American Conservative, but, unsurprisingly, it’s a feint to talk about bodily integrity and philosophy of medicine.

When the Pursuit of Health Turns Pathological

Why doesn’t Tommy John surgery draw comparisons to doping? The surgery isn’t just more natural with respect to its methods, but also in terms of its aims. Although some baseball players believe that they’ll come back stronger from the procedure, the goal isn’t to augment the player’s 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’s carbon fiber legs—acceptable as long as they don’t make him better than he was with his original, flesh and blood legs.

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 re-injured and repatched. The cycle of injury, surgery, re-injury, new surgery treats the human body like one of Henry Ford’s cars; plentifully stocked with swappable parts. The damage is treated less like a wound and more like an ordinary part of work.

The erasure of injuries isn’t 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 “natural” state of their pre-baby bodies, treating the natural side-effects of pregnancy as aberrant.

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When repairs (however invasive) become the new normal, there’s less room for people to be weak and remain respected, and less pressure to think about preventative treatment, instead of post-hoc fixes. I’d certainly concede that Tommy John surgery is useful (and interesting!), but there’s something very odd about surgery becoming so normal and expected in a line of work.

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