Ever since I was a student in junior high school, I was enthralled with the complex workings of the human body and the ability of medical practitioners to effect healing. At the time, I was in my eighth year of competitive gymnastics classes, and I was beginning to experience intense joint pain in my ankles and wrists. When conventional analgesics no longer proved to be effective for pain management, I turned to a local physical therapist for relief and healing.
             My physical therapist attacked the problem with gusto. She introduced me to range of motion exercises designed to strengthen hard-pressed muscles and tendons. She stressed an ever-growing need for me to remain limber and supple, even as my body was changing with the onset of puberty and a tremendous growth spurt. And, most important, my therapist introduced me to a whole new approach to wellness. Whereas the gymnastics coach repeatedly drilled into the girls the notion that a successful gymnast had to be petite enough and carry no extra poundage on her frame in order to execute the various routines, the physical therapist taught me about differing body types. She demonstrated the foolhardiness of trying to coax an exomorphic build into the gymnasts' endomorphic ideal. Whereas the gymnastics coach repeatedly drilled into the girls that a true athlete knows how to perform well even in the presence of pain, the therapist demonstrated to me that pain is the body's way of waving !
             a red flag to the brain. She insisted that repeated stress on the affected area would indeed do damage, and that pain was anything but a green light to act macho and "tough it out." And whereas the gymnastics coach repeatedly drilled into the girls that competitive gymnastics required an all-or-nothing commitment to achieve the coveted extra tenths of a point from the judges, the therapist showed me that there was life after gymnastics. She taught me that rational people do not sacrifice their bodie...