Thursday 4 August 2011

I've heard it all now

I'm used to smokers' denials of health problems being related to their habit but what I heard today marked a new standard in self delusion, albeit I assume done jokingly. A workmate was grumbling about pain in his wrist. Arthritis, he said. In weather such as today's, humid and wet, it was particularly troubling.

Now I pretty much automatically link any health issue (coughing, shortness of breath, severed head etc) to smoking, just to wind up my colleagues, but the link between smoking and arthritis is genuinely pretty well established. This page, for example, lists a number of studies and evidence. So naturally I said his smoking was exacerbating, and could have even caused, his problem.

Not so, though. My colleague is clearly some kind of arthrological authority, and knew exactly what had caused his condition. Too much table football during his youth. Yep, too much table football. Clearly a far stronger candidate than smoking. What do those doctors know, eh?

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