Good health for men isn’t always about what you eat, how many miles you run, or how low your cholesterol is. Yes, you can manage health risk through diet and exercise but you also need to manage risk through smart decisions about the activities you’re involved in. Just ask my brother.

My brother is a handyman extraordinaire. From small engine repair to plumbing to carpentry to landscaping, he can pretty much do it all. He acquired these skills through a lifetime of work as a carpenter and construction manager. The only trouble is that at 43, he still attacks his work with the same intensity that he had at 23. That generally sounds like a good thing but it proved problematic about a year and a half ago.

He was working on a house and had to be up on a ladder about fifteen feet above a paved driveway. Using the kind of haste he used 20 years ago caused him to lose his balance, and the ladder swept out from under him, leaving him nowhere to go but down. When all was said and done, he had a dentist’s bill for six broken teeth and was looking for an experienced orthopedic surgeon in Richmond to repair damage to his knee and both arms. He has had a couple of surgeries since and is still out of work and in therapy (although still in good spirits, I’m happy to report).

So here’s the thing: even though we might still feel like young men at heart, it’s important to remember that we don’t heal as fast and as well as we used to. A little extra caution can go a long way toward good health.

There are times that I miss the jobs I’ve had that were labor intensive. There’s something timeless about being a man and toiling out in the sun, lifting heavy objects, and wiping the sweat off your brow. I built houses for 10 years before making the decision to go back to school for architectural engineering. It was a late start, but it made me understand the material better than I would if I was just some 20 year old student that hadn’t touched a hammer before in his life. I loved getting to keep build muscle while I worked, but I knew a day would come when enough small injuries would catch up with me. An aging man can’t carry lumber around all the days of his life. Plus, being able to draw up building plans would provide me financial stability for my later years, not to mention the ability to work inside during the freezing winter months in Long Island, New York.

Another perk has been being able to do my own replacement windows for my house. I have some friends with Long Island Anderson Windows, so they put the windows together, and we installed them in one day. The previous double hung windows had a farmhouse grille with two vertical bars that met a horizontal bar in the center of the window. I have wanted to upgrade to a more modern look for some time now. The colonial style grille on a double hung window isn’t anything too flashy, but with the right colors, they add a splash of subtle class to an otherwise outdated look. If you choose to also use Anderson windows, you will find that they last significantly longer than vinyl windows.

Don’t think for a second that I’m letting my health slip while I’m drawing away at my desk. I’m still at the gym or on the job site helping with construction at least 5 times a week.

As you grow older, your body can be compared to an aging automobile. Little things tend to break down and sometimes you feel like you’re falling apart, incrementally. Before you know it, you have a list of ailments that you have just accommodated into your life. “Oh yeah, my left ankle is usually sore because of that sprain in my early thirties.” Or, “My right knee pops because of that basketball game with the teenagers when I was 42.” We all have things like that, and just like a car, the best way to keep more of them from popping up is to be observant and really listen to what your body tells you.

Taking care of ourselves through diet and exercise is just like the maintenance of an automobile: you need to check tire pressure and fluid levels, and make sure you’re feeding it the right gasoline. As with a car, it also helps to know how to fix things. For example, even though we can’t perform it on ourselves, proper knowledge of CPR can be a lifesaver. After all, not only we are getting older but our wives and friends are, as well. It’s a small time investment and classes are easy enough to find. I found CPR training classes in Richmond, VA with a simple search online.

Unlike a car, we have the body we have, and although we can replace some body parts if necessary, there’s no buying a new one when the one you have wears out.

I promised my friend that I would help her move from her second-story apartment building, but I had no idea that it would be such a challenge. She had a huge wrap-around couch that she had inherited from a roommate. She also had a king size bed that was a struggle to move from the bedroom into the living room. It was a lot of big stuff to maneuver around in a small space. We were handling the heavy stuff pretty easily –  until we hit the stairs. I missed a step and fell awkwardly onto the landing. Of course, I was still holding on to the couch and was trying to make sure it didn’t crush my skull.

It was bad. I knew something had gone wrong as soon as I tried to move. The shooting pain went down my leg and I couldn’t feel the toes on my left foot. Of course, I had to be macho man and pretend I was fine. We packed it into the moving truck and she had more friends show up. I told her I had to leave for another appointment. I went home to rest my back, but it was worse the next day. I went online and searched for a back surgeon in Richmond.

The staff nurse was awesome and the doctor immediately saw me for an examination. He asked so many questions and was attentive. It’s not always easy to describe where and how bad the back pain was, but you could tell that he was able to follow my non-verbal reaction.  After all the tests were completed, we fully discussed all of the options for a herniated disc. Because of my active job, back surgery called microdiscectomy was the best alternative.

I went ahead and had my doctor complete the surgery. It was the best decision. The post-op care was as attentive as the first appointment. I truly felt cared for and that the staff and doctor truly wanted me to feel healthy and strong again. I will continue to follow their walking advice to get stronger each day.