As far as I can remember from growing up in the 70s and 80s, the world didn't seem so full of danger. It was just called being a little boy and growing up.
 
I seem to wake up in this new century where the slightest shock to your head might mean concussion. For anyone who grew up playing hockey and practicing martial arts, listening to doctors and specialists in 2015, it's a miracle that more of us aren't in a vegetative state.
 
Seems impossible to even just bump your head against a cabinet door w/o suffering from a concucssion.
 
How many time have I been smashed and have I smashed others head first on the Tatami? Usually, unless you loss consciousness, no one thought much of it. Last thing I remember from my last judo competition is landing head first on the mat while warming up w/ a fellow. Oops... Happens. I was stunned I guess. I don't remember much of the fight. But ironically, I remember that it's the first time I heard of "concussions" on the bus afterwards because one guy had taken quite a beating and was on an ambulance with a concussion and bleeding...
 
The reason I ask is that I just came back from the doctor and finally got my MRI results - radiculopathy at cervical level in 3 spots. Pinched nerves If I understand correctly. 
 
And I'm thinking of the accident and trying to put that into perpective in terms of shock compared to say, being put in check playing hockey, or falling down skateboarding or just being a boy growing up. It seems incredible that I managed through all those hits and blows and that I am alive and relatively well today.
 
But I can't deny that a hit that seemed manageable by comparison at firsthand definitely caused actual damage and that I must undergo treatment... Months later, I still can't train or play my bigger guitars - and if I omit anti-inflammatory for a day or two, my body lets me know... 
 
It's odd.

I think we were less likely to diagnose things in the past.  When i was a child, you got your bell rung and just went back to playing.  Probably had plenty of concussions (that probably explains a lot) as a child without ever being told I did.  i don't think we are any more frail, just more apt to give it a name.  Every day i discover a new "syndrome" for stuff that has been around forever.  Still wrapping my mind around restless leg syndrome.

dubdisciple
Still wrapping my mind around restless leg syndrome.

Now I can't get that picture out of my head.

When I was a kid we played cricket in the street. One day as a 6 year old I was chasing after a rolling ball and watching it so intensely that I ran straight into a brick wall and split my head open. No biggie - my mother drove me to the hospital, they stitched it up and I was back playing cricket in a couple of hours, with strict instructions from my mother to be more bloody careful this time. Times have, indeed, as they say, changed. 

Knowledge is a dangerous thing. Or not.

You were checked by a 2,000 pound player skating 40 mph. Does that feel about right?

I guess so. :)
 
The good news is that I'm starting physiotherapy tomorrow (well, today actually). The doctor first suggested a procedure that implied putting me to sleep and injecting stuff in my neck but I thought we could maybe start with something a bit less intrusive.
 
My physiotherapist did wonders for my lower back problems in a single session last fall, and I trust that she may be able to help me big time once again. Having needles messing in my neck where there are so many nerves and all seemed a tad radical as a first treatment.

I once built a kart out of odd bits of wood & wheels that were lying around.
 
I thought it would be a great idea to take it up a nearby steep hill and see how fast I could go.
 
Trouble was, there were no brakes so I eventually stopped by crashing into the lamp post at the bottom of the hill.
 
That one hurt quite a bit.
 
 
I have many more..........................

I used to ride bikes without helmets, we drank from the water hose,  rode skateboards with out pads, rode in cars with no seat-belts which also had metal dashboards, played with real bows and arrows in the woods, shot BB guns in the basement, played with mercury on our desks, inhaled second hand smoke everywhere, and so many more things........ somehow, I survived all that.....
 
Now however, if you don't bake a cake for me and place upon it the words " Guitarists are the best musicians in the world" and a plastic statue of a rock star with a guitar...... because you think that only bass guitarists qualify in that respect, I will find a lawyer and sue you into oblivion and you will wish you had studied the oboe instead.

I can't believe it. You said the word oboe. 
 
Your mention of that infernal noise maker reminds me of the time I was forced to play in an orchestra. I don't remember what we played, but the percussion sheet music would frequently call for resting for 437 measures, waking up to play for one measure, and then resting for another 361 measures. The whole experience was mind-numbingly boring. You have triggered my self-diagnosed PTBD (Post Traumatic Boredom Disorder) and my lawyers will descend on you like a Beagle on a platter of becan. I have you now! Prepare for your ultimate destruction! Weep for your...
 
(What do you mean, "that's not a real thing?" I can't sue for that? Can I sue someone for not making laws that would let me sue someone for something I just made up?)
 
Um... Never mind.