It’s not really an adequate comparison. I work in orthopedics and rehabilitation, and modern people do indeed acquire specific chronic orthopedic ailments based on their occupation.
Most of these injuries are acquired from jobs where you repeat specific motions all day. It doesn’t really mean you’ve done hard labour, more that you’ve over used specific muscle groups and joints.
Btw I do agree with your general rebuttal, that any work back then was much more labour intensive. I just don’t know if that particular anthropological fact lends much weight to your argument.
You’d probably get better information examining the average age of the working male. From anecdotal experience, hard labour is a young mans game. I work in oil country, and I don’t ever have any old rough necks as patients. At least not one’s whole are still working.
I am in the trades (Journeyman Millwright, former sailor and diesel mechanic), over 35 and am not limping.
It’s not standard for us to be that broken, that early. Most of the people who are, aren’t paying attention to how they are doing it.
Not everyone breaks themselves in the trades.
It’s not really an adequate comparison. I work in orthopedics and rehabilitation, and modern people do indeed acquire specific chronic orthopedic ailments based on their occupation.
Most of these injuries are acquired from jobs where you repeat specific motions all day. It doesn’t really mean you’ve done hard labour, more that you’ve over used specific muscle groups and joints.
Btw I do agree with your general rebuttal, that any work back then was much more labour intensive. I just don’t know if that particular anthropological fact lends much weight to your argument.
You’d probably get better information examining the average age of the working male. From anecdotal experience, hard labour is a young mans game. I work in oil country, and I don’t ever have any old rough necks as patients. At least not one’s whole are still working.