History Of Cancer From An Oncologist #4, "Farber's Gauntlet"

Me IRL

Disclaimer: I love researching and writing about fitness content. In addition to this and due to some past situations in my life, I also like to go down alternative medicine rabbit holes, some of which have benefited my own life. I’m not a medical professional…and I spend some days scheming in the dark like in the picture above. I also have a bias that our bodies are wonderful creations and that “science” hasn’t caught up to all the ways they can self-sustain and repair themselves as long as we have a healthy environment. So if you’re here for fitness posts and are not fond of alternative medicine theories, then feel free to ignore posts of this nature. Now on with the show.

“Farber’s Gauntlet”

What came to mind when I read that chapter title. I understand gauntlet can mean other things…cut me a break.

““Throughout the centuries the suffered from this disease has been the subject of almost every conceivable form of experimentation. The fields and forests, the apothecary shop and the temple, have been ransacked for some successful means of relief from this intractable malady. Hardly any animal has escaped making its contribution, in hair or hide, tooth or toenail, thymus or thyroid, liver or spleen, in the vain search by man for a means of relief.” — William Bainbridge”” (P 32 , Mukherjee)

Have you ever tried fixing a problem, and things got worse?

I think about my own fitness history when this comes to mind. I want to be faster or bigger, so I train hard and end up either creating a high demand for recovery or worse, a small injury. It was only later did I realize that there were better ways to create the stimulus I desired, and that the established ways of doing things were highly destructive and a miracle that anybody benefited from them…

We know that there are the rare cases of men who are able to train strenuously and show good physical development. But such persons are possessed of extraordinary powers of recuperation and they would get better results from more scientific methods of training. - Court Saldo (The Maxalding System)

I think of most modern forms of medicine the same way. Humanity, looking for a solution, goes about achieving that solution in some pretty hasty, destructive, or unnecessary ways. This can also go for some alternative narratives that utilize the same starting points as established narratives without realizing it. Those who are able to survive are held up as proof of the efficacy of the system.