Thread by @marklewismd, Taking a deep dive into older medical literature can be both incredibly [...]

Mark Lewis

marklewismd

Taking a deep dive into older medical literature can be both incredibly diverting and profoundly disturbing

Thanks to @marinamaral2 and @iandwolfe for alerting me to the cringe-worthy phenomenon of “bicycle face”

A #medtwitter THREAD/

Apparently this has been a known entity long before the famously pained grimace of Lance Armstrong during the lung-busting (if, ahem, “assisted”) Alpine ascents of the Tour de France

(As an aside, the same activity was apparently used a stress test in the 19th century – take that, dobutamine!)

Back in 1895, with infant mortality at zero and absolutely no pre-penicillin bacterial contagions to worry about, the physicians of the day turned their attentions to the most pressing problem in healthcare: the contorted facial features of the cyclist in motion

And beyond this unappealing rictus, there were spinal concerns too

Behold the Quasimodo-worthy deformity of kyphosis bicyclistarum!

But that vertebral anomaly is nothing compared to concerns about the impact of cycling upon the pelvis

IMPENDING MISOGYNY ALERT

To be sure, men had their share of GU concerns ("Bicycle vs. Bladder" sounds like a failed game show concept)

With sad predictability, however, women would far worse