Kilts and Health

From the Jefferson City News Tribune, a story of a man whose life was bettered by kilts.

Two years ago, Lawrence started showing symptoms of automatic nerve damage related to Type 2 diabetes. Last May, he was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy.

“It's called a silent killer,” Lawrence said. “At the point when you start noticing symptoms, a fair amount of damage is already done.”

His condition affects his ability to regulate body temperature and affects his heart. So, Lawrence is more likely to get overheated, which can be disastrous. The disease carries a 50 percent mortality rate within five years of diagnosis.

Kilts take care of that.

Depending on the weather, Lawrence can choose a kilt that will keep him cool down or warm - in summers, lightweight canvas, and in the winter, thick and heavy wool.

“I love to go outside. I worked inside for 40 years,” Lawrence said. “I was totally unaware of the different variations of birds.”

Lawrence got the idea to try wearing a kilt from a friend over the Internet. Lawrence decided to try it out at the grocery store the first time in public. He was nervous.

“I had no idea how people would react,” Lawrence said, “but the only thing the happened was that the woman behind the counter said, ‘I really like your kilt.'”

Great story. It definitely takes courage to do that. Even though, it makes perfect sense as a treatment for the disease, some guys are far too insecure to wear the kilt and would rather risk death. So hats off to you. God speed and enjoy your (kilted) life.

Now, there are a variety of things believe about kilts being able to cure diseases. I've heard some suggest that wearing kilts can increase fertility, but there's no real data that proves it benefits more than saying wearing looser pants.

I do know it has been a benefit to me as I suffer from a tendency towards knock knee. What would happen in pants is that my legs would rub together and they'd do so through two layers of fabric, the under garment and the pants. What this did to the pants was pretty bad. It basically sanded the fabric down. What it did to my thighs was even worse. There were basically permenent blisters on my thighs from the chaffing. Sometimes it bled, sometimes it stung, but for the most part I got used to it. I developed a weird walk which served to protect myself.

When I started wearing the kilt the problem disappeared. I'd become used to it, so I didn't think about it. On a recent trip to Mexico, I bought a pair of swimming trunks to wear under my kilt when I went to Chichen Itza, the Mayan archeological site. I wore them for modesty sake as I figured I was in a strange country and the worst that would happen if a wind blew up is that people would see the same thing as if I was wearing a pair of swimming trunks only.

Well, I got to re-experience the chaffing and ironically there was no wind that day. My wife was shocked and I had some severe discomfort as I resumed my old pain. My wife noted that she'd noticed I'd stopped walking odd, but that after wearing the shorts I'd started again. It goes without saying that I didn't wear the shorts again, nor do I intend to. They're bad for my health, don't you know? :)

Kilt