accomplished hypochondriac who avoid- ed physical contact and once sued Stein- way when their chief technician slapped his back too emphatically. His fear of fly- ing prevented plane travel, though his near-suicidal driving caused him to skid recklessly over Toronto’s icy winter roads. According to one biographer, Peter Gut- man, Gould “gobbled vast amounts of pills in lieu of food”1 and “might have been called anorexic had he not been so plain forgetful about the tedious busi- ness of eating”.2 His diet consisted of one meal a day taken between two and three in the morning at Fran’s, a 24-hour diner a block away from his apartment. A vegetarian, he sat at the same booth and invariably ordered the same meal of scrambled eggs.3,4 His posture is a chiropractor’s night- mare. He sits very low at the keyboards — his nose inches from the keyboard — and conducts himself while play- ing whenever a hand is free.5 Hunched in the “pygmy” chair his father built for him as a child, with his piano raised on wooden blocks so that the keyboard was almost level with his chest and his wrists could be kept absolutely fl at, “it was as though the infant prodigy did not dare let himself grow any taller”.6 When the padding wore away, he refused to have it reupholstered and it “became a medieval torture device, with only a single nar- row beam running down the middle of the seat from front to back, forcing his entire body weight onto his groin”.7 As he played, Gould vocalised with the mu- sic, swaying over the keys with one leg crossed over the other, absorbed in the art of the moment. Gould was prescribed an array of drugs, some of which had contradictory actions and their use likely had long term damaging effects on his health.8 Always concerned about various aspects of his health – such as his congenital hyper- tension – he was especially preoccupied with the safety of his hands.9 Gould’s sedentary habits also militated against exercise, adequate nutrition, sleep and health promotion in general.10 Obses- sive about cold, he was famous for ap- pearing at concerts in year round winter wear, meticulous about drafts and indoor temperatures, and would engage in a pre-performance ritual of soaking his hands and arms in near scalding water.11 It has been suggested that Gould had Asperger’s Syndrome, a disorder related to autism. First proposed by a Gould biographer, Dr. Peter Ostwald – and disputed by others – the diagnosis sought to explain Gould’s eccentricities such as his rocking and humming, his isolation and difficulty with social interaction and the extraordinary focus and technical ex- pertise he displayed in his art.12 Whether he suffered circulatory or metabolic problems, Gould’s health wors- ened over time, due primarily to conflict- ing prescription drugs administered by a small army of medical practitioners.13 Gould’s early death revealed his own neglect of his well-being. Although health-obsessed, it is unlikely that those issues which most concerned him con- tributed directly to his death. Rather it was his preoccupation with his various phobias and solitary life of self-inflict- ed habits that seem most responsible for the stroke that ended his life on October 4, 1982 – nine days after his 50th birthday.14, 15 32 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | OCTOBER 2008 www.canadianchiropractor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor October 08: Page 32
