This one goes out to my acute and cardiac PTs! The debate about low carb vs high carb (or just balanced carbs) continues to rage on social media and podcasts. A new study highlights some potentially harmful data for those on a low carb / high fat diet and higher rates of cardiac events. Enjoy the video, the transcript is below, and here's the publication. 

If you like what you see here then know there is more in our 3 board-approved continuing education courses on Nutrition specific for Physical Therapists. Enroll today in our new bundled course offering and save 20%, a value of $60!

Download Your Copy of the Free E-Book:

Learn about the Top 5 Functional Foods to Fight Inflammation and Pain in Physical Therapy. 

Transcript:

Good afternoon, everyone. I am Dr. Wells from Nutritional Physical Therapy. (0:04) I'm here in St. Augustine Beach.

Just had a beautiful rainstorm and now it's finally (0:08) cooled off. Anyhow, just wanted to give...

Many physical therapists and orthos know the standard supplement for arthritis for years has been glucosamine. But what if you combined other supplements together: could you get a bigger impact and would it be safe? A new study is out that looks at combining supplements and their effects on PT specific measures like pain, ROM, and function. Check out the video with the transcript below and research article here: 

If you like what you see here then know there is more in our 3 board-approved continuing education courses on Nutrition specific for Physical Therapists. Enroll today in our new bundled course offering and save 20%, a value of $60!

Download Your Copy of the Free E-Book:

Learn about the Top 5 Functional Foods to Fight Inflammation and Pain in Physical Therapy. 

Transcript:

Here is a recent article that was published by Mineretti et al in the open access journal called Cureus. This article was a small randomized trial looking at a...

We've known for some time that extra protein for our geriatric clients can help them add some extra lean muscle mass. For physical therapy, more lean muscle mass means better balance, less falls, and greater lifespan. Despite this, the FDA still calls for the standard 0.8g/kg/bw for protein for older adults. Does more protein really help actual muscle protein synthesis? Also, does the protein source matter? I have many clients taking collagen right now, assuming they are getting added joint benefits plus extra protein for the muscles -- but does it help?

We explore these topics and more in our recent video. The transcript of the video is below. Enjoy!

If you like what you see here then know there is more in our 3 board-approved continuing education courses on Nutrition specific for Physical Therapists. Enroll today in our new bundled course offering and save 20%, a value of $60!

Download Your Copy of the Free E-Book:

Learn about the Top 5 Functional Foods to Fight Inflammation...

Ultra processed Foods and Auto Immune Disorders: What PTs Need to Know?

New research has shown how ultra processed foods may be contributing to the generation of auto immune disorders like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our video explores these mechanisms and what physical therapists need to know to help their patients!

(0:00) Hello, Dr. Wells here from St. Augustine Beach. Hope you're having a great day. Today, we're going to talk about a new study published in Nature Reviews (0:08) Immunology by Maki, (0:11) Sack, and Hall.

Kevin Hall, one of our favorite authors, right? (0:15) It focuses on ultra-processed food and its increased risk in autoimmune disorders. (0:20) They talk about defining what ultra-processed food is, but then they actually go into possible mechanisms. (0:24) So for one, we know that when you eat high amounts of ultra-processed food, (0:28) it changes the gut microbiome.

By...

Many sports physics and athletic trainers ask me what supplements can help enhance performance or recovery. Obviously good nutrition and sleep are vital, but creatine and an amino acid called beta-alanine may offer some benefits. Listen to our newest video here to learn more:

(0:00) Hi, Dr. Wells here from St. Augustine Beach. Hope you're having a great day. (0:05) I'm just here to talk a little bit about beta-alanine (0:07) supplementation.

 (0:08) Beta-alanine is a amino acid. It's often used in sports and used as supplementation to help improve (0:16) endurance. (0:17) A meta-analysis showed that it does in fact increase endurance by 2.85 percent.

 (0:24) Typical supplementation (0:26) is usually around 6 grams four times a day, (0:29) so about 1.5 grams per. If you do a little bit more than that, (0:33) you actually can risk getting some numbness and tingling in the hands...

GLP Inhibitor use is on the rise, which is great for patients but not so great for physical therapists burdened with questions. One of the biggest concerns right now with GLP inhibitor use is the loss of fat free muscle mass, usually in the form of muscle mass. This is an obvious concern to the PTs and exercise science community in general. Should we be concerned? Listen to our most recent video here or check out the transcript below:

0:00) Good afternoon, Dr. Wells here today to talk to you about a new article, really a commentary, (0:05) in this month's JAMA by Conte, Hall, and Klein. It was really a study or commentary on the new (0:13) GLP inhibitors, Ozempic and Wigovi. They're very popular right now for weight loss, and probably (0:18) one of the biggest concerns that a lot of people are talking about is that people lose fat-free (0:23) mass while taking these drugs.

Well, no surprise, the authors found that individuals that...

The world of hormones is complex and also full of shady pseudoscience, as well as influencers. What's real, what's fake, what should PTs know about. Listen to our video here and sign up for our courses today! Transcript below:

Hey y'all, it's Dr. Wells here again from St. Augustine Beach. Another gorgeous day here. I want to talk today about hormones and influencers.

There seems to be more trends going around on TikTok and Instagram about your hormones and how they should be balanced, particularly for women, to some degree in men, but let's kind of go into some of the myths. I think it's definitely a trend or a fad. The first kind of myth is this notion of like renal or insufficiency or cortisol burnout.

Yes, while people are stressed, people can have sustained or higher levels of cortisol, but there's no current literature showing that by being stressed, you're going to be in a state where you're burning your adrenals out. In some of those rare cases where there's adrenal failure...

Aswagandha: A PT's Helper for Anxiety and Sleep?

This herbal supplemental is used a lot for sleep, anxiety, so perhaps it could help people with pain? PTs are getting asked this a lot, and many of us don't have the answers...until now! Enjoy the video, read the transcript below, and sign up for our courses today!

Hey y'all, Dr. Wells here again from St. Augustine Beach with another video for you. This one is about ashwagandha. Some of you may have heard of this plant, this herbal supplement.

It's a nightshade plant. The scientific name actually means to induce sleep. The Sanskrit name is for horse sleep.

Some people also call it Indian ginseng. The reason why it's called Indian ginseng is the active compound in it is withanolides. It's a phytochemical steroid-like compound.

It's found in ginseng, so that's why people call it Indian ginseng. Anyhow, it's used for sleep and anxiety. Some people have started taking it recently.

I've had a patient case recently in the last probably six...

Parasites Cleanses: A Fad for PTs to Know About

Enjoy our above video and then sign up for our courses! 

Here's the transcript:

Hey, it's Dr. Wells here from St. Augustine Beach, Florida. Just wanted to talk today about parasites and how there's a popular trend going around for parasite cleaning. In fact, one of my wife's friends were bringing it up and just thought I would kind of touch on some of the research on it.

There's definitely some sort of trends going around that there's a fear that certain parasites can cause issues like inflammation, allergies, skin problems, fatigue. I guess the notion is that you could take some herbal concoction and sort of shed them. There's some research looking at pumpkin seed and things and fibers that will sort of push some of the worms out of the intestines and things.

Overall, the research shows that if you have intestinal worms, you probably would know about it. You would be really ill. You'd have leukocytosis.

You'd have multiple...

By Dr. Sean M. Wells, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC/L, CSCS, CNPT, Cert-DN

In prior blog posts we have talked about turmeric and its amazing benefits for arthritis. As Modern Doctors of Physical Therapy, we know that combining nutrition interventions with our manual therapy, exercise, and dry needling can make an even bigger impact than simply traditional therapy alone. Well, there’s good news about spices: a large meta analysis of meta analyses has shown that turmeric can help our clients with osteoarthritis and osteopenia. This meta analysis is significant as it is the first to our team’s knowledge looking at turmeric for those with osteopenia. 

A New Study

This mega meta-analysis pooled data from 11 previously published meta-analyses on the effects of curcumin on OA. The analysis showed that curcumin supplementation significantly decreased the following physical therapy and arthritis scores compared to placebo:

• Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain
• Western Ontario and McMaster...