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 an...

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 changing the gut microbiome, what we see is that (0:32) the mucosal layer th...

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 and feet. (0:36) So this could definitely be a tool for some of our athletes that are looking for that...

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 are obese (0:29) actually have larger amounts of s...

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 a...

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 s...

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 problems...

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 Universities ...

We are thrilled to announce that we have partnered with Examine.com to support them in their effort to bring nutrition and health education to all. Examine is the largest database of nutrition and supplement research on the internet. As physical therapists looking for nutrition related information about supplements, recovery, and healing, we often do not have the time to sift through endless journals or take full nutrition courses. But, Examine has more than 30 researchers on their team who read the research and summarize it for us!

Founded in early 2011, Examine’s mission is to analyze the full body of evidence to help you and your patients be healthier. As an educational organization, they are not affiliated with any supplement or food company, and our research team is contractually obligated to have no conflicts of interest. The thing I love about Examine.com is that a Doctor of Physical Therapy can go to their site, read a review, and not feel pressured to buy anything or be offer...

Hi all! We have a nice follow up video from our blog post titled Carnivore Crap in our first ever Physio Round Table with Dr. E. If you have not checked out Dr E's Modern Manual Therapy and the Modern Mastery Program -- you should today. For now, enjoy this awesome YouTube discussion about the Carnivore Diet and perspectives for PTs. And if you don't want to watch the video, read the summary below!

Text Estimated Summary:

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript
# The Physio Round Table Podcast - The Carnivore Diet - Full of Crap?
# https://www.youtube.com/watch/1atuDhcCTmg

00:00:00.280 we're here with the first inaugural
00:00:02.240 episode of The Eclectic approach's
00:00:04.240 physio Round table and with me I have Dr
00:00:06.480 Sean Wells so how's it going today Sean?
00:00:10.519 I'm doing great things are going great
00:00:12.120 today how about you oh things are going
00:00:14.519 well the reason why I have Sean on is
00:00:17.039 because he was pretty much trolled by a
00:00:20.080 c...