Collagen Supplementation for Joint Pain and Arthritis: Does it Really Work?

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

Recently I was presenting at the annual conference of Athletic Trainers' Association of Florida (ATAF) and I was overwhelmed by one consistent question: why didn't you talk about collagen supplementation? My talk was specifically on orthopedics for older adults and naturally I focused on osteoarthritis (OA) and how important exercise and diet are for that condition. I did touch on some supplementation, but I left off collagen because my last examination of this supplement, using one of my favorite websites Examine.com, yielded mediocre results. However the participants at the sports medicine conference piqued my interest and convinced me that perhaps I had missed something -- almost every single one of these participants had some form of joint pain or stiffness and felt significantly better after taking collagen daily. So, back to...

Dr. Wells does another short summary on Ultra Processed People. This one dives deep into how the author's ultra processed diet has negatively affected his health. Weight gain, reduced ghrelin, increase in inflammation, and actual changes in his brain functional MRI after just a few weeks on the diet! Ultra processed food definitely has a negative impact on our clients' health and physical therapy outcomes!

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

At Nutritional PT we talk a lot about how food can impact the gut microbiome. But as Doctors of Physical Therapy (DPT), did you know that exercise has been shown to influence the gut microbiome? Studies have found that regular physical activity can increase the diversity and abundance of beneficial gut microbes, such as Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia, while reducing the abundance of potentially harmful microbes, such as Clostridium and Bacteroides.

New Research

A recent study demonstrated that alpha diversity increased among normal-weight and overweight adult individuals with moderate increases in physical exercise durations. Compositional alterations were primarily observed among normal-weight individuals. These findings indicate that even small increases in PA duration by overweight individuals can improve beneficial microbe abundance and diversity in the intestines, which has huge implications for PTs working...

I recently finished the Huberman Podcast with Dr. Panda, an known expert in the area of intermittent fasting and circadian rhythms. It was an awesome podcast covering many topics -- be sure to check it out! After listening to this podcast it got me thinking about my own published research in intermittent fasting and how it stacks up against certain dietary patterns, especially a plant-based diet.

We have discussed intermittent fasting before in other blog posts, as well in our 3 course certification bundle. In short, intermittent fasting is adapting the feeding schedule of person to restrict food to certain times or certain days. A classic intermittent fasting schedule that I used in my research was one day of feeding and one day of fasting. Obviously this works well for animal and insect models but in humans it can prove to be difficult for compliance. As such, many researchers, and clinicians now, use a more palatable for of intermittent fasting commonly known as time-restricted...

Spice Up Your Gut Biome

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

In prior blog posts, and definitely within our board-approved continuing education courses, we have discussed the gut microbiome at length. It is an amazing array of bacteria, fungi, and archaea that help to produce compounds, integrate with our immune responses, and may be linked to certain diseases. While all of this seems promising we have to be honest that the literature regarding what exact mechanisms and species that are linked with disease states still remains to be seen. 

However, we do know that promoting the amount and diversity of the gut biome content is a positive thing. Best recommendations for this would include eating a variety of foods, consuming fiber, enjoying foods rich in probiotics (e.g. miso, fermented foods), and avoiding broad-spectrum antibiotics when possible. Another fun, recent finding is that another food additive may help boost the gut biome: spices!

In...

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

Physical therapists (PTs) are direct care providers who help people across many settings and with various pathologies and functional losses. From cardiac issues, metabolic dysfunction, cancer, neurological deficits, and musculoskeletal disorders, PTs can help a variety of patients get stronger, move with more confidence, and feel better. One key tool that can help with PT's treatments is nutrition.

Nutrition is in the scope of practice of Doctors of PT (DPTs), according to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Nutrition is linked with inflammation, recovery, pain, psychological well being, and quality of life. Plus, most of our clients are taking supplements or simply want to get better, faster with any approach possible -- as such, PTs need more quality dietary info.

One of the best evidenced-based resources for nutrition is Examine.com. Examine offers copious research, great summaries, and...

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

I was excited to see a recent publication in our APTA’s PTJ titled Precision Medicine and Physical Therapy: A Health Living Medicine Approach for the Next Century. I have been following the primary author, Rich Severin, on Twitter for some time now and enjoy his perspectives. Overall the article dives into much of what my team and I practice – I earnestly hope it is something other PTs  (physical therapists) begin to practice too. In this light, I’d like to discuss some of the important topics in this article.

First, it goes without saying that general health has an impact on physical therapy, functioning, and quality of life. Chronic health conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes makes healing difficult and are linked with other disease states that cause physical damage to other tissues (e.g. high blood pressure damages the kidneys). Functionally clients struggle...