Junk Plant-based Diets and What PTs Need to Know

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

Over the last several years we have seen the literature explode in regards to the health benefits of eating a predominantly plant-based diet. From lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, and even cancers, it would seem that plant-based diets can really make a significant impact in our physical therapy patients. Unfortunately, big agriculture and corporations have seen this growth as a potential new market for them to gain more money. As such, many major food producers are now producing many of the common unhealthy foods in their own plant-based type variety.

For example, it has been long known that sausage and hamburger meat can promote atherosclerosis and possibly even gastrointestinal cancers. Much of this has to do with the fact that they are loaded in saturated fats, contain minimal fiber and other phytonutrients, and may contain carcinogens. Despite this,...

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

Peripheral nerve injuries are coming conditions that doctors of physical therapy (PTs) treat.  Some common peripheral nerve injuries include sciatic nerve damage, Saturday Night Palsy, drop foot, carpal tunnel, and cervical radiculopathy. Typical physical therapy treatments include nerve mobilizations, electrical stimulation, dry needling, and therapeutic exercise. What if we as PTs could include diet to help accelerate the healing and restore function sooner?

A recent Nature publication examines the use of intermittent fasting specific for sciatic nerve injury in mice. Intermittent fasting is a unique dietary intervention that focuses on a period of fasting with a period of eating as much food as you would like. The researchers took the mice and induced physical trauma to the sciatic nerve. Half of the mice underwent intermittent fasting (by eating as much as they liked followed by not...