Botox and Burpees
Botox and Burpees
S04E83 - Behind the Scenes with the CrossFit Games Head Orthopaedic Surgeon: Dr. Sean Rockett
Ever wondered what it takes to be the Head Orthopaedic Surgeon for the CrossFit Games? Join us as Dr. Sean Rockett @321gomd, who has been the lead surgeon for the CrossFit Games since 2012, shares his journey from practicing CrossFit in 2007 to treating elite athletes on the biggest stage. We'll hear firsthand about gut-wrenching experience treating Brooke Wells' severe elbow dislocation during the 2021 Games. Dr. Rockett also dives into the unique challenges of gaining the trust of top-level athletes.
Dr. Rocket opens up about the synergy between CrossFit and orthopedic surgery, emphasizing the vital role of efficiency in both his workouts and surgical procedures. You'll learn about common injuries like shoulder and back issues that plague CrossFit athletes and how tailored approaches can ensure optimal recovery. Through his dynamic experiences at the surgery center, Dr. Rocket highlights the detective work involved in diagnosing and treating injuries effectively, offering valuable insights for athletes and medical professionals alike.
And in a heart-warming and emotional turn, Dr. Rockett also discusses his parents, who were both surgeons. His father was a neurosurgeon and mother was a general surgeon and one of the first women residents at Boston City Hospital in the 1950s and a true pioneer for women in medicine in the United States. The emotion and feeling Dr. Rockett has talking about his parents and their influence on his life is tremendously powerful.
And finally, don't forget to check out Dr. Rocket's newly released e-book, "When Does it Hurt," which offers practical advice on exercise-related injuries, with proceeds supporting the Navy SEAL Foundation and Folds of Honor. https://www.roguefitness.com/where-does-it-hurt-ebook
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@crossfittraining @crossfit @crossfitgames #crossfit #sports #exercise #health #movement #crossfitcoach #agoq #clean #fitness #ItAllStartsHere #CrossFitOpen #CrossFit #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #personalizedfitness
The CrossFit Games begin this week in Fort Worth, texas, and my podcast guest is someone that you hope never to see there, unless an injury happens to an athlete, and then you will really definitely want to see him out there on the competition floor. And that person is Dr Sean Rocket, head orthopedic surgeon at the CrossFit Games since 2012. Sean Rocket, head orthopedic surgeon at the CrossFit Games since 2012. This interview was a dream come true for me, a rare combination of two joys in my life surgery and CrossFit. I met Dr Rocket at the CrossFit Health Summit this past February in Austin, texas.
Speaker 1:A polite, quiet guy sat down next to me. We said hi and he said his name was Sean and he was an orthopedic surgeon in Boston. And in between lectures we talked some shop, like how big his practice group was, was he operating at the hospitals or outpatient centers more, how much call he took Mundane stuff like that. And after a while I asked if he was into CrossFit and he said he had been doing it since 2007, which is very early in the history of CrossFit. I asked how he got involved and he said he and his wife met Ben Bergeron at CrossFit New England. And I started to get suspicious and I asked him what was your name again? And he said Sean Rocket. And I said wait, you're the head medical guy for the CrossFit Games. Aren't you the one who took care of Brooke Wells when she dislocated her elbow doing that heavy snatch? And I told him you know, you probably should be leading with that when you meet people at CrossFit events, and if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see the selfie I took when I was fangirling with him at the conference.
Speaker 1:We cover an amazing number of topics in the interview, starting right away with Brooke Wells' devastating injury and what it was like to care for her in such an emergent, high-profile setting. And then we talk about his career as an orthopedic surgeon and what he does to make sure his cases are perfectly planned and executed. And then, of course, we talk about CrossFit and its injury risk, and if he himself has ever been injured in a CrossFit workout, I ask him how difficult or challenging it is to work with high-level CrossFit athletes at the games, especially when an injury happens after they've been training all year to compete. How does he get them to trust him and listen to him? And for me, one of the most heartwarming parts is when he talks about his parents, who are both surgeons a neurosurgeon, and his mother was a general surgeon and one of the first women residents at Boston City Hospital in the 1950s and a true pioneer for women in medicine in the United States.
Speaker 1:The emotion and feeling Sean has talking about his parents and his influence on his life was totally moving and tremendously powerful for me. We also talk about the e-book that he was finishing up at the time of the podcast recording and it's actually just come out. The ebook is called when Does it Hurt and it's available on Rogue's website for purchase and the link will be in the podcast episode description. It's $25 and proceeds will be donated to the Navy SEAL Foundation and Folds of Honor. If you have shoulder, hip, knee, wrist, ankle or any other kind of muscular issue, but especially if it's exercise related, whether it's pickleball or CrossFit this is the best and clearest publication I have ever read. The explanations and diagrams are so clear. The advice on diagnosing and treatment options is practical and excellent. Whether it's a slapped tear of the shoulder, hip arthritis, tennis elbow, patellofemoral syndrome of the knee, plantar fasciitis or anything and everything in between, this is the publication to check out first when you feel something click, pop, slide or lock up on you.
Speaker 1:Talking to Dr Rocket was definitely inspiring. I love plastic surgery, but there's always a little part of me that wonders what it would have been like to have been an orthopedic surgeon. Be on the lookout for him at the CrossFit Games, where I'm sure he'll be working hard on the sidelines, and I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did talking to Sean. Thank you very much. All right, welcome to another episode of Botox and Burpees the surgical edition. I have with me a very, very special guest. I'm kind of fangirling, actually. It's been amazing and I'm so thankful that he has agreed to guest with me, and this is Dr Sean Rocket. He's an orthopedic surgeon and he has also been the head orthopedic surgeon for the CrossFit Games since 2011, as well as a orthopedic surgeon with Orthopedics New England since 1999. And we'll get into his background a little bit, but I want to start first with one of the highest profile sort of incidents or injuries at the CrossFit Games, which happened back in 2022, I think. Right, yeah, 2020, sorry, 2021. It was the CrossFit.
Speaker 2:Games July 2021.
Speaker 1:And it was with Brooke Wells and I'm going to read a couple passages from her book Resilient, where she talks about the injury and how you cared for her at that time and I think if anyone is into CrossFit they remember this very vividly.
Speaker 1:I remember watching it and it was burnt into my brain, and so let me just read you a couple passages, and then I would like to hear your thoughts about this. So this was event 12 that she describes in the CrossFit Games, and this was at Madison and she was attempting a hundred ninety pound snatch. And so, for the non CrossFit athletes, a snatch is an Olympic weight lift movement where you're basically taking the barbell from the ground and finishing overhead, and she and you know one hundred ninety pounds is friggin insane, honestly, for most people.
Speaker 1:So it is so. So this is what she says. So she says, quote two seconds after the bar begins moving, it comes to an obedient stop. In my palms, directly over my center of gravity, a textbook, lift, perfectly stable a moment ago, suddenly gives out under the barbell as if it's been shot by an invisible sniper, and my elbow folds grotesquely at an unnatural angle under the force of the bar. Thud Through my tears, I recognize Dr Sean Rocket, the head orthopedic surgeon at the CrossFit Games medical team.
Speaker 1:The presence of a doctor makes me realize what help is likely to entail my dislocated elbow going back the same way. It came out, with extreme force. It comes before I know what's happening. Dr Rocket. Sean has his hands on my forearm and the other on my bicep. He pulls and twists at the same time and I scream in unexpected pain and terror.
Speaker 1:When I look down again, sean is frowning at my arm, which is just as deformed as it was before. Don't worry, he says in a deep, calm voice. That is completely at odds with the panic I feel. We're going to get this back in place after. So you transport her off the stage, you numb the area, you get the x-rays and reduce the dislocation, and she says I need to hold it together because he's preparing to reduce my elbow again. This is as you're doing the reduction. He pulls and twists, but I can barely feel it when the bone finally jumps back into place. I hear the thwop sounds as it makes, though, and I know my elbow is back where it belongs. And she suffered a complete ulnar collateral ligament tear, medial flexor mass and pronator detachment from the medial epicondyle and partial lateral collateral ligament tear, and so your thoughts about that injury and and what you went through with that bringing me back.
Speaker 2:It's my heart's heart starts racing again. Clums is sweaty M&M and.
Speaker 2:Mom's Spaghetti. Yes, I love that. So you know. Number one the setup was a Saturday night. She was a solo performer in the middle of this packed, lit up crowd, national TV and 10 other people that night had fallen or had missed their lift, and I thought that's what this was. She fell back. I'm watching, I'm on levels. I don't want to be up, I want to be, you know, near the action. I'm ground level. She fall and I didn't see anything. You know, she's lying flat and so that was people like oh, it took him so long to get out there. But then once she sat up and I saw that her elbow was deformed. You know, she is a very strong person, right, she's very muscular.
Speaker 2:My hands, like you know, size eight gloves and I think you know we're pretty big. But when I out there, like I was like wow, she's got big arm and she also had a sleeve, like a big neoprene sleeve on her arm. I think that also contributed to the fact that I couldn't get it back like right away. Usually you try to get it back right away, you try to pop it in before they even know what's going on, like that just helps if you can just get it quickly and you know, quick the mic moment that's always a good thing. But we tried and I didn't want to try too long out there and we went away from the crowd. But then I realized underneath was all her family and her coaches and everybody underneath in the rink and so I wanted to. We literally went into the tunnel and closed the curtains. So we're in the tunnel trying to do it again and I couldn't get it. So finally I realized you know we're gonna need I was worried there was a fracture.
Speaker 2:I was worried there was something prohibiting me from getting it, like blocking. If you have a little fracture of the radial head, you can, it'll block the, the joint. So we do have a floral machine at the crossfit games and so we got a floral, saw that there was nothing else broken, which is great, which made me feel better that, you know, I didn't have to deal with a fracture also. Uh, and then the numbing. We did lidocaine, a couple, you know, 10 cc's of lidocaine and that right away just released all the pain and what the pain and the tension of the biceps and the triceps pulling and she's got strong biceps and tricep once.
Speaker 1:Once the, the contraction went away, it was easy, yeah was that, uh, one of the worst injuries you've seen, say on the competitive side of uh things yeah yeah, that was, that was well being shoulder dislocations and other people.
Speaker 1:You know shoulder dislocations, but this was sort of more, you know, heavier weight, more dramatic yeah, and I've seen shoulder dislocations in the er and I've seen the ortho guys reduce them and that's not always fun like yeah, and they have all their tricks and like positionings and ways of, yeah, distracting the arm and all that and that's that.
Speaker 1:Uh, I never in like I, I never. I felt very badly for the patient and I felt badly for the ortho guy who had to handle that. Um, but let me go through your background now that I I wanted to sort of get that very vivid memory out. So you, you are a native of Brookline Massachusetts. You got your BA in biology from Harvard. You're, you're like a Massachusetts Harvard, like Brahmin, like blue blood guy, like everything that I've seen about you.
Speaker 1:You actually played a year Irishish catholic and irish catholic different than the brahmas okay, all right, all right one time boss, long time.
Speaker 1:Boston first yes, um, you actually played a year of football until you had a liberal tear of your shoulder. I heard that on on one of the podcasts and that was unfortunate. Um, but your, your father, was a neurosurgeon and he was a team physician for Boston College, harvard Sports, and so you had a pretty early experience, even as a young one, sort of seeing medical care, and also your mother, and I'd like to talk about that a little bit. But you went ahead and you got your medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and then you did your orthopedic surgery residency there as well, and and so you are assistant clinical professor at Tufts. You have your practice in that area and you've been a coach for Wellesley football, softball, soccer.
Speaker 1:You've sort of been associated with team sports for your entire career, as well as, as I mentioned, the head orthopedic surgeon for the CrossFit Games. You've been a CrossFit athlete since 2007. So that's like 17 years and I've seen all of your work. Like, you are the OG of OGs when it comes to CrossFit. You are the medical authority. You have a website 321-GO-MD. You have your website, orthopedicsnecom, and you have a great Instagram, which is 321-GO-MD, and I've seen all the CrossFit athletes that you've sort of worked with and interact with on your Instagram videos. So I have heard your CrossFit start story, but I would like to hear it again from you. Yeah, sure, because you are one of the few surgeons I know who actually is not only a CrossFit believer, but someone who has been an advocate and a proponent and authority for many years yeah, um, that's yeah, thank you for that introduction.
Speaker 2:Um, I. It started back in 2007. My wife made me do it. Basically is what it comes down to I I was talking to her about how I'm sick of sitting on a bike, stationary biking, and doing barbell biceps curls. I'm like there's got to be something better. And she's like, well, why don't you come to the club and this girl, heather Bergeron, and she's giving a boot camp class and I'll buy you some gift certificates. And so she got me some gift certificates for that.
Speaker 2:Heather met Ben, ben and Heather. We started traveling around Natick and Dover and going to different places and having that. We would transport barbells and transport weights elementary schools up into the park anywhere. And then he said, I want to have a gym and I want to have lifetime members pay for the gym and they'll be, they'll become lifetime members. And you know it was a small amount of money at the, probably the the best investment we ever made as far as amount of return on that money. And so, yeah, we're lifetime members of crossfit new england and um, and yeah, I just the thing I love about crossfit and everybody has their own little thing, but the thing I love is like it's a different thing every day, like you don't. You're not doing the same thing every day, like you're. Just it's not a board, you know I'm bored, like if I sit on a bike for 45 minutes. I get bored. If I run, I don't. I don't enjoy running long distances, you know, but if I do a different workout every day, I love that.
Speaker 1:What got you into orthopedic surgery? Was there like a specific experience or or person, a mentor during medical school, where you're like?
Speaker 2:or person, a mentor during medical school, where you're like this is what I want to do. Yeah, there's the mentor, who I would identify with as a guy named John Richmond. Um, great guy, he, uh the local guy, went to Tufts and became very well known in the sports medicine world. Uh, he is one of the inventors of I don't know if you've ever heard of the suture anchor. He was fishing and he was talking to the PhD and he was thinking like a fish hook got stuck in a finger and he's like wow, that's pretty, it's got a line attached to it and like, oh, what if you could sew that suture down to something. So MyTech invented the first suture anchor and I actually was in the OR when he deployed the first suture anchor. I don't know if you've ever heard of suture anchor.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've used them. I know the hand guys use them a lot. Unfortunately, the only time I've ever used them as a cosmetic surgery guy is for endoscopic coronal brow lifts, where you are elevating the soft tissue and you're putting these little uh mini my techs uh in into the, uh into the skull, but uh, not quite the same use, utility or um, probably a cool factor that you have when you when you guys are using them at this point yeah, that's like's like 1990.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So um he's he and he, he took me under his wing, we did ACL research and uh, and just, he's also just the nicest guy in the world.
Speaker 1:Uh, and I just would you know, I love being around him and he, he sort of um, you know, I looked up them and at this point you've done, obviously, thousands and thousands and thousands of surgeries, but I, as as last, week last week, even last week.
Speaker 1:Right, and then tomorrow will be a couple thousand more, but but as surgeons the best surgeons I know are always trying to get better. They're trying to improve their technique. They're trying to work on even if they know an operation perfect, they're looking to improve it on some level. And what do you do? What is your mindset? How do you work to become better as a surgeon now versus, like you know, 10, 15, 20 years ago? 10, 15, 20 years?
Speaker 2:ago. Yeah, always thinking like, like, am I wasting time? Is there a better instrument? Is there a better angle or better approach? You know, so my hands don't get tired if I'm reaching around, you know. You know, is there something my assistants can do better to help me? Like, how can, how can I have? I have them, you know, move the arm or move the shoulder. Um, you know, always, always thinking about different things. I've always got ideas about, you know, uh, how can we improve the efficiency or closure of a wound, and things like that. Talk to some companies and come up with some ideas. But yeah, always, always, just for the patient doing things more efficiently so they don't have to be under anesthesia. As much you ever hear of Six Sigma.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the quality improvement practices.
Speaker 2:So one of the hospitals I work at had people come in and observe and they found that I was the fastest once into the room to the skin and out of the room and in the system in this and it's, you know, the MGB system, the Mass General Brigham system, and I'm a private practice guy and I'm in the community hospital and I said what you know what's different?
Speaker 2:They, like you, pre-position the patient. You don't wait for the patient to go to sleep, Put them where you need to go and I'll be prepping while they're putting the patient to sleep at the same time. You know so it's I just think, and part of it's probably my little ADHD. But you know, like I just I don't want to wait for anesthesia and then they put the tube in and they take it, and then I got to move the patient and you know so, also, thinking about the nurses, like the move every patient, I'm going to ask that person to go into the right position. Be you know, get in the position while they're putting him to sleep, Little things like that's huge.
Speaker 1:And I mean not to dis academia or anything, but I always find that the people in private practice tend to be because time is money a little like it's a stereotype, but they tend to be more efficient. I would say it's just funny.
Speaker 1:I was talking to someone who was in my office and she works in the hospital and she said we're trying to get to the goal of turnover by 37 minutes between cases. And I said first of all, if as a private practice guy that's insanely long, but at the old hospitals that I used to work at in academics that was pretty fast.
Speaker 1:So it's like it's like you know, so it was. I had sort of a mixed reaction to that. Now, how do you work within a system, though? Because you are, like you said, one surgeon and you're working within a pretty big system, so there's only so much you can sort of affect or control when you're in the OR.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think when anybody comes in the room, they know that, you know I'll ask the anesthesia politely. Could we please put them in? You know, because they like to have so found the simplest compromise was let's take the head off. So you're standing, you know, because they don't want to slide the patient down. They're like, oh, I can't intubate a patient, but I'm like, well, how about we take the head of the bed off? We'll put the patient in the right position.
Speaker 2:You're standing right where you need to be and no one else does that you know, which is, you know, but and then the other thing is, too, we, but we also built a surgery center too. So having a surgery center and having control and having the nurses call me in between you know cases and say, dr roger, we're ready for you, while I'm, you know, seeing the next patient talking to the family from the last patient getting ready for the next patient, and they say, you know, we're all set to go. It's like I'll never complain, right, I'll never complain that they say we're ready for you, like. But it's like the pace is. The pace was impressive, it's really impressive, like probably 12 minutes.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's really impressive. Yes, yeah, that's about as fast as I've seen it. I think I would say 12 minutes. That's about as fast as I've seen it, I think I would say 12 minutes. That's pretty impressive. So at this point you do shoulder, knees, right Shoulders and knees.
Speaker 2:I do shoulder knees sports and I do knee and hip replacement.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so out of those, is there one that you really love doing? One is that like your favorite type of procedure to do? I love cuffs.
Speaker 2:I love doing rotator cuffs those are cool. Yeah, just because every cuff is different, the tissues are different, the quality, the angle, like, you have to figure out what, where the best placement is. You got to figure out not every tear pattern is the same. And then you know labrums and ACLs. I also love doing those like bank guards and ACL. Those are stuff that I enjoy.
Speaker 1:What do you see is the most common in CrossFitters? I might guess would be shoulders. But what do you see as the most common?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the data that's out there is shoulders are, you know, probably 20% of the injuries back probably you know up there as well, 20%, and it's mostly, you know, if it gets to surgery, not a lot get to surgery, but if it gets to surgery it's usually a long head of the bicep issue, like biceps tears or slap tears.
Speaker 1:Right the labral tears. So do you feel like there is consensus? When you see a patient and they've seen three providers, are they often getting three different answers to their injury, or is there universally like consensus? Is there more consensus now than there used to be in terms of managing I?
Speaker 2:like to be. I like to be a detective, you know. I think a lot of people just read the MRI reports and say, oh, you've got bursitis, you've got impingement. But, like I like to talk to the patient, find out exactly what they're talking about and, you know, not just go by the six MRI diagnoses that are listed, like you know.
Speaker 2:Figure out which is what's relevant and you know figure out which is what's relevant. And you know, listen to the patient number one. Like you might have a partial cuff tear but all your pain is here. Like I'm not going to do anything to your cuff if all your pain is here and it's not. You know, typically, typically classically, if it's a little small rotator cuff, I'm not going to reattach your small rotator cuff. It's mostly bicep.
Speaker 2:So that's why I'll you know, definitely when I see the patient and when I book the surgery. That's really important, when I write in my booking like this is what I plan on doing. And then also I like seeing them before they block, because things change, right People, people's symptoms change before they put the block in. So examining them again three months later or two months later and seeing if anything's changed, and then also it refreshes in my brain Like do I agree with what I just booked, you know, two months ago? Um, cause, if you go up to somebody and they're blocked and you have to operate on them, you know you might remember exactly all the same details, you know.
Speaker 1:Do you treat CrossFitters differently? Because, honestly, they're pretty aggressive and when they come in they're not necessarily like I mean a hardcore guy like you know. They're like I want to be able to overhead squat, I want to be able to do the Olympic movements Most other non CrossFit athletes might be like. Listen, if I can swing a golf club, if I could do a little paddle, if I could cook, I'm good. And so does that change or alter your approach in terms of management of injury?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I would say a lot of them are very high functioning, so a little ache and pain I don't want to treat surgically like it was a little niggle of you know something. And there I'm like what, what can't you do? And they're like oh, I can do everything. And I'm like well, in fact, such and such does it affect your sleep? You're lifting up, reaching up into cabinets, does it? And they're like no, I, just, you know I and um, whatever, on the 30thup it starts to ache a little.
Speaker 2:I'm like wait, how about 25 pull-ups? So, number one, I will almost bias against them. Like you have to prove that this is really a disability for you, like mentally or physically. Like you have to tell me, number one, that you're going to try conservative management and you're going to modify, because a lot of the stuff you could have a partial tear of your bicep, but you have a bad tendonitis and if you give them two or three months of modification, that's going to go away, like, and they might return to normal. Plenty of people have booked surgery, they're ready to go, they're all set and they, in their mindset, they modified after I booked surgery and they'd come back and they're like I'm all better and I'm like like we're not doing it, we're not going in. But also CrossFitters are incredibly fit, mostly for the most part, and they going to heal faster than a normal human being. But I have found typically if somebody is sick, they're going to heal faster than other people.
Speaker 1:Now. So would you rather see patients and I know I've seen your videos and so much of what is early is our early stages of tendonitis or other types of inflammation and, like you said, a lot of it is fairly conservative in terms of management. Would you rather not see hordes of early patients with non-surgical issues? Or is it sort of like educational as well? Because, like you know, you're what you're, let's face it, you're an orthopedic surgeon, you're your prescription.
Speaker 1:What you say to them probably carries more weight than maybe another provider, because you're, you know you're Sean Rocket and you're an orthopedic surgeon, so but but then you're probably seeing tons of people that might not necessarily need you, right then, or right?
Speaker 2:at that time. Yeah, the trigger is, you know, rip, tear, pulp dislocation, bruising, deformity. Come see me if it's a week of soreness and you didn't have an injury and you know you did more pull-ups or push-ups than normal. Like don't come see me. Like give it, give it a week, at least a week or two, of modifying. You know, if you've had it for six weeks and you have modified, I think that's reasonable to get checked out. But if it's a day or two of soreness because I'm not going to do anything to you.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to order an MRI If it's a day or two of soreness and you overdid it. I'm going to treat you conservative.
Speaker 1:We just talked beforehand, overdid it. I'm going to treat you conservative. You know you just, you taught you, we just talked beforehand how you have an Instagram reel that's blowing up because you're outlawed, you're you're, you're mentioning how the injury risk for CrossFit is less than running and and I've heard you speak about it before If you take a thousand training hours, research has shown uh, research has shown that. Uh, some studies have shown that running is about 12 hours. Every running in running runs the risk of about 12 hours. Loss of a thousand training hours right.
Speaker 2:The rate of the rate per thousand hours is 12,. The rate of injury per thousand hours.
Speaker 1:And for CrossFit.
Speaker 2:CrossFit is anywhere from 0.27 to 3.
Speaker 1:Okay, now, in my mind, when I think about CrossFit athletes, I think the biggest problem is ego. Like always, it's for the new athlete coming in and it's also for the athlete that has been crossfitting for a long time either. When and you've mentioned this in your lecture, uh, there's a really good one and I I want to link to it later, but it's like sort of an intro, orthopedic intro to crossfit too much, too soon, too fast, and you mentioned that in your in your lecture. And and for a lot of new CrossFit athletes who are starting, they just go way too hard, way too much and it turns off a lot of people. How, as an orthopedic surgeon, can you sort of get people to dial that down, as well as experienced athletes who you tell them to scale and they don't want to scale, they don't want to, they don't want to scale like what like? How can you help convince them to do these things properly?
Speaker 2:scale. Like what? Like how can you help convince them to do these things properly? Um, I think you take the big picture and you say what is your overall like? Your goal shouldn't be to be as as possible in six months. Your goal should be as fit as possible in your life and if you are now out of the game because you have to wait three months for a really bad tendonitis to go away, your fitness is going to plummet for three months. You're not exercising, you're not doing the same intensity. So listening to your body and just not pushing through pain it's a simple grandmother's prescription, but it's a simple game. Your goal should be, like you feel something bad, not saying like, oh, I got to keep, I'm going to make that feel better. Like, no, your body's not going to let you do that and just modifying is key.
Speaker 1:Now I've even heard the OG people at CrossFit, like Adrian Bosman, pat Sherwood. These guys have CrossFit related injuries from overuse or doing a lot of volume over the years. Have you ever had anything like that, any kind of injury-related yeah, and how did you manage it? What happened and how did you manage it?
Speaker 2:Early on. I remember we were doing a lot of pull-ups, a big pull-up workout, and by the end I literally couldn't straighten out my elbow. It was really tight, sore. Two days later I was checking for fluid in my biceps seeing if I had rhabdo and so, yeah, you get sucked into it. I know it. I know people get sucked into it. They're trying for the pull-ups or the number of pull-ups. They've got to beat the person next to them, beat the 20-year-old. You know 40, 50, 60-year-olds are not going to be 20-year-olds, like everybody's. Just like, just, let's accept that, like it's your starting point, you're not going to beat that 20-year-old. So that's number one. I tweaked my like probably 15 years ago, doing a clean and jerk. Probably it was up around my heavier area and I hyperextended and I tweaked it and I was in spasm and got over that. But as far as, like you know, rip, tear pop, I haven't had that.
Speaker 1:I haven't had that. I've heard Ben Bergeron speak about movements. He doesn't do anymore like things that he regards as sort of more higher risk for maybe everyday CrossFit athletes. How have you managed your volume, you yourself, as a CrossFit athlete Now? How many days a week do you work out? What kind of workouts do you do? Is there anything that you avoid doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say like I feel it's funny because I feel bad if I work out once a week, like just because of schedule you know, schedule timing, fatigue, need to rest, need to sleep, meetings, getting home late, dinner late, hungry, can't work out. And so if I work out like once a week, I notice a difference, like I feel like well, I just feel you that blah, ideally I would say four or five times a week. I I like, uh, and two days of rest, um, sometimes it's three, three to five days a week of you know, high intensity and and again it doesn't part across, but it's not being intense every day, Like you don't have to win the games every day, Like if you're feeling great, you know 75% is okay, but at least you're moving, you're stretching, you're getting blood flow, you know, and and you might not be hitting your PRS every day, which is fine, but, um, you know, and if you're feeling sore, you modify. I'd say I'd feel good if I'm three to four to five times a week. What was your other question?
Speaker 1:Is there any movements or anything you?
Speaker 2:Rebounding box jumps. I've gotten away from those as I've seen people coming in with rebounding blasts. I also don't like to go upside down as much anymore. I don't like coming down on the head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with that too. So what do you listen to in the OR? You have your surgery so you're in the other office. What kind of music do you prefer or like to hear? Yeah, I got my Pandora, I got Apple Music, you're in the other house, what? What kind of music do you prefer or like to?
Speaker 2:hear with your. Yeah, I got my pandora. Um, I got uh, apple music. I'll, uh, I'll pull up I'll. I've created stations with. You know I'm an, I'm an 80s guy. I'm a a child of 1985. You know high school, 85, so it's, you know it's so it's. You know it's Springsteen, talking Heads, rem Stations, off that, the Killers, you know Bon Jovi, sort of mid-80s stuff, breakfast Club, you know all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Wow, gen X, you're Gen X all the way there. Yeah, but what?
Speaker 2:I do realize you know a lot too much of one thing, so then I'll go to 90s, 2000s hits and present day hits to keep the nurses happy. I'll listen to more modern stuff, Not as much into country. We had a patient. I usually will ask the patient when they're going to sleep I go, what do you want to listen to while you go to sleep? And they're like whatever you want to listen to. Whatever makes you happy is what I want to sleep. I go, what do you want to listen to while you go to sleep?
Speaker 2:and they're like whatever you want to listen to whatever makes you happy is what I want to listen to. And I had one guy. He goes oh, I want country. Everybody like looks at me. I was like no, I'm like, yeah, sure, I'll pull that up, just hold up the country. And then he went to sleep and we switched it. No, I like country, I like country and rock. I just don't like the, the sort of the, the drawl and the oh you know, the, the slow country I don't like the slow, I like, I like the peppy the rock, but that's well, listen, hey, you're the one doing.
Speaker 1:You know, you're the one with a knife in your hand.
Speaker 2:So yeah, you want to keep me out, that's right that's exactly right.
Speaker 2:Um, so, as part of your team, either in or out of the, or as a surgeon who is particularly important to you in terms of your success and what you do on a daily basis yeah, on a daily basis and like in and out of the or my either my major clinical managers, my office manager and my clinical manager. They are like the hardest working people. I know they work harder than any person in our office. They're there late, they're there early Some weekends. I'll say, hey, I need to see this person Monday morning. They'll call them, they'll set up. They're amazing. Denise and Alice, I would say, uh, shout out.
Speaker 1:It's huge and you keep a really heavy surgical volume. I imagine it's you, you, you're on call this weekend, you're uh, you're, uh. So you have a surgery center, so obviously you have to keep up your surgical volume there, if that's part of your practice. Do you like being as busy as possible, like I have surgeons that that's all they do. They want to be as busy, and do you plan on increasing your volume? Have you stayed?
Speaker 2:the same, or have you been?
Speaker 1:decreasing it. What's been your?
Speaker 2:Where am I on my trajectory?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:This year. So I think you know I'm 56. I feel like this is like peak earning time, because you know I'm not 30 and I'm not, you know, 90. And I think patients are very comfortable coming to me at this level Like there's no question, like I've done a lot, as opposed to you know the 30 year old question how many of these have you done?
Speaker 2:And still they can tell I'm you know, keeping up my fitness and acumen and skills. So I think you know, just from that point of view, I think like I'm in my peak period as far as booking cases and second opinions and my name is out there for second opinions. People who have been slated for surgery want a second opinion. Um, the uh, what was I gonna say? The uh? And my memory's gone. Yeah so.
Speaker 2:So your trajectory right now or this summer was, um, uh, reunion, college and my son's graduation, and I took, like almost you know, three or four days, two weeks in a row off, and it was you know, and also I'll take. I take weeks of vacation throughout the year. These were special days and special moments and my office staff is like when are you coming back? When are you coming back? Stop talking to me Like I don't even want to know, let me enjoy. I don't even want to know, don't page me. You know so I'm you know more golfing a little bit. You know tournaments. I go to tournaments and we'll do. You know our local police tournament, golf tournament. We have a fire tournament.
Speaker 2:We'll do that um, yeah, I realize I'm not. I don't want to be, I don't want to burn out, I don't want to go till the, till the oil's done. I want, you know, I want a nice, a nice landing, um, and so, yeah, I've started to be, yeah it's it's true, you got.
Speaker 2:you got to be selfish and never been selfish right, our careers have been like helping others, and so now I feel like I'm thinking about being a little more sort of just keeping my blood pressure down, keeping my heart rate, you know, normalized, decreasing stress.
Speaker 1:Right, the ability to say no is very important and, like you said, you are at your peak. I think right now in your 50s is, as a surgeon, the peak you have, the like, the most experience you've accumulated so far. But, like you said, fit as you do now, but like traditionally, and so it's you know. So you have to balance that with whether you want to be like. I'm sure if you wanted to operate every day, all day, 365, you could certainly book your or schedule that way. Like you said, the question is, what are your priorities, what want to do? But you've always made time for the games, so that's, that's a pretty big time commitment overall, and you used to also cover other CrossFit events as well in the past so what made you say you?
Speaker 1:know what, no matter how busy I am, I'm going to, you know, be part of this organization and manage, manage this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just considered this. It's funny Early on, back in the old days we call it the old days there was such an energy about it. People were so positive. The CrossFit Games team, it was like going to day camp, it was just great energy. And as it's grown, you still have that energy, but it's gotten big and massive and, uh, I just like it because I like, I like the sport, I like the athletes. They're, they're very appreciative.
Speaker 2:I enjoy being there, you know, as if something bad happens, you know I can take care of it. Um, you know, so it makes me feel good professionally and then it makes me feel good I'm surrounded by some friends and some colleagues out there who are fun and we have a good time. And, um, yeah, it's just, it's part, it's my hobby. Uh, you know, side interest, people like. People ask me. They're like are you like, do you see all crop fitter? Like, is your office filled with crop fitters? I'm like, no, that'd be impossible. Like, so, um, yeah, that's, it's you, it's just, it's a great side hobby and interest and I enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Now these are obviously extremely elite athletes. Um, let me ask you first what, uh, do you feel that a professional CrossFit athlete is? Uh, is that harder training versus, say, other professional sports or not? Because I kind of feel like it is, but I haven't talked to a pro football player or basketball player about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it depends on the person. Obviously. I think there are some you know you look at the work ethic of, you know, kobe Bryant and what he was doing you know, just complete dedication to his body and fitness.
Speaker 2:I think that CrossFitters have mostly that same attitude. It's a different type of training. I think it is literally you are the fittest person on earth if you win. I can't imagine anything else comparing to that. It's all-roundedness, well-rounded. I honestly. I truly believe that Other athletes they're maybe working a little more on the weights and less on the aerobics or the duration. I think more athletics and more cross-training has come about over the years. They've realized you can't just run all day, like as we saw the injury rates of running, just running.
Speaker 1:And when you're at the games and I feel like this is kind of true for most of them they've trained at such a high level by the time they get there they're just kind of holding it together. They have a lot of Knicks. They're banged up. They, you know they are peaking or trying to peak, but they're banged up. They, you know they are peaking or trying to peak, but that that's not so easy and and we've heard athletes talk about, like you know, just trying to hold it together at the time, and they also are going through very grueling events for multiple days. We've seen like Pat Villner fall down from that ginormous netting and rig. So they're right. So you're really busy, I would assume, seeing a lot of these athletes. What is that like interacting with them? Because they've never worked with you all year and now suddenly they're at the most important event of their career. That year they have something and you're telling them stuff as a physician and they're like do I listen to this guy, do I not? How does that interaction go?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's funny, I think, just having been there a long time and knowing the coaches, so the coaches have been there a long time too. The coaches are repeat players, the athletes not as much. Right, the athletes come and go, but the coaches seen over the years, they have developed a trust. I've gained their trust and you know early on. I think the biggest thing is I'm there to make sure they can compete and want them to compete without hurting themselves or without doing damage to their future career, their next year's games like I will want them to be at the next year's games, um. And so I think, gaining trust, telling the athletes you're on their side, you want them to compete, and then you know, sort of, if it comes to an injury, um, people, people say like well, did you just pull them? And it's like no, I'm not gonna just pull somebody, I'm gonna let it sink in. It's gonna sink in, I can's going to sink in. You can't just say oh, you're done and like no, if I tell somebody you're done, they're not going to listen to me, right?
Speaker 2:So typically, and it's a good question, because people always ask like how do you decide? Or do you decide with the athlete which is ideally you want a joint consensus with the athlete, the coach and and the doctor. Um, how do you decide when to stop? And so the first one is, you know, say it's a sprain or a, you know, a muscle pull, um, saying like, okay, what's the next event? Like, if the next event is pull-ups and you have a leg issue, yeah sure you can compete.
Speaker 2:So that's number one, finding out what the next event is. So like not canceling them right away. And they like that. They're like, oh, I can do this. And so then, seeing how it feels the next day, so I actually have the next morning, I'll see, like my pre-op clinic, like I'll have a clinic where I'll see the athletes from the day before and see how they're doing, and then I'll, I'll actually, if it's questionable, I'm, I say I want to be there when you warm up, I want to watch you warm up. And then it becomes self-evident either they can't do it, and they'll prove to them, they'll try to do it and they might prove to themselves they can't, whatever. If it's a weight and it's an arm issue, they'll say like, let's not have something bad happen on the floor. We don't want something bad on the floor to happen. Let's see that you can do this right now, confidently and well. And if they're struggling, then we have the tough what?
Speaker 1:uh, obviously, brook wells type injuries are very rare, but what are the most common type of things that athletes are battling at the games in terms of injuries or fighting?
Speaker 2:you know. So, number one, you're talking about the way they come in.
Speaker 2:Like I always tell people, if somebody asks me an opinion, some people will reach out to me and they'll ask me opinions and they'll say like, um, you know what's to optimize my chance, like to get to the games, to be in the games if I'm, if they've been selected for the games, like, what do you think says, and I think the best is doing less, coming in fit, rested and healthy versus, as you said, banged up up, damaged and tired. You're coming in that way, you're not going to do well in the games. So that taper that they do, and hopefully most of them do a taper is very important in my book.
Speaker 2:I see a lot of people, Masters included, who come in with some kind of injury from overtraining Because they say, oh, I'm going to the games, I got to go, go, go, I got to keep going, and so that's number one there. The other is, you know, yeah, so a lot of it is tendonitis. People just have soreness, muscle soreness, muscle aches, the games itself, the elites it's pretty rare for an elite to get hurt. If you look at all the the, you know injuries, not all the injuries, but all the things that we see. It's usually not the elite athlete.
Speaker 1:You're, you come. Okay, so you're not Boston Brahman, you are you are Irish Catholic but you are. You are a Boston.
Speaker 1:Massachusetts family and, and both your parents were both surgeons. Your father, francis X Rocket, was a neurosurgeon and your mother, barbara Rocket, was the first female president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. She passed several years ago, I think, 2001. She was one of the first female residents at Boston City Hospital in the 50s. She had an active surgical practice. She was also a physician for colleges, high schools, the Boston FBI, I read, and the local Catholic sister organizations. And she had five children. You're one of five and I remember seeing videos of her talking about and she said I try to be a good wife, a good mother, good physician. I had to be very flexible how I control my life on a daily basis. What do you remember growing up? Why you wanted to continue being a surgeon, when you saw your parents and what they did, and now, basically it's what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the gratitude, Gratitude, yeah, yeah, no, she, they were just, yeah, it was having having people appreciate what you do. Um, uh, that they were. You know they were grateful, getting thanked. You know getting thanked always call, you know, and, and people would come by mom and dad, and say come by and we'll take a look, and, um, so, just, you know, it was comical at the dinner table. You know it was like, oh, who's coming? He's coming by tonight and I remember one time she was examining like a a nun, a nun who came by and she was examining in a room and I had a Superman cape on and I burst in the door as Superman.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh, my God, I remember that. Yeah, I know, I think they just they're, they're just good people, they're just great people and, uh, and people appreciated them and uh, some of the stories with dad, you know, dad, you know, a 16 year old woke up and he couldn't see he had a dandy walker cyst pushing on his optic nerve and dad, you know, let the kids see that for the surgery Like, that's pretty, pretty cool. So we talk about that at dinner, you know hearing that and and so you know that did have an effect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, At this point. What are your future goals as a surgeon? You are in your prime. You have years and years, decades to go. What is it that you look forward to doing, seeing, experiencing, becoming at?
Speaker 2:this point being happy. Being happy, there's a lot of stress and medicine today and in practice and other pressures that are out there from other systems, and just sort of being happy where I am and having a good group and having a group that's respected. You know people say that's the place to go, or you know everybody there is and you don't have to worry, um, you know, just knowing that we're doing the right thing for people, not? I hear stories about aggressive surgery and it just kind of really is annoying and uh um you know, just know that we're doing the right thing, taking care of patients.
Speaker 2:A lot of you know my phone is on the weekend is, you know, again blowing up with you know requests, you know texts like, hey, can I see you? And I'll forward the message. I think people just they know and trust that we're doing the right thing for them and we're conservative and we know when to pull the trigger, when we have to, and do surgery when we need to. And you know doing the right thing.
Speaker 2:I guess that was a, that was a ben was ben daly was a thoracic surgeon, old thoracic, not old thoracic, but he was a. He retired in my internship and we had a going away dinner and he had this great comment just said you know, and everybody hears it, but do the right thing. You know, just do the right like you won't go wrong if you do the right thing. And you know, just do the right like you won't go wrong if you do the right thing. And you know, just, if you're stressed and you're thinking about getting out of the OR and you have to go home and you've got to do something, like just stop, take a breath and just say I'm going to do the right thing here and, you know, take care of the patient. That's, you know, the most important.
Speaker 1:I think and I hear it from a lot of my colleagues that the pressures are not decreasing, they're increasing in a negative way. About that, and most of it's financial or, like you said, sometimes time and to find those physicians that I don't want to say everyone has to be a saint or be principled, but you got to do the right thing for your patient always and I think you're right that if you keep that in mind, pretty much everything else sorts itself out.
Speaker 2:And that gets spread out right. The nurses see it, the nurses see it, the anesthesia sees it and that word will get out that you're you know a reasonable person and you know, like the people, that you hear about people I got to I got to do knee surgeries this month or just having quotas. There shouldn't be quotas on surgery right, I agree.
Speaker 1:So if there's someone young and they're listening to this, or they know you or they have heard about you and they're like I want to be Dr Sean Rockett someday. This is my goal, and either they could be as young as in high school or college, maybe they're in med school, maybe they're a resident, maybe they're a young attending. What is the kind of advice you would give them to say listen, this is what I would tell you to do at this point, knowing what I know number one was my brother told it to me.
Speaker 2:My brother's a general surgeon and he told me, uh, in internship, which was great, uh, you know, because you're tired and you're holding retractors and you're just sitting there and you're like, you know, he goes, pretend like you are actually doing the surgery, like it's a simple stupid phrase. But like, really early on I was like, okay, where's the x-ray going to come from and where am I going to position them? Where are the nurses going to stand? Where am I going to stand? And it really helped me, like it kept me awake and alert, like you know, while I was tired. But, you know, pretend like you are actually doing the surgery, like the exposure, like what retractor am I going to put that way? Where's the other? Where's the assistant going to pull? You know where's the arm going to go? Where's the leg? Little details like that.
Speaker 2:The other, I would say, is obviously, you know, stay humble. Any attending likes a humble resident as opposed to a cocky resident. I would say we like confidence, but not being thinking you're where you Attendings can see where you are, your confidence level, without you telling them or showing them or feeling like you have to prove something. Like you know, do your reading. Be polite, be humble, do the right thing, don't call me.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, arrogance is horrible in anyone, for any reason. And um, and I have heard the advice that your brother gave you, in different forms, but all very similar Imagine the job that you want. Basically. So, if, if, like and I've told this to even people who want to be CrossFit coaches I'm like, listen, act like the person that you want to be.
Speaker 1:Or I mean, you can't as a medical student or as a, as an intern, like you can't actually do those things, but you are imagining yourself and you are anticipating those things and and that make made you a better intern. That that's what I, that was the um, that was the uh advice I got as a junior resident too, was you know, imagine that you're the two, you're the three, like, what is it that you need to do as the one to help your three? And if you were the three, and if you, if you can anticipate that you become a much more useful person. So you're not always going to be the junior, you are going to be the senior someday, and if you can anticipate and know that, I think that that is a huge piece of advice. Is your brother older or younger? Older, old, younger?
Speaker 2:Older, older, older. Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1:So my last question, really from a CrossFit perspective, is so and I talked to Don Fall about this because you know- he has this big and we are both big CrossFit believers.
Speaker 1:as physician, he wants to grow to 30 million by X amount of years and all that and we were at the CrossFit health summit and we we heard them talk about it. But I asked Don is is your family doing CrossFit? And he's like no. So he actually, but actually he did say he tried to get his parents to do it and they went to a box and they got the crap beat it beat out of them. It was like a really horrible work it box and they got the crap beat it beat out of them. It was like a really horrible workout.
Speaker 2:It was like it was really tough on them and they were like uh, okay, thank you, but no thank you I it was very interesting I appreciate it and so he said I'm gonna keep working on it, I'm gonna keep trying, and and I thought to myself you know what?
Speaker 1:I haven't been able to get my parents, my brothers, like I. If I can't get people into crossfit that are the closest to me, right then I we have a problem. We have either a perception problem or an understanding problem. Is that the same with you and your family? Do you understand that? Like, how have you worked that issue?
Speaker 2:um, I I've never. I've never put crossfit on my brothers or sisters. Uh, my kids did it just because that's where we went on the weekends to work out and they would come with us and they grew up crossfitting and they're all great crossfit athletes. Um, but yeah, I've never with my brothers and sisters. One brother came by we have a gym here and he came by the gym and he was doing some workouts and then he moved away. But yeah, I've never. I've just sort of let them do what they want to do and you know, they've seen the rise of CrossFit and I try not to talk too much about it, but yeah, they get it and they're all exercisers and they do their own thing and well then, how about other physicians?
Speaker 1:I mean, I think we should be the ones at the tip of the spear, and I think they're trying to make more efforts. Um, crossfit, hq, um, and you are certainly listen, i'm'm not faulting you. You are putting more content out there than anybody else I know who has a medical degree by their name. So I can't fault you at all. In fact, you are the example. But is it not hard on a daily basis? Do people around you know you as the CrossFit surgeon, or this is the CrossFit?
Speaker 2:guy and all that. Yes, they've figured it out, and is that a?
Speaker 1:good thing, a bad thing Like how do you feel about?
Speaker 2:it. I like it, yeah, yeah that's my, I identify with it, right, that's my workout and I like taking care of the athletes who come to me and my sort of niche has been like CrossFit's okay, like it's not dangerous. I've been doing it for 17 years. Why would I do something that's going to hurt me for 17 years? The other thing I can do more of in my sort of daily thing is diet.
Speaker 2:I can talk to people about eating and people get turned off if I say, oh, you need to CrossFit, I think I'll use it as diet and exercise and I'll talk about high intensity and doing high intensity stuff and then they'll say, what do you do? I say I do CrossFit and so I don't feel like I'm going to be like the marketer of CrossFit. But I'll talk about diet and exercise and if somebody asks me, I'll tell them, um, and you know I'll talk about the movements and weightlifting and how weightlifting is a great cardiac workout. You know it's uh, I don't push it every day that. You know CrossFit. Or or else you know, um, but you know it's, I think, certainly with some people who come who are, you know, overweight, and we talked about diet and extra a lot of people are, it's an eye-opening to them.
Speaker 2:Like that, they, they go. Well, I can't walk and I can't, I can't bike because my knees hurt and so I just don't do anything. I'm like what about your upper body? You know you can do upper bodies, stomach stuff and back stuff and uh, swimming and. And then we talk body. You know you can do upper bodies, stomach stuff and back stuff and uh, swimming and and then we talk about, you know, low starch and low and uh. And you know some people are like, oh really, and you know they talk about diet soda and I didn't realize diet soda, spiked insulin and like that well, you certainly are living.
Speaker 1:You're walking the walk. You're talking the talk. Your social media is amazing.
Speaker 2:On 321 go md on instagram you got a what? Oh no, when. When'd you get an eagle?
Speaker 1:no, an ebook. Oh yes, you said you're coming out with an ebook. When is that coming out? What uh, what uh? What's the anticipated publish date?
Speaker 2:Soon.
Speaker 1:Before the games Before the games Okay, and the title will be.
Speaker 2:Undecided, but it's got to be. Where Does it Hurts, bro? Okay, because I will tell you.
Speaker 1:I went to your 321gomdcom website and, okay, just a little constructive criticism. The the website looks like something from a myspace page back in the 1990s so it's not the unit, like the use, like the design of it, could use an up, like a refresh the ebook is gonna be much.
Speaker 2:It's the e-book is the 321, go on the 2.0. I'm going.
Speaker 1:I have told them you got to look at this like people who have like a ton of issues and I'm like you have to look at this. You have. I said you have to look at that lecture you have on orthopedic introduction to CrossFit which was on YouTube. I want to post a link to that. That was awesome and your e-book, if it consolidates all of that, it's going to be a must read for, I think, most athletes and anyone medically related.
Speaker 2:It's going to be a must read for, I think, most athletes and anyone medically related. It's going to be a lot of video. It's going to be like a virtual experience, like you look up the biceps, you get arthroscopic pictures of the biceps, you get anatomy and then you get patient experiences Like what was a biceps tear, what it was like, what was the recovery from surgery. Like what are you doing now?
Speaker 1:How many months after surgery, are you was the recovery from surgery, like what are you doing now, how many months after surgery are you? It's going to be required reading, I think, because it really will, because anyone who has tendonitis all the way up to some major injury is they're going to be able to get a lot from what you said, because you've had, like you said, since 2007,. You've had the experience as an athlete, you've had the experience as a surgeon, and these are things that happen every day at our gym, every week, every month, in terms of athletes coming to me as a coach or saying, hey, listen, I have this, what should I do with this? And if I could say, get this e-book and take a look at that, I think that would probably help everyone that gets referred to it. So I really appreciate it. Cool, can't wait for that to come out.
Speaker 1:Dr Rocket it's so amazing to have met you. Thank you again.
Speaker 2:It was great to meet you. That was funny. Like you know, you're just sitting next to you and that was funny. That was going to be my intro.
Speaker 1:Like, you are the most humble dude I will. I swear to god, I'm sitting there at the health summit um, and you know, because I record a little intro before I do the podcast and I was going to talk about how I was just sitting next to you and we start talking and you tell me you're and, and the right flex move would have been I'm sean rocket, I'm the, you know, head physician, you know head surgeon at the CrossFit games, and that never came up it, you didn't. You like we're talking for 20 minutes about your call your, your practice, you know your operating and and I was like, wait a second, what the hell? Like this is crazy.
Speaker 1:So, um, so it, it. It just speaks to your. You know your personality, like who you are, like how awesome you are, and I love that because, listen, I know a lot of ortho guys and all of them are like I'm not going to say they, like they're all a lot of bros, they're all like whatever. So to have met someone who does what you do, who has as experienced as which, as you are, as as talented as what you, as who you are to, you know, to have a conversation with some dude for 20 minutes and not even, like you know, pull out that flex card was like it just sort of shows. So thank you.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:All right, anyway, thank you, I appreciate it anyway. Thank you so much. I know you're on call and you have a dinner with your family, so I appreciate the time you spent and I hope to see you very soon. Are you going to the game? I'm going to the Masters games.
Speaker 1:Oh, alright cool so I'm sure that I'll see a lot of aches and pains there that I can sort of no, I'm just kidding, I'll see a lot of aches and pains there that I can sort of uh, no, I'm just kidding, but uh no, I'll be going to that. The, the, the, the one in Austin, is really oversubscribed. I think it's a small arena. I think there are going to be a ton of people.
Speaker 1:Oh it's going to be huge and so um. So the schedule for me works out better for labor day and I do have some friends who are going, and there's one person in our gym who, tracy McGee, who's going to be competing, so I'm pretty excited.
Speaker 2:Oh cool.
Speaker 1:Yes, so, but I'll be watching you at the sidelines on the games making sure that everything well, listen, you're right. If you're in the spotlight, there's not. There's never anything good with that.
Speaker 2:I understand that.
Speaker 1:So, but you're going to be doing the things that you do and I really appreciate that. That's really awesome.
Speaker 2:So thanks, man, Thanks man. Great talking to you.