Do you ever consider the silent culprits behind everyday aches—the kind not caused by trauma but by the misalignment of your own body? Prepare to have your eyes opened to the foundational elements of health that are often overlooked in our quick-fix society. We challenge the conventional healthcare narrative, discussing how posture, nutrition, and lifestyle choices are interconnected and essential for long-term well-being. Imagine starting your day, not with a sugar-laden breakfast, but with choices that fuel muscle regeneration and retention, especially crucial as we age. With insights from functional medicine practitioners, we tackle the 'curse of the provider' and advocate for patient care that extends beyond the office visit, ensuring that you're equipped with the tools for sustainable health.
We share invaluable lessons on maintaining muscle mass and preventing non-traumatic pain through balanced tension around joints. We're not just talking about a straight back; we're exploring holistic posture that encompasses your entire body. And while we're passionate about physical therapy and wellness, this goes beyond exercises and stretches. Think of this as your comprehensive guide to rethinking health strategies for a robust future. So subscribe, join the conversation on social media, and visit our website for even more resources. We're committed to inspiring and educating because your journey to optimal health is just as important to us as it is to you.
Check Us Out On Social Media - Facebook: @bermanwellness , @physicaltherapynaples, @Berman Golf Instagram: @berman_wellness, @bermanphysicaltherapy , @Berman Golf Youtube: Berman Golf, Berman Physical Therapy TikTok: Bermangolf, Bermanwellness
Email us - drberman@bermanpt.com jenni@bermanwellness.com
Check out our website - https://www.bermanpt.com/ https://www.bermanpt.com/wellness/ https://bermangolf.com/
Do you ever consider the silent culprits behind everyday aches—the kind not caused by trauma but by the misalignment of your own body? Prepare to have your eyes opened to the foundational elements of health that are often overlooked in our quick-fix society. We challenge the conventional healthcare narrative, discussing how posture, nutrition, and lifestyle choices are interconnected and essential for long-term well-being. Imagine starting your day, not with a sugar-laden breakfast, but with choices that fuel muscle regeneration and retention, especially crucial as we age. With insights from functional medicine practitioners, we tackle the 'curse of the provider' and advocate for patient care that extends beyond the office visit, ensuring that you're equipped with the tools for sustainable health.
We share invaluable lessons on maintaining muscle mass and preventing non-traumatic pain through balanced tension around joints. We're not just talking about a straight back; we're exploring holistic posture that encompasses your entire body. And while we're passionate about physical therapy and wellness, this goes beyond exercises and stretches. Think of this as your comprehensive guide to rethinking health strategies for a robust future. So subscribe, join the conversation on social media, and visit our website for even more resources. We're committed to inspiring and educating because your journey to optimal health is just as important to us as it is to you.
Check Us Out On Social Media - Facebook: @bermanwellness , @physicaltherapynaples, @Berman Golf Instagram: @berman_wellness, @bermanphysicaltherapy , @Berman Golf Youtube: Berman Golf, Berman Physical Therapy TikTok: Bermangolf, Bermanwellness
Email us - drberman@bermanpt.com jenni@bermanwellness.com
Check out our website - https://www.bermanpt.com/ https://www.bermanpt.com/wellness/ https://bermangolf.com/
Speaker 1:
This is the Berman Method Podcast, featuring Dr Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenny Berman. We are here to treat problems and not symptoms. Disclaimer this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and not to treat anyone or to give medical advice. If you are interested in any information that we are giving and would like to use this for yourself, we recommend that you contact your primary care physician or reach out to us and ask us questions about yourself specifically. Enjoy.
Speaker 2:
And we are back, baby, with the Berman Method Podcast, treating problems, not symptoms. David against Goliath, sticking it to the corporate medical system because we want patient outcomes over profits. Well, actually you got to have both right. Right. Yeah, you can't run a business if you're not profitable, correct. However, we're focused on patient outcomes versus corporate big pharma insurance. They're focused on profits, not patient outcomes, correct. Just started watching that show on Netflix pain pills.
Speaker 2:
Just got through the first episode and, oh my goodness, I want to talk about giving me some more fuel for this fire, which is just what you need, that's exactly what I needed More fuel for the fire, yes, but anyways, I want to talk about some of the basics today, so I don't want to go on too many rants or anything, so I'm going to jump right into some of the basics, because one of the things that you and I both are guilty of is the curse of the provider. Correct.
Speaker 2:
So once we talked about this, however, the curse of the provider is a real thing, meaning that we're so Jenny and Jake are so focused on all of these really advanced, high level interventions, and a lot of times we forget about some of the most impactful things that can be done are really, really simple. Right.
Speaker 2:
Posture is one of the easiest ones. Everybody listening to this right now, I'm sure just raised your chest up just a hair as soon as I say that word. Posh, oh crap, better get my chest up, well that's you, every time you say it. Every time I say it.
Speaker 1:
You do the same thing. Pull my shoulders back.
Speaker 2:
So it's one of these things in this episode I want this to be more about. A lot of times, we need to be reminded versus learning something new. So I'm going to go over some of the very basic things and then you'll go over some of the basic things like maybe you shouldn't be ordering a glass of orange juice and eating pancakes for breakfast multiple times a week. That's a basic thing. However, we're out at breakfast again. Yesterday was Sunday and it never ceases to amaze me when I just look around the restaurant and I'm going oh my goodness, 90% more than 90% of the plates around me are covered in French toast and pancakes, glasses filled with orange juice and a half a cup of syrup and a half a cup of syrup.
Speaker 1:
Yesterday I was like, oh my gosh, can you even taste that pancake?
Speaker 2:
And, granted, it was my cheat day too. I got the chicky changa right. I was at first watch and I got the chicky changa. That's a 1500 calorie meal there, and I try to avoid getting that at all costs and get a protein quinoa bowl. But, however, yesterday I was weak and vulnerable, so I got that, and it's one thing if everybody in that restaurant was doing it once a week.
Speaker 1:
Right At the most.
Speaker 2:
At the most. I mean plates like that really should be once a month.
Speaker 1:
Right, yes.
Speaker 2:
Correct, but it's really hard for me to believe that everybody, or 90% of the people in the restaurants on Sundays, are there for their cheat days.
Speaker 1:
Right, right. Well, and even the waitress came up to ask what we wanted to drink and asked if the girls, stella and Vera, wanted orange juice to drink. And I was just like inside with like cringing, like no, I'm not going to give my kid a cup full of sugar for breakfast. I will give her her vitamin C and her calcium and her antioxidants in other ways, but not through a cup full of sugar.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean and that's the really simple thing that we as providers think that we shouldn't be talking about those things. We should be talking about gut health, we should be talking about rehab and how to do all of these high, high level things. But at the end of the day, there's so much ground that can be covered with the basic fundamentals, so let's just keep rolling with it. Last episode, I said that all non-traumatic pain is from a problem somewhere else.
Speaker 2:
So, if your knee hurts, it's because of a problem somewhere else. That's not your knee. If your back hurts, it's because of another problem somewhere else. That's not your back. If your shoulder hurts, it's because of another problem somewhere else, which is what's the number one cause of shoulder pain and neck pain.
Speaker 1:
Posture, posture.
Speaker 2:
And the longer that I'm in this game and the more cases that I see, I can start going down this road of saying that all non-traumatic pain is due to posture imbalances. And first I have to define what posture is. Posture is simply equal pulling on all sides of the joint. So posture does not just mean that your shoulders are slouched over and your chin is jutting forward like that old man that you see staring down at the ground when he's walking. So that's poor upper body posture. There's also poor lower body posture. There's poor posture anywhere that there's not equal pulling on all sides of the joint.
Speaker 1:
Okay, I like that definition, because lower posture is just not talked about enough.
Speaker 2:
Nobody talks about it. It's usually when you're pushing your hips way forward. So I love doing this. Everybody should do this. Everybody pay attention to this and do this little drill. Think of a plumb line. If you don't know what a plumb line is, it's this tool that carpenters used to use back in the day before technology. They still use it to this day in certain points where you hang a string from a high point with a weight that goes down to the ground and that gives you a straight up and down line. So that tells you if your wall is plumb or not. So what I want you to think about is look at somebody from the side and imagine a line hanging from the middle of their ear all the way down to the ground. Okay.
Speaker 2:
Does that line go through the middle of the ear, through the middle of the shoulder, through the middle of the hip, through the middle of the knee, through the middle of the ankle, through the middle of the foot?
Speaker 1:
Got it. I never thought about that before.
Speaker 2:
So that's your plumb line Okay. Now this is an extreme right. You know, it's very rare that you're gonna find somebody that is capable of doing that, at least consistently. However, it is a thought to think of. I'm trying it right now, you are trying it right now and you're. You're pretty good. You're not great.
Speaker 1:
Oh wait, is that better? That's better. Just fix my head. My head's always crooked.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, but I just fixed it. Quit doing the crooked head, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:
So plumb line, All right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So imagine a string hanging from your middle of your ear all the way down to the ground. Does that string go through the middle of your shoulder, through the middle of your hip, through the middle of your knee, through the middle of your ankle, through the middle of your foot? Not the middle of your foot, I mean where the ankle goes through the foot. Got it Right, so not through the heel, just slightly forward from your heel. Okay, yeah, that's your plumb line.
Speaker 1:
That's good, I'm gonna. I'm gonna think about that more often now. Yeah, I always think about you. Know, we were taught in gymnastics that your belly button's your center of gravity. So if your belly button is pushed forward because you have a sway back, then that's not good posture on your lower back or hips. But if it's pulled too far back because you're pushing your hips forward, that's gonna throw off your center of gravity. Also, I don't know if that's anatomically correct, but when you're on the balance beam, right, you're on a four inch beam. Wherever your belly button is going, that's where your gravity is going, or gravity is going to pull you from. So if we weren't completely centered over the balance beam or with our belly button, we're probably gonna wobble and maybe fall. So, as that was just how I always thought of the lower body posture is, is my belly button pulled in to allow my center of gravity to be straight between my legs. But maybe that's not the best way to think about it.
Speaker 2:
I think that's a great way to think about it. If you're on a balance beam I really do, okay. Well, we don't live our life on a balance beam, so I think it's a great way to think about it if you're being a gymnast. Okay. Because it's very, very relevant. Okay. However, life is not really lived on a balance beam.
Speaker 1:
It's absolutely not.
Speaker 2:
You don't walk every day like you would walk if you're on a balance beam. That's right. If you did, then it would be extremely relevant, okay.
Speaker 1:
Got it.
Speaker 2:
Look at Simone Biles, for example. Right, we got Summer Olympics coming up, isn't that this summer? Mm-hmm, right, yeah, simone Biles, the greatest of all time. There is no arguing it, right, she's a goat. She is the goat the greatest of all time. Absolute stud on the gym floor. Whenever I see her walking, I just cringe Because I've never thought about that.
Speaker 2:
Like there is nothing efficient about the way she walks, like naturally Just walking around life, walking around the floor, not dancing or doing a routine, right, but the way she walks I'm going. Oh my goodness, I get so inefficient.
Speaker 1:
Now I'm going to have to pay more attention.
Speaker 2:
So this is extremely similar to my 70-year-old men golfers that are watching the pros who play on Sunday and coming in and saying, yeah, I want to swing like this. Really. They are elite athletes. Right. They are in the top 100 golfers in the world Right. They practice 60 hours a week, including nutrition and exercise and everything else. How many hours a week do you train?
Speaker 1:
Right, bob Right. What's your nutrition like?
Speaker 2:
What's your nutrition like?
Speaker 1:
Do you have your own chef?
Speaker 2:
Speaking about this. Hey, here's a little plug. We are working towards, Jenny and I are working towards an advanced program for golfers that will include the nutritional component. Right, Right.
Speaker 1:
It's a big factor in the golfers having the energy for efficient swing, having the recovery, being able to gain the muscle with golfing.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Losing that belly fat yeah.
Speaker 2:
And you aging golfers out there. If you're looking for that competitive edge that doesn't involve going and destroying yourself in the gym, it could be as simple as this. Not easy, but simple. Right, right.
Speaker 2:
Anyways, let's come back full circle. We're talking about Plumline, and the thing that we want to talk about is how impactful the basics are. So the two finger drill One finger on one hand goes in your belly button, one finger on the other hand goes on your chest. Pull your belly button in as hard as you can while you keep breathing. Don't hold your breath. Keep holding it in. Keep breathing. Keep breathing as you hold your belly button in. Raise your chest up as high as you can. Do not let your belly button come out. Keep breathing, keep breathing, keep breathing. Keep holding it there. Keep holding it there. Keep fighting your chest higher as you pull your belly button in harder. Keep breathing. I'm going to take a breath here so that I can keep talking. Keep breathing, keep breathing.
Speaker 2:
The harder you try to separate your two fingers, the more you should start to feel muscles working in the middle of your back, and not what most people feel the first time they do this, which is shrugging your shoulders up to your ears and leaning your head backwards. This is how you start to train your upper body posture muscles, even if you're standing. Probably some of you listening to this are driving or sitting right now. If you're standing, the way that you can incorporate the lower half is as you're holding your belly button into your chest up squeeze your butt.
Speaker 2:
Squeeze your butt. Think about pulling your knees backwards by squeezing your butt even harder. So I don't want you thinking about pushing your knees backwards with your quads. That's bad. Think about pulling your knees backwards by squeezing your butt. Then the last thing is once everybody does this, everybody always ends up with your weight in your heels. Then just lean forward like Michael Jackson, almost so that your weight is in the middle of your foot and not your heels and not your toes, and that's been the hardest thing for me is to not put everything in my heels all the time.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, so that's a big one to focus on, but it has to be the last thing you focus on.
Speaker 2:
It has to be in that order upper body first, then your butt, and pulling your knees backwards then fix your weight. If you go in that order, it's really hard to screw it up.
Speaker 1:
We need a video. Can we attach one of your videos from YouTube on on the show notes to this?
Speaker 2:
What are we gonna start doing? Video podcast.
Speaker 1:
I think we have some other ducks to get in a row before we refocus on that. But how about we make a plan, not a goal, because we need to say standard and a plan? By the end of the year we will be recording our podcast video. Yeah, video recording our podcast. Okay, by the end of the year.
Speaker 2:
Okay.
Speaker 1:
Is that ideal? Who's gonna hold accountable to that?
Speaker 2:
somebody email us and hold a video.
Speaker 1:
Video, and we'll also, by the end of the year, put all of Jake's singing and trows together and make one awesome little video. Okay, so by the end of 2024 Got it All right. So something simple that we need to come back on is posture.
Speaker 2:
Yes, posture. It's the easiest thing, it's the lowest hanging fruit. If you could just focus your attention on posture, it is gonna help you avoid so many non-traumatic injuries as you age and it's gonna help you age gracefully Versus aging, like the vast majority of the world, which is, oh, pain is a normal part of aging and it is not. Pain is a normal part of aging because as you age, your posture gets worse. Pain is a normal part of shitty posture or Unequal pulling on all sides of the joint, no matter where the joint is upper or lower.
Speaker 1:
Right and we've talked about before on this podcast that as you we age, we naturally will lose 1% of muscle mass per year after the age of 30 if we are not doing the right things to maintain our muscle mass. So Focusing on the posture, doing our strength training to allow our body to have the equal Musculature on all sides of the joint, to make sure our posture is not worsening as we age, but also the nutrition aspect of being able to maintain muscle mass is extremely important. You can be in the gym five and six days a week, but if your posture is bad while you're in the gym or your nutrition is not up to par, being able to replace that muscle mass and muscle fibers, the energy to the muscle fibers, you're not gonna continue going in the right direction.
Speaker 2:
That's a huge one. I mean, how many times do we see people in their 50s, 60s and 70s, even 80s, who are in the gym and working really hard, but they're not fueling their body the right way, so it's almost in vain, where it's like okay, you just worked out really hard and you, you had some Cardiovascular benefits from it. However, the actual muscle building or muscle retaining is Almost irrelevant, because you didn't even consume enough protein.
Speaker 1:
Right, right or enough calories period. All these women and men that, as they age, are gaining weight and they're like I'm not changing anything and I keep gaining weight, so I'm just gonna eat less and try to lose weight that way. And now you have your body too far into a Calorie deficit, meaning you're burning way more than you're consuming in a day that your body has no energy to regenerate muscle fibers and to gain lean muscle, so most of you are not eating enough correct.
Speaker 2:
So let's wrap things up with the most common causes of the most common non traumatic pain. The most common cause of non traumatic neck pain is posture, poor posture.
Speaker 1:
Poor posture.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, the most common cause of non traumatic shoulder pain is Poor posture.
Speaker 1:
Poor posture, yeah that's a good test, my my Batting hundred so far.
Speaker 2:
Oh wait, batting a thousand thousand yeah, yep, so far yeah. And if we wanted to get even clear, poor upper body posture, so your shoulders are rounded forward right. The number one cause of low back pain is Weak glutes, weak ass syndrome poor posture.
Speaker 2:
Yep, so poor posture of your pelvis, right, because most of the time if your glutes are weak your pelvis is going to be Anteriorly tilted or posteriorly tilted, anteriorly tilted, if your some own vials right, not saying she has weak glutes, maybe I'll say she has inefficient functional glutes in Tasks that don't require doing flips, right. So number one cause of low back pain is Weak glutes weak glutes. The number one cause of non traumatic knee pain is. Weak glutes correct the number one cause of non traumatic foot pain, aka planter fasciitis, aka bunions.
Speaker 1:
Poor posture. Was that a win, not having full extension of your knee? This was a true question. Not having activation of your quads or glutes.
Speaker 2:
Kind of you could argue that supportive shoes.
Speaker 1:
Okay. Supportive shoes are causing the problem of your feet.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, because they're not allowing the muscles to do what they should be doing.
Speaker 1:
Which is essentially poor posture of the foot because your muscles are weak. It technically is yes, okay, poor posture. If you're going to take a multiple-trace test, pick poor posture.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and just know that we're talking about entire body posture, Not just rounded shoulders forward neck.
Speaker 1:
I'm doing a fellowship right now and she said when in doubt, choose fish oil, Fish oil is always the right answer. So it's kind of like that Poor posture.
Speaker 2:
Isn't that what your primary care rotation was like in PA school?
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, oh refer. That was everything in primary care in PA school that we learned. When you're in primary care you just refer everything out. So if they come in with knee pain, refer to a North PD, if they come in with belly pain, refer to a GI. Everything is refer. Sorry, primary care. Well, it's true, they're not specialists.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, they're experts in referring.
Speaker 1:
Well, they have to know a little bit about everything, as opposed to a lot about one thing.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
Good, but that's not what we do in functional medicine. We do not refer. I mean we will if we need to, but we try to help you figure out the problem not the symptom.
Speaker 2:
We try to figure it out because we can figure it out, because we have time to figure it out. Correct, and the problem is when you don't have time, when you're in all these other specialties and you're an insurance base, you don't have the time because it's all about productivity. You got to crank them out versus us. We've got time, we got 30 minutes, we got an hour, we got 90 minutes, we got an hour long. We need to do it. And then what's best is, after you leave, we don't stop thinking about you.
Speaker 1:
Right, we're still doing homework and you know it's something I mentioned to a client. She said something about the cost per hour of our visit it's being something higher than something she's ever spent before, and I explicitly told her you might be with us for an hour a week, but we are actually with you for 20 hours a week answering questions, researching your issue, figuring out the next step that we're going to take, being able to create a meal plan specific for you, giving you a grocery list. We're spending a lot more than an hour with you a week helping you to figure out what's the next best step for you. How are you going to be successful? And that's something that general medicine doesn't have the ability or the time to do.
Speaker 2:
They can do it. They see 50 patients a day, we see 10. 15 on our schedule so 50 patients a day, or 15. Right, we have time to think about you. We remember faces and names. It's like, oh, we remember your family members too. We remember special things, we remember your issues. So when we're out with our family and something comes up, we're like, oh, that's going to be really relevant for Bob, can't wait to tell it to him. Right, right.
Speaker 2:
All right, anyways, we kind of went off on one there. However, it's always about the basics. Usually, the most impactful things are the simplest things. Not always the easiest things, however, the simplest things. So for us in the orthopedic world, it's posture Get your chest up and your belly button in, then, next thing, get your ass underneath you, straighten those knees by pulling them backwards with your ass and then get your weight in the middle of the foot. If you could just do that more often than you're not, you're going to be setting yourself up for success. In Jenny's world, the simplest thing to do is not order pancakes and French toasts and orange juice for breakfast more than once a month.
Speaker 1:
The simplest thing to start with is counting how much protein you're getting. Just figure out the numbers, count your protein for a day and see how many grams of protein you're getting, and then ask if it's optimal for you. Ask the right person, though. Yes, ask me.
Speaker 2:
Ask Jenny.
Speaker 1:
Good, all right, sounds good. Chat for now.
Speaker 2:
Like and subscribe. Share this with your friend that you know does not have great posture. Share this with your friend that loves ordering French toasts, pancakes and orange juice for breakfast. Good, Great. All right Chat for now.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for subscribing on your social media and podcast platforms to the Berman Method. Dr Jake Berman with Berman Physical Therapy and Jenny Berman, physician Assistant with Berman Health and Wellness. You can find more information on our website, wwwbermanptcom for physical therapy bermanptcom. You can also find us on social media, facebook, instagram and on your podcast platforms, so be sure to follow us, like us, subscribe to us and, if you would like any further information, definitely visit our website and reach out to us. You may also find our free reports on the websites as well, where you can download this free information for yourself. Have a great day.