Episode #70 What If Being “Not 100%” Is The Edge

A finger gets slammed in a car door, a tournament clock keeps ticking, and a teenage catcher still has to receive pitch after pitch with scouts behind the backstop. That real-world collision between sports and medicine kicks off a wide-ranging conversation where we follow the injury from “tape it and play” to sudden swelling, urgent care, and the word that grabs everyone’s attention: cellulitis. 

We talk through what cellulitis looks like in the hand, why rapid swelling is a big deal, and how clinicians think about differentials after a crush injury, including when to get X-rays and why antibiotics often enter the plan. We also share the gritty side of sports medicine with a story about a severe MRSA case that shows how fast soft tissue infections can escalate and why “wait and see” is not always the right call. If you’re a parent, coach, athletic trainer, or athlete, you’ll leave with clearer red flags to watch for and better questions to ask when symptoms change. 

Then we shift to performance and mindset, because injuries rarely arrive at a convenient time. We dig into how athletes can compete when they are not 100%, how to redefine what “100% effort” means on a hard day, and how to keep a young player from spiraling into negativity after a handful of mistakes. We close with a lesson from elite endurance racing that applies to every sport: consistent mobility and recovery work can be the hidden advantage, improving efficiency, range of motion, and injury resilience in ways pure training volume cannot. 

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Transcript

Welcome And Weather Small Talk

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the second opinion.

SPEAKER_02 0:01

We're a sports medicine podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I'm Dr. Dokal.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

I'm Dr. Glass. What's up, buddy? Not much, man. So I was I was this last weekend I was in Florida, uh, Clearwater, Florida, and um it was sunny and uh nice, and I was getting calls from here. I guess it was raining all week, huh? And then uh tonight it started to pour. So right now we got a lot of pouring uh rain right now, and my dog wants to play outside. I let him outside for a second, and uh he was going crazy, so I had to towel him off in the garage. And so if you hear him barking, that's what it's all about. He's gonna play out in the rain. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

That's okay. It uh it's unfamiliar weather to me, this water that falls from the sky being a San Diego kid. It's like four times a year. Right. And yeah, it's been definitely winterized here. It's cold in the 50s at nighttime and sideways wind and sideways rain. But um, I mean, I guess that's gonna make me appreciate the spring. I was looking at a picture when I first moved back to NorCal in February, it's like February 15th. And it looked cold in the picture, but the sun was shining. But you know, like when it's crisp outside, even though the sun is out. And I was like, okay, February, the sun will be back. It's mid-November, I just gotta ride through a couple months, and before I know it, it'll be spring, you know. So basically right after Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Yeah, well, at least up there you're getting actual seasons. You know, like you said down here, the rain's a random thing. I think we're getting more right now already than last year, so that's kind of nice. I'll trade you. No, no, no, go. No, I like the season. You know, when I was living in Northern Cal, I liked it. I, you know. There is beauty.

Sacramento Sports And New Routine

SPEAKER_00 1:51

There is uh there is beauty to it for sure. It's uh I'm just being a little bit of a grump because I'm used to it. I know you know I know you are. Plus, I go back once once a month to San Diego and it's hard to it's like visiting an ex-girlfriend, you know. You're just like, oh, I still kind of love you. Then you're thinking about her on the way to it. Yeah. I'll be back. That's what it feels like. Uh San Diego. Well, the great thing about being up here is uh, yes, there are the seasons, but two, um it is just a little bit of a different work scenario for me being out here, you know, with uh a different cadence, not going from San Diego to LA to treat uh you know, NFL guys and more like going from you know, where I'm living to out here in Sacramento, Folsom area and seeing uh some of these high school all-stars and Sack State is now balling. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Sack State basketball. They have Shaquille O'Neal as the general manager. Did you know that?

SPEAKER_02 2:58

No, I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Dude, that's a general manager. That's pretty cool. We need to touch on that for a second. Also, Mike Bibby is the head coach of Sack State.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Really? That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

So that's not that's not really new news, but it's uh the season just started, and so it it's interesting. I saw clips of you know Bibby coaching from the sidelines and being a Kings fan. It's good to see him. By the way, Mike Bibby's yoked. I don't know if you've seen him, but that guy is hit the city. Not recently, but yeah. You'll see, oh you'll see, I'll send you like a Sack State clip. He's not looking like it in his uh quarter zip-up, but I promise you, that guy's putting up weight. But um yeah, Shaquille O'Neal's son is playing on Sack State. Uh he's one of the players. Shaq's the GM, so they're really trying to turn that program around. Um there's a guy by the name of Mikey Williams who's like a highly touted point guard. Um he had some life stuff and kind of I would say hit a speed bump in his career, and now he's trying to get back on track and show that he is the athlete that he always was and can play at the next level. And so there's some things that are kind of exciting out here in SAC that are a little different. Like San Diego had the Padres and then soccer more recently, but that's kind of it. And there's a lot of uh community support for high school football and the college is here.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Wait, wait, wait. You said San Diego had the Padres and the soccer, but not the Chargers? I don't understand.

High School Football Playoffs Mindset

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Not as of now, you know, like as of season. Yeah, yeah. Like as far as sports teams in San Diego currently, it's the Padres are the only major league sport unless you count you know, the MLS women's soccer, and now they have a men's soccer league football club as well. Um but yeah, it's interesting, just the turnout at these high school games, it feels like it's Texas to me, you know? Like it's the whole community's out and it's kind of neat, you know. It's it's fun. Like that game we went to in Mission Viejo, that was our only loss of the year. So you're a bad luck charm. You can't pull up to any playoff games, by the way. Yeah, I know. The state championships in SoCal in Orange County in your backyard. And the first thing I thought of was we're 0-1 when Dustin shows up. So if we play for the state championship, I don't know if I can invite you, my brother.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Yeah, I'll I'm showing up, but either way, with or without an invite. Dude. Last year we got Saddleback College right down the road. So uh that was that was a that's an awesome medium.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

So we we'll have another hang. This time we'll have a better outcome, I think. Um one week at a time. I mean, I guess since we're talking about high school football briefly, uh the Folsom Bulldogs played Downey last week and we won in our first playoff game. And so we have another game this Friday against um a team which I cannot remember right now. Um but not out of any disrespect, just I'm new here and I don't know all the teams that are here. So every week when we play a team, I kind of feel like are these the chiefs of high school football? Like, are we about to take an L right now? Like sometimes I see some guys casual and I try to tighten them up. You know, I'm like, hey guys, this is a this is now single elimination. Like, like, don't worry about it, Doc. Like it's you know there's confidence and not cockiness, and so I'm like, okay, I just haven't been around you all to know enough, but I trust you. But also I feel like on any given, well, Friday, you never know, you know. So we were down last week, I think 13 to 6. We took the opening kick out, kickoff house, didn't get our two-point. So right away we're up six-nothing. I would have liked it to be seven-nothing, but six-nothing, and then I think they outscored us 13-6, or it was 20 to 13. We were down at half or down at first quarter, and I was like, yikes. You never want to let somebody stick around, you know?

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Yeah. Especially in your own house, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Why did that sound like a dig? That sounded like a little bit of a dig.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

I just might have been a little, but that's the reality. Otto, just click that right there. That's Dr. Justin Glass Hayton on that. If we ever come down to Snowhow for the championship, just wanted to make it noted that it was in-house. But yeah, you pulled it out, you know.

Softball Recruiting Trip And Finger Slam

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Nah, yeah, well, a dub's a dub. You know, that's really what matters. Um tell me about your weekend with your daughter. I know you're out of town. Break down where you were at and how she did and how she's doing.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Yeah, so um it's kind of right now she's 16 years old, and uh junior year is a big year for uh recruiting for college and uh um softball. She plays softball, so she's on a very uh good team, national team, um ranked team. So, anyways, uh so we're in tournament season, so we're going from tournament to tournament to tournament. We were in Arizona two weeks ago, then we came home, had a local tournament, and then we flew out to uh Clearwater, Florida on Thursday. Okay, and uh I'd never been out there. Um, so that was a fun adventure for us. But w going backwards leading up to this tournament, and when we were in uh Arizona uh before the first uh game, or yeah, I was I think it was for no, it was the next morning before the second game, um second day, uh going to breakfast, she slammed her finger in the car door and uh of her catching hand. She's a catcher, so of her catching hand, it was her index finger, which is the one that's sticking the glove hand. Yeah, not her throwing hand. So yeah, it was funny because we called I called my oldest daughter who's in playing college uh senior year softball, and that was the first question she asked. Which hand was it? You know, I think that's the question all everybody wants to know right away.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

So it's on the catching hand, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Because you're yeah, index finger, and these girls are throwing hard. Um so so so it was a weird kind of so she smashed it. I was in the uh I was driving, I looked over, and she was just standing there and just kind of staring at me, and I didn't think anything of it, and then she kind of went into shock, and then um and she's not a crier, and she started to not necessarily cry, but she kind of turned pale, and then there was blood coming down her hand. So I got out of the car and you know, held her and what's going on. I had no clue because she didn't scream or anything. And when I looked at it, we got it, I got ice, cleaned it up. By the time we got to the field and everything, it wasn't it was like a smash where the pressure uh hit the finger and kind of burst the skin, so it wasn't a like laceration. You can call a laceration, but it wasn't like a cut, it was more like from the pressure burst the skin. Sure. So no stitches, you can't do stitches. So um went went to CVS, got a bunch of stuff for it. Um, liquid bandage, that stuff is no joke. Um, you know, that's what they use.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Yeah, yeah. Now it's good for us, we know what to do with it, but anybody getting it applied on a fresh wound uh is not happy. That stuff stings like really bad, yeah. Because it's an antiseptic, too. So not only does it clean, it uh it seals. So, but kind of held her hand down and um she did it. And um, anyways, long story short, she she it was bleeding like crazy when she was playing. So her glove actually had blood all over it, and the coach had to pull her at one point in the warm-ups and like, what's going on? She didn't want to tell anybody, but it's bleeding all over the place. Long story short, she got through the weekend, played. Um, played, she never pulled out, um, played. Then she played the second weekend, played on it. It was hurting, but she was able to play. Then come last weekend, we got home from playing, and we're playing some really good teams. She's in in um meaning high competition, very fast paced, you know, next level stuff. She did well, got home. We went to dinner on the way home. She went up, showered. There was no indication of anything. She came down from the shower holding her finger up, and it was double the size.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

No way.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Um this was on Sunday of last week. Um, and um and the pressure was just building and building and building. And so going through the kind of you know, triage in our head, uh your first instinct would be that it's infected, right? Um, and thinking, you know, you know, we gotta get but going through the thought process, I'm like, well, typically an infection doesn't happen within an hour and swell up like that. You know, infection takes time. And I looked at her finger, and yeah, it was it was pretty gnarly looking, but it and it was red and bruised, but it did not look like a typical infection that we see around a cut, right? Um, so so but anyway, so got iced her, we lasered it, we did everything I had at home. Next day, took her to the urgent care. Doctor looked at it, he said, Well, it looks infected, but we went through the whole history and he's like, Okay, we took x-rays, he thought there was a hairline fracture in it because that's what we were kind of thinking, because she couldn't bend it either. Um, it was just really, really like a sausage finger. Yeah, I mean, so much pressure built up. I thought I kind of let her and warned her that they might have to like drain it or you know, cut it open to get the pressure off if it was that bad, but not knowing fully like a compartment type syndrome, you know. Yeah, um, not knowing, but um so got the x-ray and so he prescribed antibiotics, which is a you know good idea because it looked infected but not infected, right? So, anyways, he diagnosed it as cellulitis. Um, so that's what I kind of want to you know touch upon or ask you if you've had any you know incidences of cellulitis come through the uh office or uh whatnot. But basically, he told her she could play as long as uh she could deal with the pain. Um, and she he thought that within a few days that the swelling would go down enough to where she could move it and play. Um so we took the antibiotics. Um we and he also suggested Epson's uh Epsom salt, which I love that this medical doctor was talking Epsom salt and natural stuff, so that was pretty cool. He was an old doc. Um, so I kind of like that he had some old methodology to his head. So we uh we uh Epsom salt twice uh a day and laser twice a day. I got her in the hyperbaric, all leading up until we had to leave for uh Clearwater. So and you show up because it's uh it's one of the biggest recruiting every major Power Five school was sitting sitting behind our um uh you know behind the backstop watching the games. Yeah. And uh so you know you want to show up and be able to produce. Um it was pretty tough. Um, the first day she was pretty nervous about it, wasn't sure if she could go. We talked about, hey, we're in Florida. She ultimately made the to interrupt real quick.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Nervous because of the scouts or nervous because of her finger and how she was going to perform?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Uh m uh about her finger, um, because she had laid off of it for a whole week. It was most rest she's had. Sure. And it was feeling better but still sore, so she was worried about catching. So um, because it hurts. I mean, yeah, of course. It's swollen.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Yeah, so you get an impact on it, that's aggressive.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

And you're involved with every play, so it's not like you know, playing another position where you might have five, six, seven, you know, plays a game.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

I'd be like strikes. Three strikes, and that's it. I don't want this three and two count where I gotta take pitches in my glove.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yeah, so it was tough. Um, you know, coach was getting on her because a couple in the early beginning of the games, she was like receiving the she was like pulling in and like and you're not supposed to do that, you're supposed to go stick that pitch, right? Sure, sure. Where you want it. So he would be yelling at her. He he she she never told him what to the extent of what was going on.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Um, because you know, a lot of times coaches hear that, they'll be like, okay, you're sitting, you know, and so it's like, man, we got came all the way out here. Anyway, she ended up doing good. She got um a lot of good reps. She threw out a couple girls, which um that was pretty awesome because that's hard to do, um, especially at this level, and top against uh top five to ten in the nation. Uh team. That's amazing, actually. Have really fast girls, yeah. Um, and then one of the games she had a couple hits and uh scored a run. So um overall, for and she's the new girl on the team, so she's still trying to get the reps and you know, make it take advantage of the time. There are some ups and downs, you know. But I told her like at the end, I said, hey, focus you're focusing on all the negatives, and that's what I think we all do as you know, um as humans, you know, in a given day, we'll say we have a good or a bad day based on one or two things that happened. Sure thing, yeah. So and not focus on all the good things that happened. So at the end of the tournament, we took a moment to focus on all the good things because it was real easy to focus on the strikeouts or the balls that got away from her, you know, that coach got mad at her, you know. But I said out of a hundred plays, you know, that may have been five, six plays, you know. So let's think about the other stuff that you did do well, you know. And then I said it's not a fail or uh I said you don't want to like wash it and not think about it. I said, as long as you learn from what you did, you know, and and build on it, I said it's not a waste, right? So so we took a moment for uh kind of a learning. She's heard it a million times, so she's like, just put it on autopilot, my little pep talks, but it's important to remember, and I like I tell them it takes practice, right? Like takes practice to have that mindset. So every time there is an opportunity to flip that switch and think more positive, you want to take advantage of it, so and not just you know say, Oh, I know, you know, like no, let's let's let's vocalize it. Let's yeah, yep, be intentional with it, right? Intentional with the good good parts. So, anyway, so so overall, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

No, I was gonna say the you know, thinking about it and tapping yourself, patting yourself on the shoulder, that's different than speaking it out loud and having a conversation, like, hey, I liked that I did this. Um, what did you see? And then you saying, you know, hey, this was a pro, this was you know positive. And that's big on you to kind of um bring her back to center and remind her to focus on that stuff because it really is what you focus on, dude. I've seen so many people crash out from just a lot of things are perspective, and if you're just focusing on the wrong things, you can really just spiral down. So good on you to give her that reminder as her dad and a leader and a coach, you know. To hey, not everyone's perfect, you know. Steph Curry misses shots, like you don't have to be perfect, you just have to learn from the mistakes and also just bring the energy. Like maybe you didn't do great, but maybe you inspired a teammate to go a little bit beyond, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

So that's awesome to have those conversations.

Cellulitis Breakdown And Treatment Decisions

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Yeah, that's the life lesson stuff that comes from the game. But um, but getting back to the clinical stuff, um, have you had any experience with cellulitis or and to to kind of tell the cellulitis is basically the best way I can describe it to some of the people at the fields was and it's not even a great analogy, but it's kind of in my head. So you got all these cells that are like little you know packets of whatever, and basically when the tissue gets damaged inside, it's it mashes it up kind of like mashed potatoes, kind of just the tissue and the integrity of the fibers, everything, but it's within the it's it's it's still within the the joint or the finger, yeah, the confines of the skin. So it's not like exposed tissue, it's like inside. So and then the pressure builds up, the inflammatory reaction happens at the cellular level, but it has nowhere to go. So it just builds up, builds up, builds up, and that can turn into an infection if left alone. So that's why he prescribed the um you know antibiotics. But um, yeah, very painful condition typically, especially if it's in foot or toe or hand, um finger, especially it's in the legs.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

I I think at least that's where I've seen it most. And I always think of a bacterial infection when I hear cellulitis, but it isn't half you don't have to have a bacterial infection to have a cellulitis type of response or inflammation, I guess. Is that how you understand it as well?

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Yeah, I think it's pretty common to assume that there is a some type of infection with it. Um but like in this case, and I'd have to look at the stats and stuff, but like I said, hers blew up so fast overnight, um, or I mean within an hour, because like I said, there was zero issue with it. And then yeah, so then so that's why I I I you know now I believe that there was probably some underlying infection lying dormant that was not showing up, and then that was kind of a trigger. What I think happened was once she took her tape off and once she showered in the hot shower, um, those inflammatory responses just kind of yeah, really quick. So yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Um you know, an analogy I've used with somebody who had a leg that kind of blew up like that, it was due to uh well, they thought it was they thought he had like a hip joint issue in this particular case, and they gave him a cortisone injection in his hip bursa, and he had bursitis, and they gave him an injection in the hip, and it spread through his whole leg. And then that became cellulitis essentially. He had uh flesh-eating bacteria MRSA, and so his leg blew up, and they had to fillet his leg basically hip all the way down to his ankle on the side, like the seam of your pants, because there was so much inflammation. They were like your leg's gonna like essentially explode. So they cut him open to let the fluid out, and then they had to stitch him back. And this was a guy who was a rookie in the NFL. It's a whole nother side story we can get into another time, but because I was wearing scrubs, I went to go visit him at the hospital. Because I heard he was in the hospital and he's like, Hey, I'm by myself. I'm like, No coaches came, no nothing. He's like, Oh, my mom's flying in tonight, but I've been by myself for a day and a half. I'm like, That's crazy. No tea players, no. So I was like, I'm gonna come see you, bro. So I went to the hospital, asked where he was. They're like, he's on such and such floor. I'm wearing my work scrub, so I just walk right in. But I noticed there was double doors, and you had to get buzzed, so I was about to be like calling. The nurse buzzed me right in. I went in. Now I walk in these double doors, and all the rooms have like plastic, like you'd walk into a meat freezer or something, you know? And I'm like, oh, this is different. And then I was in the room with him for a good 20 minutes talking. I brought him some magazines and some stuff, and the doctor came in like kind of fully geared up, like it was COVID, but it was pre-COVID. And I'm like, what's happening? He's like, he has flesh-eating bacteria. I was like, what the wait, what? And I'm just like regular, you know, just regular, bro. So I went home, I threw my clothes in the washer, I took a shower like crazy, you know. I was fine. Poor guy had had to have his leg flayed open the next day, you know. But um, yeah. That was my like welcome to the this is serious type situation. So I'm glad your daughter didn't have to have her finger cut open and that it you know, yeah. That's yeah, and that's a gutsy performance on her to like play catcher. It's not like you're playing outfield, like you said, where you're catching three fly balls a game, you're getting pounded in that hand every single time. So yeah, she must have some of that glass tough glass toughness, even though that's an oxymoron a little bit, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yeah, but uh yeah, no um bulletproof glass. Yeah, I think we had a couple heart-to-heart conversations about being tough, you know, because at 16 years old, you know, and you know you work with uh teenagers, you know, and high schoolers and junior hires that when you've never had a real injury, you have nothing to compare it to. So you don't know what you're fully capable of yet, right? Until you've had more and more and more things, it's really hard to lean on anything. You can have people tell you all you want, how tough you are, or what you can you know handle, but until you go through it, you don't know. Yeah, and like I always tell my young athletes, I said, hey, unfortunately, this is your first ankle or whatever it is. I said, you know, I said this one feels like it's the worst in the end of the world, but I guarantee the next one you have it'll be a lot easier, and the one after that, hopefully you don't have them, but that's just the nature of playing sports. If you're gonna continue to go at a higher level, you know, you're putting yourself at a higher risk to have injuries. It's just part of the game. And unfortunately, unfortunately, the more you have, the more you'll be able to bank those, you know, um memories up and experiences up, and um you'll be able to handle them differently. And so she's in that early phase. She's had some you know, head head contacts and some bumps and bruises, but um, and she's had you know gnarled up fingers and stuff, but this was one of the worst. So she, you know, we had some heart to hearts early on, and uh and um I ultimately I told her it's totally up to you. Nobody's gonna blame you for not playing, but if you feel like you can, and um she wasn't happy with that answer because you know, but but the take home at the end of the day when we were flying home is like listen, just just bottle that up and remember that you're a lot more and I told her this at uh the first day. I said, I know something about you, you don't. I said, I know you're a lot tougher than you give yourself credit for, and you you know, um, and you'll see. And so she did, and so now in the future, she'll know she can if she can get through this, she can get through other types of pains. So again, all learning experiences, and um, you know, so and to backtrack real quick, I did do a little fact check. Um, you know, like we said, uh the cellulitis is I I thought there could have cases that were not bacterial, you know, infection related, but it um at least my chat GPT and Google said no, it is associated with bacterial, so um all in all cases. So um so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

So interesting. Well that's good knowledge. So that's a good reminder.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Yeah, so and that just goes because I was doing the differentials in my head trying to figure out, and my my and that you know that's why I like talking about this because you know the initial knee jerk was well, typically an infection doesn't just come out of 20, 30 minutes, sure, you know, and that, but then what I was saying a minute ago, there was probably already an underlying infection that just hadn't, you know, had something expose it.

Giving Full Effort While Hurt

SPEAKER_00 26:45

So yeah, that's possible too as well, right? Yeah. Yeah, the you know, I remember speaking with uh that gentleman who was in the hospital who had that leg surgery due to his issue, and he was like, I don't even understand how this happens. And I remember spur of the like top, you know, what do they say, spur of the moment or off the cuff. So you know how you like microwave popcorn and you throw that popcorn thing in there, it's just a flat thing. You throw in the microwave, pressure and you know, heat causes that whole thing to expand, and now you have those popcorn kernels that pop and actually change from what they were seeds into popcorn kernels, and the whole bag inflates. And so I was just kind of like that's that's your visualization on like why your leg is blowing up. Those cells are going from kernels to popcorn, and they're bursting, there's inflammation, there's pressure due to heat, due to energy, due to infection, and so and he's like, damn, I don't want my leg to like blow up, you know, and then the next day they filled him, and he was like, That's maybe an aggressive term, but I don't know how else to describe it. They just opened him up, you know, from hip to ankle. And for a rookie in the NFL, that's probably like I'm sure he was thinking my career's over. And I'm sure your daughter was like, Dang, we came all the way to Florida and like I won't be able to play at a hundred percent. Here's a tip for all athletes, actually, whether you're in the pros or at any level, it's not even a tip, it's just like uh a a truism. Rarely is anybody at a hundred percent. And I think what separates average from great is the people who can give a hundred percent even when they're not feeling a hundred percent. Either emotionally you're not feeling well, because sometimes I mean if I'm being truthful, like when you said, Hey, let's hop on tonight, I was like, I'm not really feeling it today, you know? But you gotta push through things that you don't feel like doing, you know. It's like uh especially when you should and you want to. So this is something I look forward to. And uh but sometimes you you can't be a hundred percent, but you can give a hundred percent effort. In other words, I was saying to somebody on our high school football team, hey dude, uh what makes you think that you're he's like, I just wish I was a hundred percent, I just wish I wish this, I wish this, and I wish, and I said, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, let's take a breath here. Like I'll do the talking, you inhale for four seconds, hold for four, exhale and just listen to me for 45 seconds. You do that, and I'm gonna talk. And I said, I know you want to be a hundred percent, but we're an hour from kickoff and you're not. So what's the next best thing is to give a hundred percent even though you don't feel and then I said, Well, what do you feel like? He's like 80, 85%. I said, dude, what makes you think that your 85% is not better than that guy's a hundred percent? Go look at number 17 right now. Bro, I think your 75% is better than his 100%. So why are you sweating? Like you don't need 100% every single I mean you'd like to have it, but in other words, I guess what I was trying to convey to him, which I didn't maybe articulate in this exact manner, is just that you can have two equal talent levels, skill levels, I think, and the person who wants it more wins, right? And conversely, you can have two equal skill levels, and if somebody has a little more insecurity or doubt, you're not gonna perform as well, right? So um yeah, I just really like how you talk to your daughters and that like you're encouraging and also motivating, and you keep it real, you know. And I think when you're at that impressionable age where you you're not an adult quite yet and you don't know your limits, it's nice to have somebody give you a little confidence and a push, you know.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Yeah, no, for sure. And it's constant, it's constant learning, right? Like even with these athletes that you just mentioned, like, because I've had those conversations too, and I said, Okay, the problem is that you're defining what your 100% is right now. You're defining your 100% is that your max. So redefine your redefine it, okay. At this moment right now, redefine that your hundred percent is eighty-five. So that eighty-five, you can maximize that eighty-five and give a hundred percent of that eighty-five. And now you are at a hundred percent. Does that make sense? And then they're like, Oh, okay. So I said, so you so when you go out there, know you're giving yourself a hundred percent effort. Yes, you're at a hundred percent of the city. Yeah, that mind leap is important. Yeah, so so yeah, so uh I think we we label things and we define things, and then we get stuck in that rut of defining it. And so a lot of times I'll uh you say, based on what, or you know, who told you that? Like whose opinion are you listening to? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Why so I said why don't we redefine that, you know? Yeah, and um, and and give them permission to redefine it and come up with a new hundred percent.

Spartan Racer Lesson On Mobility

SPEAKER_00 32:00

So you know what's also interesting to do too with really anybody of any level, but uh I find it especially interesting to ask those who are like in college or high school is like, what do you believe about yourself? Straight up, like you're in a treatment, you have a bunch of time, like hey, what do you believe about yourself? And a lot of times you'll get like, what do you mean? Well, okay, let's start with like what do you believe about yourself athletically? And then the next question is, Well, what do you believe about yourself as a person? You know, and then the deeper question is, well, why do you why is that? Because sometimes it's well, um I'm whatever, insert any negative thing, you know. And that second question of why do you believe that, sometimes there's not a good answer, and then it's like, well, why do I believe that? I think I was just taught that way, or I just always thought that, or I shouldn't think that anymore, you know. And if you can catch somebody at a young age, I think it's easier to kind of rewire that neurology, I'll call it, and get a new kind of thought process going, which then I think can snowball into well, I'll call it manifestation of like your goals, you know, or maybe a acceleration of the fruition of achieving your goals, if that makes sense. Yeah. I like it. Yeah, interesting. I uh can I change gears real quick? I want to tell you a story before we get off today. I had a patient come in, um I guess it was last week now. Um and big burly guy, strong firefighter, but like woods firefighter, not like house firefighter, you know, like yeah, type of dude that would throw you over his shoulder and carry your carry you out, you know, and grab your dog by the scruff with his other arm, you know. Yeah. And he was saying that he has a good friend who competes in. Do you know what the Spartan races are?

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

So those are pretty intense. I kind of knew, but I didn't know how intense they were. He gave me more of a breakdown because his good friend runs in it, and he says his friend is uh like top five in the country, like he's like a known guy, you know. Like he's yeah, really good. Like his goal is to like be the number one dude, and he's like right there, right? So he told me a story about I guess two years ago he went and he finished, I'll say third or fourth, right? And pretty good. And in these races, you're competing with other people, and somebody might pass you, and then you might pass them on the obstacle, and there's like a lot of kind of back and forth. And so you know you know, there's not like a million people doing these crazy races. You have to really be an elite athlete of a type. And so, to summarize the story, he crushed this guy two years ago. And he remembered him because he crushed him, you know, he beat him by however many minutes. He ran the race recently, and so this is from the guy who ran its friend, is telling me this, right? And he said he got worked by the same guy that he uh beat pretty handily last year. Like he beat him by a few minutes last year, which is a lot in like a running race, you know. And this year he said he got crushed by him by like six or eight minutes or something like that, which is just like that's like getting lapped, you know? Yeah. And afterwards he's like, couldn't believe it. Like, what the heck? Like, how did that happen? Like, do I suck right now? Did he get that much better? And it wasn't that he sucked because his time was actually better this year, so he improved himself. That other guy improved so much. So I'm like, what was the thing? Get this, Dustin. He went and talked to him and was like, Hey dude, I gotta know. Like, what did you do over the last year? You just took belt to ass to me, like you just worked me so hard, you know? And he goes, Bro, I started doing one thing that I never did before, or I didn't do as much of, and I didn't think it made a difference, and I just committed to doing it, and it made a world of difference. It made all the difference. Uh visualization. He got adjusted by me, bro. No, I'm just kidding. No, visualization's a great guess. Um, it was strictly stretching and mobility work. More on the mobility side because we all stretch. And so we went into a longer discussion about fascia and dehydration of fascia and how fascia winds when it's dehydrated versus a muscle just contracts and so it's easier to elongate, whereas something that contracts and winds, it's now hard to unwind. And we had this whole conversation, but he said that he really focused in on his recovery. And I said, What kind of recovery? And he said, Stretching for sure, but mobility works. So he made it a part of his program to at least spend an hour a day minimum, and sometimes two hours a day. So this guy's training multiple hours a day, by by the way, he's not like working a nine to five and then doing this on the side.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

He's sponsored and he's getting paid to do this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

But he said a minimum hour to two hours a day, he's doing mobility work, and usually two hours, an hour in the morning, an hour at night. He went through all the stuff. So if he's doing squats and lunges, he's getting body work on his tissue, he's stretching, he's you know, doing hip mobility work, so not just stretching the hamstring, but getting into a squat and opening, all these things. And he said, I will never not do mobility work again, because the unwind is what the key was, he said. And then he explained it further by just being like, Imagine you're running and your hip flexors are tight. Now you don't get that full extension or that full contraction, or maybe you do, but it causes your quads to contract two percent more to lift that leg up because it's fighting against some resistance. So you can kind of understand that analogy no matter who you are. You're like, oh, you're using more energy to do the same amount of work over a long course of time, you're gonna fatigue. And his comment to me, my patients, was, Can you believe that? And I said, Oh, not only can I believe it, I think it's wonderful that you shared that story. Like, I'm gonna share that story with my buddy Dustin and some patients who it would be relevant to because it's not just about my hamstring doesn't feel tight. It's not just about my shoulders don't feel tight. It is if you're an athlete, it is about in my opinion, and I'd like you to add to it or contradict or interject whatever the case is, it's it's um about having full function of every joint and muscle in your body. So I want every muscle to be able to fully contract and fully elongate. When it fully contracts and fully elongates, you have the maximum amount of contraction power, the maximum amount of force. Imagine like a bow and arrow. If you pull that thing back halfway, pating, now you pull that thing all the way back, the thing's gone, you know. And the same thing with your muscle, and then we talk about joints, and so to me it's very elementary, but it I've never really heard it in like an athletic setting where the guy was like, I whooped this dude, and then this year I got worked, and he was like, I don't really want to share what I did, but I'll share what I did. It was mobility work, you know. So does that surprise you? Or I mean I'm sure it doesn't, but like what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Yeah, no, I just love that. I love that those two guys got to share that moment and that realization because that you know, the proof is in the pudding type thing, you know. He can't deny that he got his ass whooped, you know, that big of a difference, and the biggest underlier was that mobility work, right? So how can you argue that that did not have an effect, right? Um it's kind of stuff that me and you talk about and preach all the time, but it's nice to have a uh uh a case to to point out how much effective because we could we could quote research all the time, right? Sure. You know, and and say the research shows and data shows, and you know, in theory this is what will happen, but when you're actually seeing it like that, that's an awesome story. And you know, that just goes to show we are uh you know, we always talk about like being a race car, right? And you know, having you know the race car comes into the pit stop and they just get everything tuned up and lined up and make sure everything's firing on all cylinders type thing and making sure the wheels and the alignments all there. That way everything can run efficiently. If you are not running, if if one if you're if one tire is a little lower than the other, like you said, you're gonna have to work harder somewhere. Energy has to go somewhere. So um, and it's usually gonna find the weakest link, right? So um so true. So it's yeah, and the bodies like a bunch like a bunch of pulley systems we always talk about, right? So and I I love the the picture visualization of a um a sailboat, right? And you pull the pull one rope to make the the sail go one way, another way, you know, you keep pulling the rope different directions to steer it the way you want it. Same with our body, everything should be balanced symmetrical from side to side. As soon as we get an imbalance from side to side, then there's compensation going on. And to your point, that you're working harder, not smarter. So um, and I it it all goes down when we when I talk about mobility to people, um, I always talk about um you know, a tight muscle is a weak muscle. We've talked about that so many times. But if you if you because because a lot of like you go to PT or whatever, and they're like, oh, your glutes are tight, or they're your glutes are weak. And I'm like, bro, you're a bodybuilder, your glutes are not weak, right? You're a sprinter, your glutes are not weak, because they'll come in and like I don't know how why the why they say my glutes are weak. I you know, and look at you know, so it's not that they're weak, a tight must be like I do a bunch of squats and lunges every day.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Yeah, how are they weak? And it's not it's so again redefining the definition. Yeah, they're not wrong when they say weak, but not in the sense that you're thinking. So that's the point. So we you know, um, to that whole thing, work on your mobility. Even if he did sometimes when people are injured, they can't work on strength, so they have to work on mobility. Yeah, and when they come out of that, they're like, Doc, you have no idea. Like, I'm actually hitting PRs. I haven't even lifted in a month, and now I'm hitting PRs. It's because now you worked on all that mobility and you lengthened everything, and now you're doing good. So, yeah, so awesome story.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

That's what I preach every day.

SPEAKER_02 42:38

Sometimes I'll just do that long pause and stare at them, and they'll be like, What? You're like, I must have failed you because this is what I've been telling you for two years, and now your buddy just gave you a story, and now you understand it. Yeah, okay, I'm I'm good as long as you got it at some point, but I obviously failed somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

So you know what? You might have just been the little stack and blocks, stack and blocks of reminders, reminders, and then that one just really resonated, you know. So exactly that uh repetitive reminder I think is important. I had somebody, I won't name names even though he doesn't listen to this podcast, I'm almost certain, cite some research from a publication, and I'm using air quotes for those who are just listening, and was really excited to share this news with me. And he said, uh, you know that stuff you told me to do six, seven months ago? And I said, Yeah, I told you a s a few things. Are we talking about like the balance work, the mobility? Like, I wanted you to like work on your balance and so you could walk better and easier. This is an older gentleman. He goes, Yeah, I'm gonna be honest. I did it a few times and I thought I was very good at it, and so then I just didn't do it anymore, and I haven't done it. He's like, But I read this research and it said the same thing that you said. It said that it's important to work on Your balance. I said, Well, I'll be damned. That's crazy. What was that? Like in a Journal of American, you know, medical association? Like that, like what what kind of publication? Like this must be groundbreaking research. Like he was really excited, you know. Um, I'll bring it to you. I'll bring you the publication, you know. Publication, that's multi-syllable words. That has to be something real official, you know. A couple days later, I get the research. Why was it an AARP magazine article, bro? It was an AARP magazine article. And I said, shout out to AARP giving the old people some mobility advice, but like, gosh, the things that I told you for months didn't resonate, but the AARP article hit home. Like, okay, that's awesome. I'm glad you're doing the bosubal like balance one leg balances, like out at least somehow, some way, you know. But I'm not gonna lie, I was offended a little bit. I said, dude, I must not be hitting poses.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

That knee that knee-jerk reaction when you first it's like a kick in the nuts real quick. You're like, what the yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:10

All right, fine, I'll tell you. It was my dad, it's not some random person, stubborn dad, dude.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

I already said it in my head. I go, I guarantee it's his dad. Yeah, a million percent.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

He's like, This major article. I said, geez, Louise, yeah, that's crazy. So you're on blast. That's funny. We'll never find out. He doesn't know how to log on to these things. I'll have to play him a clip one day.

SPEAKER_02 45:36

Yeah, your cousin, your cousin will share it with him. Yeah, probably he probably will too, actually.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Throw me under the bus. He'll be like, he was talking about you to millions of people.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

That's funny. Well, I'm glad that you made time to uh hop on, Dustin. It was good to hear about your weekend trip and talk about cellulitis, touch base on some mobility stuff. Um I'm trying to line up a guest this week for us who has a very busy schedule, but um we can talk about that maybe off air on my drive home. Uh if we can lock that down, I think that'd be an interesting conversation for a few minutes. But uh yeah, I'm glad we're back on um back on our routine with it, dude. It's uh yeah, it's good to see your face and it's good to uh chat it up and break down some of our work stuff and some of our personal stuff too, you know.

SPEAKER_02 46:29

Yes, sir. Yeah, yeah, always fun. Um any last words? No. Um yes, stay warm up there. Uh keep winning, yeah, and you got Friday night. Um it's not supposed to rain up there, is it?

SPEAKER_00 46:45

I don't know. Last it rained last Wednesday, Thursday, Friday morning, and then it didn't rain during our game, so that was nice. Um I feel like we're peaking with health. We have a couple little minor things, but not like it was like a month ago where things were a little more serious, and so um yeah, we'll see how this Friday goes. I think I feel optimistic about that, and then I think the three games after that could be tough, you know. I think we're playing potentially a team we played earlier in the year, and there was a lot of animosity, a lot of uh a lot of stuff going on pre-game, post-game, and so one week at a time with these things though, as you and I know. Yeah, you know, it uh so I'm gonna keep myself focused and keep the boys focused, and honestly, it's a lot of fun. So I I look forward to hopefully we can get to the state championship game and we're in SoCal, it'll be great to hang with you again and yeah, watch these guys ball out. It makes me a little bit sad that the season's ending because a couple guys are graduating, and I'm like, gosh, from September to now, my highlight honestly has been hanging and rocking with these boys and going to these high school football games and just helping them, you know, live out their dream of balling out their senior year or you know, for some people their junior year, sophomore year. But uh yeah, I'm glad you got to come out to one of the games and meet a couple of the fellas, and good willing, you will get one more chance to get together here in SoCal for the state championship. I don't want to jinx it somewhere and knock on some wood. Nope. There you go. Um well I do appreciate the time. We're running up on nine o'clock, and I gotta head out to head to an appointment. Um, but I appreciate the time, Dustin, and uh we'll do it again here in a few days.

SPEAKER_02 48:35

Sounds good, brother. Have a good rest of the week.

Listener Prompts And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Yeah, you too. Be safe and everybody listening, we appreciate you. Feel free to drop a comment. If you have any topic you'd like us to discuss, we do look those over, and uh we do have a little list of people that made some suggestions. So we are reading those, we are getting them, and we will get to those conversations and topics for sure. Um and yeah, everyone stay healthy and be blessed out there, be safe. If you uh get the opportunity, try to be a blessing to somebody else and change someone else's day. And uh this is Dr. Dokal. Yeah, it's Dr. Glass. We're signing off for today. This is the second opinion. We're Sports Medicine Podcast. We appreciate you listening, and we'll bring back, we'll be back next week with some more knowledge and uh hopefully some more jokes and good news. Boom.