6 l The Chiropractor for Metal Ribs Episode

9 metal bones? Ya, fitness gonna be a tad difficult, but it's a tons of tads necessary. Since my accident, I've made fitness a priority to rebuild and maintain both my mental and physical strength. Buuutttt with a once shattered body, there is definitely more I need to pay attention to than the average perason. 

Meet Dr. Jackson Bates, lead clinician at Myodetox West Hollywood. Jackson is the only chiropractor or physical therapist I've worked with who seems to actually care about what's going on with me mentally - something all specialists and experts should care about because the body and mind are cohesive. Physical trauma and metal trauma have a tendency to go hand in hand. 

Making sure to approach all patients with empathy, understanding, and customized goal setting, Jackson is able to execute success in chronic pain management, rehabilitation, myofascial release, and strength and conditioning to heal and future-proof the body.

All my brain doctors have confirmed that my mental recovery has only been as good as it has been because of my focus on fitness - and that focus would not be possible without Dr. Jackson, or Jax, as his friends and family call him. Come learn about the body and mind and understand a little how it all goes together. Caring for one is crucial for caring for the other.

Win most, lose some

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Dr. Jackson Bates at Myodetox: https://www.myodetox.com/therapists/jackson-bates

@doctor.jax on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doctor.jax/

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:26 Why I Went to Jax
• 3:17 Trusting your Body
• 8:45 Future-Proofing your Body
• 13:56 The Mind-Body Connection
• 17:28 Physical Health is Unique
• 19:37 Listening to your Body
• 21:33 Why Jax Became a Chiropractor
• 27:49 Rolling with the Universe
• 32:22 LA: A Complex Love
• 35:22 Live for Yourself Now
• 42:03 No Such Thing as Coincidences
• 44:36 Jax's Content Recommendation
• 47:37 Bleeding Positivity into Everything
• 51:12 Physical Goals
• 54:44 Where to Find Jax

Transcript

My whole philosophy is how do we actually make sure that you can start taking care of yourself preventively ahead of yourself? We know how if we eat healthy, if we exercise, guess what, heart issues are gonna be a lot lower when we're older, obesity, other issues when it comes into our muscles, joints, hey, if you're moving when you're younger, guess what, those pays off massive dividends when you're older. How do we make sure we actually make that more objective? How do we actually get more strong, flexible, into a right position or we don't get that chronic neck issues that our parents have, or we don't get that head hunch that our mother has. There's a lot of habits that we just forget about because it's like, oh, that's just who we are. That's just like normal. Like it's normal to be always over here.

(gasps)

- Almost dying taught me how to live. Being struck by a car left me in a three and a half week coma with 15 broken bones and 16 surgeries to complete, including brain surgery. However, I woke up from that coma in an even greater place than I ever were soft myself. How? The universe will guide you out of the darkness and into the light if you allow it. Often spirituality comes off as too high -brow. I'm not about that. Welcome to the podcast that talks and teaches about it through the lens of humor. Together, we'll harness positive energy and use it to work with the universe, all while giggling the entire time. Welcome to Gabriella rebranded "Win Most Lose Some." 

I am so excited for this episode. - Me too. - Because I feel like we've been practicing for this for months. Yeah, this is my chiropractor, Dr. Jackson Bates. Dr. Jackson is the lead clinician at Myodetox, which is legit a couple blocks away, right here in West Hollywood. And you specialize in myofascial release, which I did not know anything about until I started working with you, chronic pain management, and strength and conditioning. And your clientele ranges everyone from professional athletes, to musicians, to military vets, to brain injury survivors with six metal ribs. 

Yeah, I don't know who that one is. But yeah, that's initially why I came to you because when you hurt the brain, it kind of fucks everything up. And as you explained to me, the ribs are like one of the worst things. Yeah, ribs are a tough one. There's not too much you can rehab and move. You can do a lot of breathing exercises and you can work through the intercostal muscles, the muscles between the ribs and that connective tissue, that fascia. But besides that, it's definitely a weight game. You have to wait for your body to start healing itself. At the end of the day, the best doctor is our body. It's our self. It's how we have to make sure we can heal itself. That's the ribs, unfortunately. The ribs are complicated. I was planning on since running a Tough Mudder, which has since been canceled. And a half marathon, which a spoiler alert, we're recording this a bit early because my podcast release has been delayed due to the fires in Los Angeles. But I was supposed to run a half marathon in a couple weeks and the air is really bad. And your girl had a collapsed lung. - Probably not good. - So my dad is like, "You are not to do that." - I'd also recommend that. 

But it's why I initially went to you and what I was saying before we even started is what's so incredible about you is I've worked with tons of physical therapists, obviously, and you're the only one who I've worked with that you're so conscientious about the mind -body connection and mental trauma and how it affects physical trauma. Yeah, It's so important. It's the biological, sociological, and a psychological component of pain. It's biopsychosocial. And if you don't take care of the mind, you don't take care of how you start seeing yourself in social situations, your physical pain can come out in so many different ways. Just because you broke those ribs and just because you had all these different injuries that happened, there's one of obviously your bodies have to heal itself, but then also your brain has to get comfortable with what happened. You have to get over the trauma that actually happened, but then also heal mentally that neural pathway, that ability to feel comfortable moving your body again once it can move again, which is just a fun journey to go on. Oh yeah, it's really fun. It's really fun. It's building trust in your body again. That's why I got into myofascia and that's why I got into that whole world of chronic pain is because I want to give people hope and that they can move the body and do whatever they want to do. And I definitely wasn't on the first team of the physical therapist and the chiropractors and people who took care of your body right after the accident. But on this side of the spectrum, we're getting you to make sure that you can run a tough murder, that you

can run a marathon, you can do whatever you want to do. That's the fun part of the game, is give you hope that you can do whatever you want to do with your life. And you have to stop believing you can do it. You have to trust yourself you can do it. And that's a fun journey. But it's really good. And you definitely do that for me. 'cause I keep messing myself up when I try to distance run. And I remember a few weeks ago, I said to you, "I just don't think distance running is for me." And you retaliated that, and you said, "That is absolutely not the case." - There's so much your body can do. Our bodies are so incredibly resilient. However you can let your body move, however you can start trusting your body again, you can start doing it. There's a level, of course, if everything's fused, then it's of the issues, medical conditions that you're like maybe you shouldn't just like with a collapsed lung and maybe we shouldn't start running with smoke that's a logical answer but after each body started healing from the injuries after the surgeries I've been getting stronger you're getting so strong there's nothing stopping you the major thing that's stopping is your brain yeah the brain the brain's complicated 

and just real quick for the listeners can you explain what the mild facial system is yeah - Yeah, so all of myofascia is, so you got myo, which is muscle. - Oh, myofascial. - You're good. - I said myofascial. - You know, it's a strange word. - Myofascial, I was planning on getting facial after this. That's what that is. - Then the whole fire thing, yeah. So it's myo, which is the muscle. Fascia, which is the connected tissue between the muscle. So if you want to think about it

as in like an orange, you can have your like pith at white part between the actual orange you eat and the skin. That's that fascia system. You can think about it as a spider web between your skin, between your muscle and your skin. I like that metaphor. I have a bunch of metaphors for you. I'm a big metaphor guy. It's an interesting system to think about. When you start cutting cadavers, you can start seeing the different layers of skin and different connected tissue till you get to your muscle. And a fun thing about when you have a major trauma and major injury, that body starts holding stuff together and protecting itself, acting like a natural cast. So all that fascia, that connective tissue, all that spider web, what it does is hold yourself together and hold that back, hold those ribs tight. "Hey, I got hurt once. I don't want to get hurt again." So how do we make sure we don't let that happen? We start telling that internal cast to lock everything up, which is good and safe and makes sense. However, if we want to run, if we want to live, if we want to do whatever we can do, we have to start trusting ourselves and moving again. We have to start not breaking that fascia, but letting it move, trusting itself. 

- Yeah, and that's something you believe every person is a life athlete. - Yeah, huge. I've worked with a lot of Dodgers, I've worked with the Rams, I've worked with veterans, and you have to see that everybody's the same. Obviously, the commitment to the body is different, like the way LeBron pays money and spends time into his health, it's different. Like he's every day, he's spending hours and hours on his health. But for us who are just three days a week at the workout, at like Barry’s, or at HEIMAT, or equinox, whatever gym you want to go to, it's making sure you still have that time to recover. Make sure you have that time to really treat yourself correctly. It's, we have all these great doctors that can tell us that, "Hey, you have high blood pressure. You should get to check that. You should take care of this. You should eat differently. You should smoke because we know that leads to other issues." We don't have that system that clearly when it comes into your muscles, when it comes into your body. Those signs and symptoms are a little bit more quiet. So you need somebody to look at you to see how your body's moving correctly, to say like, hey, you're moving a little bit out of alignment if you want to use that word. How do we make sure we get everything controlled? How do you get your body to start trusting yourself, moving yourself, getting stronger? Because before seeing me, I know that you are so strong, you had a lot of muscle, you've been working at the gym, you've been gone through the wonderful work of of other physiotherapists and that whole procedures. - Yeah. - But then when I started seeing how you move, how you run, and you're like, "Hey, I've always had this chronic thing now after accident with my hip and my lower back. What's going on here?" And I was like, "I see you walk. I started assessing everything from there." And I was like, "Okay, cool. That's the issue." You start trusting yourself how to move your hips again. How do you move your ribcage again? - Yeah. - It's a big picture. - Yeah. And you know, it's very annoying 'Cause they're like, just work the right way. And it doesn't work. 

But that's another thing that you, when you were talking about the muscles and like the long -term, like do this, you were, another thing you're very interested is sort of like preventing people from going down that path in the future, like stopping future -proofing. - Future -proofing, yeah, exactly. That's the whole phrase. And it's, my whole philosophy is how do we actually make sure that you can start taking care of yourself preventively ahead of yourself. We know how if we eat healthy, if we exercise, guess what? Heart issues are going to be a lot lower when we're older. Obesity, other issues when it comes into our muscles, joints. Hey, if you're moving when you're younger, guess what? Those pays off massive dividends when you're older. How do we make sure we actually make that more objective? How do we actually get more strong, flexible, into a right And so we don't get that chronic neck issues that our parents have. And we don't get that head hunch that our mother has. There's a lot of habits that we just forget about. Because it's like, oh, that's just who we are. That's just like normal. It's normal to be always over here. But if I did this every day, if I podcasted this way, if I sat every day when I saw patients, it would, of course, cause some issue with my neck. It would, of course, cause some issue with my ribcage. It's not if it's a win, so how do we make sure that we can actually take care of the body preventively in this world? We all have a great dentist. We all have a great person that can actually take care of our teeth, get applause, brush our teeth because we know, hey, if you don't brush your teeth for a long time, somebody's gonna tell you. Yep, it's gonna be bad. Yeah, you can see it. You can smell it. People are gonna call you out. They're like, "Hey Gabby, hello. What's going on here?" So, uh, So, you know, I gotta sit down and talk with you. We don't have that person as clearly right now in America and in this world about like, hey, you're not moving correctly. Like, unless you're like something's very serious going on, you're like, hey, like something with your hip or something with your foot, maybe you should get this checked out. - Yeah. - My whole goal is like, how do we have that person? How do we get more of these people that can start seeing how you move and and how to make sure you can move correctly, suggest like a dentist, keep your teeth healthy, making sure that you can actually move, live, live your best life. And not to say that things are never going to happen. Like you can brush your teeth perfectly, you can floss every day, you can mouthwash. I know some people have some weird heart takes on that, but that's true, it's a weird thing. But it's, there's still like the part of genetics, there's still a whole bit parts of life of like who knows what can happen. But how do we get ahead of everything that we can control? >> Yeah. >> We can't control like if we're running

in injuries or basketball, but we can't control. >> Your hip moving the right way. >> Yeah, we can't control, but we can't tell when it goes ribs, have our injuries, we can't tell when like, get back out in football accidents. We can't control that. >> You can't control that? >> I can't control that. >> You can't say I would actually like to redo that one? >> You can't go back. >> The dentist one is really interesting because I recently went to the dentist. - Oh, no. - Oh, man, you're good. - I did, I thought that like no one actually flushed. Like I thought that was, I don't know why my entire life, I thought that was like a soft recommendation that no one followed. - You look a soft like it, it's a guideline. It's not a rule, it's a guy should do this. - And this dentist was like a bougie Beverly Hills dentist because I needed to get into one really quickly. I'd chip my tooth and I don't weirdly don't have a dentist out here. And that was now I do, but that was the first one we could get into. We, I could get into, and it was like a bougie Beverly Hills dentist who was able to do like a whole scan of my teeth show pre cavities. And all my pre cavities were like on the gaps. And she was like,’ do you floss?’ And I was like,’ - Wait, people actually do that?’ (laughing) They're not like floss every day. But it took me over 26 years to find out that people actually-- - I'm glad you're doing it now. - Now I'm doing it. - It is so insanely and beneficial for your health. And it's actually really good for your brain health. Your dental health has so much connections with your brain and everything from there. but also gum disease, there's a lot of things that can actually be helped from from flossing. There's a lot of things. The brain is kind of related to everything. It is like the the master control center. Like where all of our pain gets back into goes into our brain. How we feel everything. If we hit our hand, do we feel it on our hand? No, we feel it on our brain. Our brain towers what our hand, what it's feeling. That's why like phantom limb is a thing. Have you heard of that? Yes, yes, this has. And so like when people, that's how they, how you can treat it is that you can put those mirrored boxes for the hands if you had somebody lose a hand and for veterans and what not for in war, crazy

accidents, they can put both their hands in a box, they have a mirror and they'll show both hands and like the person will be able to see like, oh, I have both hands if everything's good, tense both hands up, release that tension and they can actually mentally let go the tension that they had in that hand, even though they don't have a hand anymore. Phantom limbs are such an interesting psychological component of how the body keeps going with everything. It's mind, body, soul, but it's also mind, body, however you feel about your body, everything in big Picture.

 - Yeah, you are so like, you're so empathetic. And that's one of the reasons that like, I've loved working with you. You are so empathetic and you practice what you preach very much so. Like you've talked a lot about how the bio -psycho -social model is important to you. And you like very much like actually care about that. And it's like so, it's every session, it is so, you talk about my mental trauma as well as my physical trauma, and like how it's all connected. You just, you really practice what you preach. And I know a book that you really like, that I really like as well, is "The Body Keeps the Score." - Beautiful, yeah. - Which is heavily about that. - Oh yeah, I mean, there's so much, and there is, my therapist is amazing, I'm so grateful for him. And he always says like, one of the best ways to help the body, it's help the mind, one of the best ways to help the mind, it's help the body. When it comes into exercise, when it comes into talk therapy, however you're gonna do it, there's so into lapping Neuron to so much. They're always talking to each other. How do you make sure you can take care of the whole picture? 'Cause when I treat people and I treat you and how I ask those questions, it's always like you help the person. You don't help the hip, you don't help the ribs. You help the person because that's what's gonna help the ribs get better. The person is the best doctor. The yourself is you are your best doctor. - And it's so true because I am convinced that my recovery has only been as good as it has been because I made such a commitment to fitness after I got hurt. I wasn't into fitness that much before I got hurt. I got really into it after I got hurt because I was trying to rebuild my body and no muscle. And I'm convinced that my, because my recovery has been fabulous and I am convinced and doctors have agreed with me thus far. That it's only been so good, because I make sure that I am exercising, and I make sure that I'm eating healthy as consistently as I am. >> Yeah. >> 

And it's also like a little, it depends, I don't know if this is messed up, I think it depends on your viewpoint. But for a while in my recovery, when it felt like I didn't have anything, like I didn't have my career, I was losing friends, I didn't have like sort of anything to win at, I was winning at physical activity. And like I was improving at that. And that was kind of what my mind clung to because I was like I'm winning at something. - Yeah, there's such a strong like belief in trust in your body and then if you win at something, that's how, that's why they always push on hobbies for everybody. That's always like you need to have different buckets of life. You need to have your family, you need to have a work, you need to have a hobby, like a creative or physical, because there's going to be days where family life is going to be tough. There's going to be days that work life is going to be tough. There's going to be days that you're not going to be playing to get best, let's say video games or whatnot or whatever hobby it is. You're like, man, this painting is horrible. I'm horrible playing this game. But as long as you have a win somewhere, you can start focusing on that, that optimism really comes into play when you're like, "Oh, I'm seeing an active win." That can start, start help raising the entire tide, help lifting all ships. As long as you keep seeing it winning, you're gonna keep winning. - Yeah, and then when

he goes to, it's not that bad. (laughing) You're like, "Well, you know, it's not that bad." I'm sorry, I had to. - Oh, jeez. Alligating.

- But I don't think it's really highlighted in medical journals, especially it's we're getting better about it now, but especially with older doctors, older medical professionals, it's really not highlighted how much the mind and the body is connected. >> Yeah. >> And I think that is a major mistake. >> Mm -hm. >> And in your experience, going through the process of becoming a of going through school and all that stuff. Did you think that any professors really preached it to you or do you think you had to figure it out on your own? - You kinda had to figure it out on your own. I find that schooling for me, so it was about that four year period in grad school where I was so focused on passing boards and learning the basic sciences, the movement concepts when it comes into the physiotherapy exercises and whatnot, and everything, joint mobilization in that whole world, but you start really focusing on the very literal. You don't start thinking

about like what else is involved. You don't, it really stops you from thinking big and how the world starts to connect and get together. The body is so incredibly complex and so incredibly unique. Everybody's so different. An incredible mentor of mine has said that once you've seen one person, you've seen one person. You've seen a thousand people, you've seen a thousand people. You can't extrapolate that data. People, common things happen commonly, but to know two people with exact, even twins, know two people with the exact same bodies. So they can have the same kind of low back pain, they can have the same kind of hip, rib, shoulder, neck, whatever. They can present the exact same way, but they can become, they can be because of very different issues entirely. So you have to start trusting and seeing like what else can be at play and testing and ruling out what is involved there. - Yeah, and the mind is also the exact same. - Oh yeah. - Because with no two brain injuries are alike. So whenever you have a brain injury, it's kind of like a little bit of a guessing game on how your recovery is gonna go. Because no two brain injuries are alike. No one thought I'd be here by now as recovered as I am. I say that, you know, I like to keep them on their toes. I like the element of surprise. - Your story is pretty amazing. It's pretty impressive. And it's awesome that you're like you're the living and the living embodiment of this. 

You are the person of like how your body listens to your brain, your brain listens to your body from working out for so frequently from eating correctly from taking care of it from the recovery side from like my fascial side from exercising from PT from the whole world. The more you use your body and tell it what it can do, it's gonna trust you to listen to you more, your brain's gonna listen to you more, your brain's gonna stop listening to me saying, your body's saying, oh, I can do that, whether that's anything in life. And once you stop using something, you're like, you know what, it's over. It's gonna be hard to go back forward anywhere. Like you can now have those like active wins from every day when you work out. Like, hey, I did this one. Hey, I lifted this. And after you keep doing that, just like a snowy hill, you go down, you fell off the hill and say, I'm not a metaphor, I'm so sorry. - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm sorry, I love the metaphor. - But But the other accident, you're actually going down the snowy hill, you get knocked down, you're on a ski, you're on a snowboard or whatever, you're going down that hill and then you get knocked off. You got knocked off to the side, you kind of fell down the way and got down to the bottom eventually, but it took some time to get there. How to really start helping the body and helping that brain again, like that neuroplasticity that neurons in the brain start connecting with the body. You have to then re -get a whole fresh set of snow and then start going down the correct path over and over and over and over again. That's good, deeply ingrain how your body moves, how you can listen to your body, how you can trust your body. The first couple of times, and going through physical therapy, your body's like, oh my goodness, how am I gonna do this again? How can I do anything again? But if you keep going, you keep going, you keep going, your body's gonna start listening to it, listening to it, listening to it. You can get to the place where you are right now, and you're like, hey, I wanna run half marathon, maybe when it's not, the air is not horrible. - Yeah, maybe when the air is a little better. - A little better, but you can really let yourself, and that's that hope and that's that belief system that you can like push yourself with. If you actually continue to do those patterns, if you do those little things correctly over and over and over again, that pathway gets deeper and deeper, your body starts going, less resistance, you just know where to go. - That is how I relearned how to walk upstairs. - Yeah. - Oh yeah, but yeah. - Exactly. 

- But talk a little bit more about your own because I know you were a college athlete. You played football at Pepperdine University. And then how did that exactly translate into you becoming a chiropractor? - Totally, yeah. So I played football and I went, and I went initially to Baylor. - Baylor, okay. - So Baylor was like, well, I was gonna go to play football. That's what my dream was. That's why I was gonna go play football. And I was gonna have an incredible career. I was so stoked for this is what I want to do in my life. A lot of people in my family and a lot of people I know are made of college sports, made of college football and that's just like the direction I really wanted to go in my life. When I, my senior year, my junior year of high school had a crazy concussion, took me out for about a month. And I kept playing. I really loved where I did a little game and it felt like who I was, my identity. Committed to go to Baylor, gonna go play football in Baylor. As I got closer and closer to the date, I started realizing, You know with my health the way it was after that accident what I want to start doing with my life Okay, do I want to start being a student start learning inside of my life at 18? I don't want to try to keep playing and keep pushing myself and go into where I can go And at that point make that this the decision of you know what I want to start life at 18 I want to start learning I want to start being active for my future now so that's why I went to Pepperdine I started later in Pepperdine because of that so I started in spring of Pepperdine and it was - Great experience for me to like learn and not have my sports, which is really challenging. That's my identity. But how I got into the whole world of chiropractic and whole world of this alternative medicine route was that I wanted a camping trip to Yellowstone. - Okay. - And I went out with my buddies from high school and I was so stoked to see them, 'cause I haven't seen them. This is our post - That's true, and we're gonna go to Yellowstone hike and do all that nature things. I'm not a big nature person. I love nature. I'm not a big outdoorsy, like camping guy. I'm much more of a four season hotel guy than I am a four season nature guy. - I'm never going camping. That's the one thing I won't do. I'm not, if I can't

have my hair products, I'm not going. - Yeah, I need a shower. I just feel gross. It's not my thing. - The same wife. - I wanna go and make a dream of mine in the future. goal of mine is I'm gonna go to Africa and see safaris and do all that. But I did that. Oh, that's so cool. What? I did that. I did that. How did you do that with the hair products in the life and the things? It was, you know, it was the summer after my freshman year of college. And I think I was one less high maintenance about my hair then. Yeah. And then also too, it was kind of like, well, I'm in Africa. Like Like this is not a photo shoot. This is a once in a lifetime experience 'cause I pushed my family to go. I pushed for that trip since I was like this tall. I pushed for that trip. And it was so incredible that we finally, we're in a financial position that we could do it because it wasn't something we could just do. That's a big thing. - Yeah, it's an old commitment to go there. - And it was just such a once in a lifetime experience that I was like, I am embracing it. But that was as rustic as I'll go. That was as rustic as well. But they're actually in Africa on these safaris. They're really good about setting up campsites that are more like glamping. They're really good about that. That's what I've been told and that's what I'm into. I love to see it. I do love nature. and that's like a fun, like that's my creative release and get that world to help my brain. But that's my goal of like nature and everything. But the big reason how I got in this whole alternative medicine and chiropractic world is that I wanted this camping trip. I brought the wrong sleeping bag. So I ended up, I slept in the car, all my buddies are out there. I slept in the car, all, I'm six, two, all in the backseat, all cramped up, all in this awkward position, wake up, woke up, got out of the car, and I was like, wow, I have such shooting pain down my leg. What's happening to me? And I was 21 at the time, like, this is strange, it's not great. I take the car ride back to the airport, stare at it in crazy pain, last couple of days, and I was like, this is not great. How do I get this taken care of? I go to my normal general practitioner, and he's like, hey, so this is what's going on. You have this the nerve compression somewhere along the chain. You can either go and get a medication, you can do physical therapy, or you can take or get surgery for this. And I was like, you know what? Surgery is a little bit extreme for me. I'm not huge in taking pills right away, but I'll take something for the pain. Let's try what we need to do. And then physical therapy sounds great. Let's get some exercises then. Do some exercises. And it takes about three months. Nothing changed too much for me. And I was kind of bummed. I was like, man, I wish. There was a place they put some stimpads on me. They put some hot packs on me. They did give me

some simple exercises. I'm like, nothing really happened, unfortunately. I, and I was like, okay, you know what? Like, I guess maybe I should do surgery. I don't know what's really happening.

I go to a friend of mine, actually, my mom's facialist, esthetician, whatever. - Myo -facial. - Exactly. She recommended me to a chiropractor and I was like, you know what, I have no idea what that is. Sure, I'll try it out. You know, it sounds kind of hippy, but I'll try it. I go and they're like, oh yeah, it's just A, B, and C. And I was like, what are you talking about? I've had this for now like three, four months. Nothing's really helped me, but sure, do what you gotta do. They see, they're like, okay, I trust you, let's go. They treat me. That day they like, they crack I used to do some muscle work in some place and gave me one exercise. That day, I felt like 60 % better. And I was like, what happened here? Why don't people know about this? And that's the day I started realizing, you know what, I really wanted to get into a world that I can provide people hope that like they didn't know it was there. I kind of just thought that was my life. I thought I was gonna always, every time I sat, I was gonna have shooting pain down my leg. I feel like I wasn't gonna be able to like work out the same. I can walk and I was fine, but if I did anything else, it really shut me down. And So I just kind of thought like life wasn't until I got surgery. And unless I got surgery, and then I went to this one person that's in magic, back to normal and I was like, you know what? I want to provide hope. I want to get people the opportunity to feel like themselves again. I want them to be able to run. I want them to be able to laugh, hike, do whatever they want to do. And that's what got me here. 

- I mean, yeah, it's amazing. I think about when I started with you and it's already so much different. And like, I think about where I was and like, it was terrible. Like it was, it wasn't you know, but it's just, it's, but I also think it's amazing that you had the bandwidth as young as you did to choose to like prioritize your health going back to college, like starting college to choose to forego the dream because it's interesting you said you had a concussion, which is we are learning so much more about the brain that is the TBI. And a lot of times when people have brain injuries, a problem is that people really want to if they're get hurt while doing the physical activity, like a sport, they really want to go back to doing the thing that they got hurt doing. It's like this weird thing that people want to like prove that they can still do it. So like that you at such a young age were like, I'm not gonna do this. And then you had your hippie moment at Yellowstone. - Yeah, no drugs involved. It was just more of like a, okay, I gotta do something about this. It was interesting. It was such a tough journey for me for that because football was my life. I was playing since I was a kid and that's something I knew I was so confident at. I was, as a kid, I just really felt more comfortable with just like moving my body and exercising and playing sports. And that's how I was always made friends. So for me, it's to cut that world off, which is very challenging, especially at 18. And that's why I chose Pepperdine 'cause Pepperdine doesn't have any football has. This is completely like, I would have to go to USC or UCLA to actually see a game. And that's Pepperdine's all the way in Malibu, it's a whole commitment. So I try to make something and try - It was a beautiful campus. - Gorgeous place. - Zoey 101. - I mean, my whole outfit every day was a sweatshirt and swim trunks. And I was like, ah, it'd be fine. - Yes. - It's stunning, but I wanted to go somewhere that I didn't have to be like immersed and like have the itch to play again. And everybody in my life would tell you that the first couple of months of me going to Pepperdine was like super challenging because I really wanted to play. I really wanted, I miss those friends. I miss that connection. I miss that common bond that I have with people from football. But because I chose this world of like, you know what, I'm gonna go to academics. I want to see what my life can go from here and not chance it on me making an NFL because transparently, I probably would not have made it. I was like, you know what, this is the hard decision you have to make. I want to see what I can do and see what whatever it takes me. And that's what fortunately got me into healthcare. 

That is so beautiful because that is truly rolling with the universe and just like rolling with what you've been given, which is something that I am trying so hard to be better at. And I actually have made a lot of progress. You're doing great. I have because I do my spiritual moment of the

week on every podcast. And now I'm doing it now in the middle of the episode. But I do my spiritual moment of the week on every podcast. And again, we're recording this early. The fire is in Malibu. But that was my spiritual moment is I had this whole plan to launch my podcast in January. I've been prepping since November. We had episodes recorded. I was told that I should launch it in January by people who knew more about the podcast, life than I did because January is the resolution month and all this, the self -help month. Then these fires happened and I knew it was not the time 'cause that would be inauthentic to my mission because my entire mission is about overcoming trauma and supporting trauma survivors. So, thousands are gathering their own trauma in Los Angeles right now. And if I said to anyone, "Hey, direct your supportive energies towards me," and not towards these thousands of people that would be so inauthentic to everything I'm saying in every episode. So I was like, "It's fine. I still don't know when I'm gonna release. I don't know if it's gonna be February, March, April. Who knows? We don't know what's gonna go on with these fires. And I'm really okay with it. I really am like, all right. - Yeah. - And you did that at such a young age. - I mean, pause me playing football who

knows what would happen. Like you're doing such amazing things and the fact that you can be like that acknowledging of that like, you know what? This is bigger than me. This is bigger bigger than this event right now. I know this is, you've been thinking about this for a long time. You've been working on this for a long time, but you've been like, you know what, let's pause. Let's take care of those in need. Let's take care of those who are going through this. That's an amazing like realization. I think you gotta give it up to yourself. And you've been working on it, but you've been doing it. This is your living embodiment of this.

 - Well, there was a time when I was in need. And there was a time not too long ago when I was in need. And yeah, and I just I know what it's like to be in that place and I mean all I'm hope that when I release it We are as at peace as we can be in Los Angeles when this episode is coming out But like I mean at the time we're recording this over 90 ,000 people still remain displaced and it's Yeah It's it's it's definitely a tough time for the city. I do love seeing everybody come together. I've really seen the community. I've born and raised in LA and so seeing the community come together and like trying and being supportive, donating and getting out there has been beautiful to see. It is definitely still challenging. And again, it's I think 30 % contained in Palisades right now. I think 50 % in the Eaton Fire. And so still got some, we're not clear yet, but I've never loved LA more than I do right now and it's really interesting because LA sort of has the rep and it's a rep that I agreed with that it can be, you know, a lot of people that are sort of into themselves and self -centered and want to be famous and I, you know, agreed with that. And it's not the natives. It's not the natives. It is the influencers, the TikTokers that come here and want to be famous. That's what it is that don't have any actual skill. but you know they dance really cute that's what it is but I think LA has kind of given a fuck you to the world and that LA right now is really proving that we are the way people have been coming together it's absolutely amazing. LA it's my home it's every time I went to school I always came back and it's just there's such a beautiful nature and the people here and it's where people go to and travel to for a reason. It's, I've always said like being local and the native, it's whatever you want is here. You just have to find it. And the danger of LA is that when you go, when people come to LA and people from like TikTok world or from acting music, whatever, I have no problems with people coming, but you have to like help and like provide something for LA instead of just how to take something from LA. LA has so many beautiful like The art scene is incredible, the financing, whatever, healthcare, food, whatever you want to get into, like the world is there. - Yeah. - You just have to make sure like one, you have to find your people, you have to find your tribe. I know a lot of people come here and they're like, man, like my people aren't there. - It's hard to find your people in LA, it is hard. I will say that, but once you find your tribe, it's good, but it's hard. - It's definitely, it's not like New York where it's like in your face. - Yes, exactly. - But like New York is like, ‘hey, come to my comedy show, do show do this Today’ ‘okay like sure I guess’ but LA is like if you want people in that scene they're there you just have to find them but it's different than other places in the country where you don't have that like access to everything but it definitely is you have to be outright like searching and and looking for that yes exactly and just going off controversial things sure let's do it 

I have to put you on the spot a (laughs) Not like, so die with a zero. - Yeah. - First of all, you've given, I have not read it yet, but you've given me the gist. I wonder, I'm going to read it. But yeah, there's a lot of things that I'm reading right now. - Yeah, I get that. - But you've given me the gist. And Die With Zero, the gist is correct me if I'm wrong. It's spend, it's live now, live now. Like don't be so hung up on saving. Like do stuff for yourself now, which I agree with. I do. And the gist that you've given it to me, I think I will really enjoy the book. However, when I was doing some research, the haters of Die with Zero say it's coming from a place of privilege because you don't know if you're going to have a health crisis. You don't know if something like the LA fires are going to happen and you need a plus of savings. I personally think, die with zero, what it's actually suggesting and what I've gotten from you is sort of to split the difference. I don't think it's saying have $5 in your bank account. I think it's saying travel the world, but don't travel first class. It's just to do what you can do. There's like a healthy limit of it, of course. It's not saying like spend every dollar so you have no dollar. But there's a, it's the whole like philosophy of it, at least that I've taken away. That there's a nice curve of where money comes important to you. When you're five, you don't really care about making $100 or having $100. You just wanna make sure you're there with your parents. You wanna make sure you can hang around, eat. You don't think about money like that. And when you're 95, you just wanna be able to see your grandkids. You wanna be able to see people. You wanna be able, you're not gonna be able to travel the world. You're not gonna be wanting to go to the World Series or Super Bowl, but when you're 25, 26, 30, you're like, you know what? I wanna go to Africa and go to that safari. - Exactly. - When you're 95, do you really wanna do that? Do you wanna take that long of a flight? No. - No. - Spending money when you have it, or spending money when you can live with it. Life and experiences are relative to you. When you're 21 or you're 18 and you get the luxury of being like, let's go to travel Asia, travel Europe. I to the credible gift from my family where I was able to go and travel Europe with my two best friends post -grad. And we stayed in the hostels, we bounced around all the places, took trains to every kind of way of traveling around. We didn't do it luxury at all, but I didn't care. I was like, "Oh, that's amazing. "That's so fun." It's an experience that I was just thriving in. I was like, "That's so cool." And meeting different people, and eating, doing everything, living that culture, living that life. I would not be interested in doing that now. And I bet you when I'm 70, I would have zero interest in doing that now. It's like, you know what, I don't want to stay in a hostel when I'm 70. People, some people do. Some people might want to, like different strokes and folks, do what you want to do with your life. But at the same time, like there's a benefit of doing it when you have that energy. - Yeah, no, 100 % because I went abroad when I was in college. And we were college students, we had no money. But we still travel, I forget the exact number, but I think I went to like 14 countries and 18 cities because I went to Italy like four separate times. But we were very much doing it on the cheap, but it was just like, you just wanted to go and see it. But I have to say, you bringing up post -grad trips twice now, a little, because I was a 2020 grad. Oh yeah, I'm so sorry. So I'm so sorry. So I was supposed to go on my post -grad trip to Thailand. Oh my gosh. And that obviously did not happen. Yeah, man, I did not notice what happened to your face. COVID will do that. I'm so sorry. So this post -grad trip, they both sound incredible. Oh yeah, this is okay. I'm a little jealous. You know, it's, yeah, I got nothing to hand out, my bad. I'm sorry. No, no, it's fine. I'm not that mad. It's fine, it's fine. It's okay. Oh, Jesus, I'm sorry. No, it's, no, but I think that is beautiful because I think that sometimes people can be a little too hung up on saving for the future. And

especially like, I'm fully convinced the world is over in 20 years. I mean, I'm a climate change person. Look at what's happening in California right now. Like, I so I'm like, no, we have to live now. And I'm so a person that's so in support of that. There's a difference of like, you're living that tomorrow is never that tomorrow is going, you're going to die tomorrow, or that tomorrow is never going to come. And there's people that like, you know what, how do I actually live today? - Yes. - There's a difference between those two people, because people who can live today would enjoy the food, they can enjoy what they can. People would like, you know what, not tomorrow is going to be the end of it. They're going to spend, do everything like, there's no tomorrow, it's dangerous. You can get a little bit more on that borderline kind of - - Impulsive. - Scary, the same, impulsive side of things. But the idea, I know for myself, when I came out of school, I was like, you know what, I don't really want to pay up my loans instantly. I want to live as meekly as possible. I don't want to have any fun. I don't want to spend any money doing other things. Like, you know what? I just want to hustle as much as I can, grind as much as I can, work as much as I can so that I can pay up my loans, so that I can financially be independent, retire early, do that whole fire concept. And I started having this like change when I started reading, when I read that book. And I was like, you know what? Why grind? Why hate myself so much to not enjoy life? - Life, yeah. - There's obviously a balance of like working hard when you're younger because that's the timing, set yourself up for your future, family, et cetera. But a big part of like enjoy life, you need to. Youonly have one of it. That's the only thing you can control. The only thing you can control is like, how does your body move? How do you feel? Do what you can do as you can. And you don't know if you can travel when you're 70. You don't know if you're gonna make it to your 70. You don't know if you're gonna want to travel when you're 70, but really enjoy the now. 

And that's that whole principle of Die With Zero, and which really turned my whole world around when I thought about money and that whole way of living. I got turned on to it funnily enough from a guy who is very financially well off, who has an job, I'm saying world that just lives in a different universe than I do. And I please like ‘Jackson, get check out this book. It's incredible. It's like changed my life forever.’ In my mind, I was like, ‘I know what you do. I know where you were last weekend. I know you were partying and Ibiza doing this.’ And I was like, ‘man, like, we were two different people. Like, you know, I'm a guy back there. You're traveling the world every other weekend.’ And but, you know, I had another friend of mine also recommended to me at the time and I was like, you know what, that's too many occurrences for me to turn something away just because of my own silly ways of being like, come on, a judgment on it, started reading the book and I was like, wow, I was wrong. I didn't text that guy yet. I should text him. But I was really like impressed. I'm like, you know what, this isn't from a hyper place of privilege, but it's much more of like, how do we live now? How do we live and enjoy life today. 

- That's actually really interesting that you say that because somebody told me to read "Die With Zero" shortly after you told me to read it.  And that is like kind of a Universe thing. Like that is

like sort of like a thing, like if something's in your face or like somebody says one thing and then it comes up again, like you are supposed to do that. That's the Universe saying do this. And someone mentioned Die With Zero, friend of mine, right after you had told me about it. And I was like, someone literally just told me about this. So yeah. - There's coincidences for a reason, like I'm not a big superstition person, but there's a difference of that. I think the Universe, God, whatever you want to say, put things in front of our face commonly. Do we acknowledge it? - Yeah. - Do we see that? Like what's a sign with not a sign, but if we keep getting told the same thing, you know, maybe might as well check it out. Yeah, I personally don't believe in coincidences. Everything, everything, everything happens for a reason. Everything, I don't believe in coincidences, but I know that, sorry, I know that people will debate me on that one, but I personally am on my spiritual juju bullshit of not believing in coincidences. Yeah, I mean, and they get every right I think there's a nothing life that That's a beautiful way to live and you've gotten to where you are now from Thinking that way and that's a great way to set yourself up for the future Yeah, and that's that optimism. That's that way of thinking that's gonna only bring you more and more success being more happiness live today And enjoy. 

Okay No hand motions. Yes. I talk with my hands a lot That's why I always have my nails all fancy because I talk at my hands a lot and I'm like, at least that I'm a Italian. - I did notice who you, without even seeing your face, I saw you outside, which is like putting money in the middle with your nails. And I was like, I know that is, it has to be her. - Just the nails, it's just, it's just, it's part of me, it's part of my life. That's actually part of the reason why I decided to take a break of

that from acting. I won't lie, because you're not supposed to have nails and like part of the reason, no, I just, I decided to start taking what you're supposed to have natural nails. - I guess it's a blend cake, a canvas, I guess. - Yeah, unless it makes sense. And I decided to take a break for actual reasons that I talk about in this podcast. But I was like, also, I get to have nails. (laughs) - You have to have nails. - I get to have nails. - You got to see the wind, which is probably a big win, honestly, I feel like. - A big win. - Something I've gotten into, but I have no - Who is it? And I think it's awesome. - They're part of my brand. - It's fresh, huh? Yeah, I know what you're saying. 

- But, so something I do in every episode is I give people a recommendation that supports spiritual growth in some way. And when I have a guest on, the guest gives the recommendation. And I know you have several. So tell the people your recommendations. - So the biggest recommendation I would have over the last year, which I really love, was Atlas of the Heart. This book by Brene Brown, it's all about mapping different connections and really helping to understand other people. From my childhood upbringing, I didn't have too much focus on how to like, different emotions, what they feel and what they are. I was always like, I'm either happy, sad, mad, I didn't entirely understand what anxiety meant. This book really gave me a much better understanding of so many different emotions and so many different ways to think about the world and connect with people. I think spiritually, I think when it comes into Universe, God, et cetera, it's God is love, Universe is love. There's such a connection with everything and that's within each one of us. I think it's how we can connect to each other. That's how we can really show, wow, there's so much more to us, there's so much more, there's something bigger than us is how we can show up for each other. And just like with the LA fires, I find the fact that we can all bond together. That's what I said earlier, that we can, I see everybody come out, support, donate, help. That's how I can know like there's something bigger than us. It's an example of anxiety. I didn't really know what that meant, how that like the details of it, the, I didn't see

and set out too yet. There's so many different things about what was going on that I just had such a very blank understanding, like, okay, that's, I hear a sentence and that's it. as opposed to the depth, the nuance, and how other people can be feeling these things. And so when I read that book, I started realizing how I can communicate and how to actually feel what I'm feeling more to help get through those journeys and really help connect with people. I feel there's a beauty of what you've experienced in the unfortunate trials and journeys that you've gone through, but now you can really again connect with people who've gone through terrible, challenging issues and accidents, et cetera. Etc. There's so many, life is all about a journey and all about the different journeys you take on it. And I feel the more you can connect and more you can feel people with not necessarily having that exact same journey that we can really start supporting each other. Not everybody can live that exact same life. Again, there's no two of the exact same people. Nobody, even if you have the same nature, nurture, whatever you want to say. While unique individuals, we all think differently, we all feel differently. How do we then connect with each other to help create something bigger, create something better, and really support each other? Because that's how we're going to make those bigger changes in the world. That's how we're going to help bring back LA. That's how we're going to help the world and all the issues and heal our body, heal our minds, is through each other and support. And I love the book because it's so helpful for me to start feeling, "Okay, what am I actually dealing with?" So then I can actually come to the table more prepared, more open, more ready to hear, but the more you can be prepared, the more you can know about yourself and know your own biases, the more you can support everybody else, the more you can really start hearing everybody from where they are. 

Again, I started talking a little bit about it, but when I was a kid, I started wearing hearing aids when I was five, and I was always having trouble hearing people, but I always felt like I can understand or I can listen. It was a little bit more challenging for me to actually hear what they were saying, but I But I always made shows focused and intentional about being there for the person who read in the body language, the different emotions that they can give off, and really make sure you can really take care of somebody from hearing them in all different facets. That's so beautiful. Especially because there are so many ways that we communicate. And it's like, I was actually talking about this in an episode that I recorded. I was talking of the movie Society of the snow. And it's a Spanish language film. And I said, for listeners, I said, if you're gonna watch it, please watch it. And I said, but don't dub it, put the subtitles on. Because you can so see what people are communicating based on their facial expressions, the way they hold their body, their vocal inflections. And I feel like you were, had this thing that is not great. And you turned it into a positive of being able to understand people by reading other things about them. Yeah. It's, there's again, similar stories and then how do you make sure you take the best of the situation and make it work for you? I think that journey has been a something I've battled with growing up, because I either sounded funny, because I was hearing things differently, or I had to wear my hearing aids back in the day where these massive like blue things took over my entire ear. So I had to overcome being like, what is that in your ear? There's kind of conversations, but I do think that's helped me stronger getting, I mean, get me to being stronger for who I am now, be more confident in being able to help people who've gone through different journeys. And just being up, being again, being open, understanding and being able to take care of people from wherever they're coming from at the table. You can't expect people to come to you where it meets you or you're at, especially in my world. You have to meet people where they're at. Not everybody's going to want to divulge and tell the entire story for you day one. But I got to find out, okay, what's going on with this person? What's going on with their hip? What's going on with their body? What's their goal? Why do they want to do this? Why is running important to them? And once I found that, that's how we can start taking care of you. We can make sure that you can get running, your gait mechanics, your strength and your hip. But making sure that if you're comfortable, if you're confident, if you're strong, that you can do that again and that you can run again. That's gonna help you send to your mind all these exercises, send to your mind everything we do, could you better? - Yeah, the huge belief of mine from the moment understood what happened to me that I was going to bleed all the positivity I could in this terrible situation, into this terrible situation, terrible face value, but it brought me here. So terrible face value, I mean, your experience brought you here. So it's, it really is mindset and the beauty of it. And I really appreciate that you developed that so early and so young. You're very advanced. I Try my best, I don't say that to me. But it's all about just like being intentional. I find that the more passionate it can be, the more intentional it can be that you can start making some changes. And trust me, it's been a learning journey. It's made all sorts of mistakes and I most

likely would make some mistakes. I'm going to make mistakes in the future. - Oh yeah, that's how we learn. - A thousand percent. - But that's how we learn. - And that's how we keep learning. 

And just being intentional, like, "Hey, what do you want to do? "How do you want to be there? "What?" I'm not a big, like, leave a legacy guy. I think there's people who, like, get really diehard into that world, but how do I just help one person? How do I help another person? And that's it. - Yeah. - I get, I'm, there's a couple texts that I have saved in my phone that when I'm working in those days and, like, man, this is a long day, things are going on with my family, things are going on with my relationship, and it's kind of a little bit beaten down, or like, you know, it's a tough day at work and things just aren't working my way, tough times as with different colleagues or whatnot. I was looking back at these phones and seeing like the people I was able to help, people saying thank you so much, I can't believe I've been able to do this again. And this small, like just making sure I know I helped one person, maybe if you're happy. You can't imagine, you can't, as long as you help one person, you can change the world. - Yeah, that's my thing with this podcast. If I just help one person, I've done everything I want to do. And I'm another person that you've helped because I mean, due to the air, I'm not going to do it. But if it wasn't for the air, I'd be able to do this half marathon. And the Tough Murder got canceled. But if it wasn't for the cancellation, I would do it later too. I can do it later. It was actually rescheduled to March, the people I was doing it with, I don't think they want to do it in March, but I can do it. - You can do it. We want to do it, you have the ability to do it. - Exactly. And now if I want to do that, I have the ability to do it. And it's also like just because I'm not running these things anymore, it doesn't mean I'm going to stop my sessions. Because I still have some, I still have things to fix and there's always going to be more physical things I want to do. - It's the life, it's the life It's not just making you sure you can be a runner for this marathon coming up next week or in a month or two months, but much more of like how do I want to make sure I can be running, play with my kids, play with my grandkids. I don't want to be able to travel the world and actually do want to be in hospitals when I'm 70, give you the ability and the access to do as much as you can for as long as you can. - Yeah. - That's the goal. 

- And the next thing that you're helping me with is learn how to do a split because I saw a video of Sabrina Carpenter doing a move. And I was like, I want to do that. So now, Jax is helping me learn how to do a split. - Here we go. You can make it happen. - I want to make it happen. And see all the belief, all the belief. - It's being confident. It's just knowing how to get there. It's being clear with objectives of like, okay, you can stretch this muscle, you can get this kind of strength, you can get this comfortable trusting yourself in this position, repetition, repetition, repetition. You're gonna get there. And I know that you've, we have not started to practice yet, but I know they're practicing, but I know that you've told me that the mistake people make is they're too focused on the legs and that doing the split, it comes from your back and your hips. It's the full picture. And again, it's just like, just how running is not all, I can back pain from running isn't just from your back, a lot of times it's from your foot, it's from your knee, it's from your ribs, from like, There's so many different things you can take into that picture as it comes into splits. It's always, you can look at the one spot, like, okay, it has to be this. Yes, but also what else is getting affected? - Yes. - Take care of the person, not just the one area that they're restricted in, not moving well, and et cetera. - So you've given me another book I need to read, and I will tell the listeners when I master the splits because we're gonna do it. - I kinda like that. I'll be a fun photo. I'll be a fun photo. We have a Donnie like, "Hey, go back and listen to the podcast." - I did it guys. I did it guys. That's going to be your victory. - Awesome. - 

Anyway, thank you so much. - My pleasure. - This has been great. - Of course. - We've been prepping for this since May 2023, 2024. Well, we've done it. This has been Gabriella Rebranded Win most lose some, Dr. Jackson. Oh, real quick. If you want to, I'm going to post your links. If there's any you want to send me, send me your links and I'm going to post it. But if there is any place you want to tell the listeners to check you out, I'm going to put them in the episode description, but also. - Yeah, totally. Instagram is @Doctor.Jax , d -o -c -t -o -r dot j -a -x. Jax is just well my family and my friends have called me for a long time. Mostly I don't see my family. And so when I started making that a mainstream handle and having people call me Jax, I was always like, oh, that's kind of interesting. I've always only heard my sister and my mom and my dad call me that, but I kind of opened up that part of myself to the world and see like how that goes. So Dr. Jackson on Instagram, you can look up myo detox is where I work at. And you can see all the amazing things that they can do and help and the world that's opening up and the way we're trying to change healthcare and change how you move your body. - And it's amazing and it is changing it. And such mind and it's in physical health care. So thank you so much for that. - My pleasure. - And now again, this has been Gabriella Rebranded, when most loosome and LA is definitely gonna fucking win this one. - Here we go. - Yep.