An athlete walks into their primary care doctor's office for sport-related joint pain and his immediate advice is “Well, you should stop doing that activity. It's clearly not healthy for you.” The athlete gives him the mental middle finger and decides to ignore the pain and continue their sport, ultimately resulting in a severe injury requiring surgical intervention.
Later that day, an obese patient sees the same provider for knee pain that is making exercise difficult. The doctor says, “Well, to fix that knee pain, you should really lose weight. Now eat less and exercise more and that'll get better.” The patient increases her exercise intensity and cuts her calories in half, and due to her increased intensity and decreased recovery capacity, her knee pain worsens to the point where she is unable to perform any exercise at all. She gains weight, becomes discouraged, and falls off the wagon with her diet. Her knee pain is now twice as bad as it was before she gained the extra 20lb.
Either of these situations sound familiar? In both cases, the physician was correct. Continued activity by the athlete worsened their pain and weight gain in the second case exacerbated the knee pain. But did his accurate initial assessment actually help his patients? The answer is a resounding “NO.” Unfortunately, providers like this are all too common these days. With the productivity demands placed on primary care physicians by insurance companies and the wide array of information required to graduate from medical school, the overwhelming majority of these docs lack either the knowledge or the time to provide adequate care in situations like the ones above.
Hopefully, you haven't personally experienced a situation like the ones above, but if you have, there's still hope. That's where I come in! Let me graciously welcome you to DrMeathead.com, where I hope to begin closing this knowledge gap for physicians and patients, regardless of athletic background. It is just as idiotic to tell an athlete to discontinue their sport to relieve pain as it is to tell an obese person to exercise through pain to reduce it. There is a better way! By using principles learned from the world of strength and conditioning, performance nutrition, sports medicine, family medicine, and exercise physiology, comprehensive care can be provided to the athlete in every one of us.
Whatever your background, I believe you can benefit from the information provided here. From home corrective exercise videos to meal suggestions to articles about all aspects of health and fitness, there is a little something for everyone. If you're a competitive athlete who is worried about their health, this site is for you. If you've let your wellness go by the wayside and are looking for a nutritional or exercise kickstart, this site is for you. If you're in good health but would like to get better through strength and conditioning, this site is for you. If you're injured and just want to get back on the field faster, this site is for you. Lastly, if you're just a big biomechanics, functional anatomy, and nutrition nerd (LIKE ME!) and you want to learn some cool stuff, then this site is definitely for you.
I look forward to sharing with you all my own special blend of "Meathead Medicine" to help you achieve health through strength, and strength through health.