#30 - Brian Jones

Brian Jones shares an incredible story of a physical therapist who advocates using breakthrough regenerative therapies to bring patients back from their injuries, as an alternative to first turning to surgery and longer downtime. Many people travel to different countries to access these procedures, but he is in the forefront of making the treatments available in the US. Our conversation with Brian opened our eyes to a professional that donates his time and skills, constantly upgrades his knowledge and really cares for his patients. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio he presently lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. He owns his own outpatient orthopedic clinic with a partner that specializes in rehabilitation post stem cell therapy and platelet rich plasma injection. Brian is focused on combining regenerative and rehabilitative medicine in an attempt to improve rehabilitative techniques from around the globe, with the help of Dr. Dwight Lin! Find Brian On TikTok 

Brian is a personal trainer, certified strength and conditioning coach, health fitness specialist, athletic trainer, nutritionist, physical therapist, and clinical specialist. He has worked in wound care, sports/athletics, geriatrics, pediatrics, neurology, skilled nursing, acute care, inpatient neurology, outpatient orthopedics, with the military and for professional sports organizations (World Surf League and Major League Baseball). He is most confident with orthopedic injuries as he has undergone several serious surgeries personally. He is currently working with Access Surf which is an organization that helps handicapped individuals get in the ocean through adaptive sports equipment. He also volunteers for Life Waters , an organization that helps wounded veterans SCUBA dive. 

You can find Brian hiking, SCUBA diving, surfing, or in the gym on weekends!
Brian D. J

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Transcript

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This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It's all possible! It’s time to wake up. Here we go. Hi, everyone. This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast, where we talk to professionals and everyday people about their life and health and fitness to be an inspiration to live your best life. And today we have with us on the show, Brian Jones, who is from Hawaii and a physical therapist. I'm so excited about talking to him today. Hi, Brian. How are you? Good, Although good morning, Angela. Thanks for having me on the show today. Yeah, I wish I was in Hawaii recording. That would be so much fun. Yeah, it's about 75 and sunny. So that's our winter here. Nice. Actually, our temperature today is probably similar to yours. 75 and sunny right now. Yeah. It's funny to see people walking around with jackets on. I want that to be below 80 here. People get back their runner clothes. Well, you know, we have to use those winter clothes sometimes, so. Yeah, yeah. Get them out of the closet, freshen them up a little bit. Right, right, right. So, Brian. Yeah. I'd like to talk to you about what you do to try to help inspire others. What got you into the physical therapy field? That's a great question. So I've been an athlete my entire life and playing all different sports. You get injuries, ankle sprains, strains, what have you. And I was always curious from an early age how the body recovers, essentially how you rehabilitate to get back in the game and later in life that had translated to a serious car accident. I got rear ended and I needed several surgeries on my neck, back shoulder. And the only thing that saved me, other than the ortho surgeons was the physical therapists and creating a strong bond with my PTSD solidified my game plan in life. I was doing it every day and it had turned into a lifestyle. And then that's when I realized I'm going to do this for a career. Awesome. How old were you when you had that accident? Uh, 18. So I just had a stoplight and got rear ended. So pretty, pretty fast. Drunk driver. Thankfully, I'm still here, but they did need to put some screws in my spine and my neck and so they call that a fusion cervical and lumbar fusion. And then I had some serious with my shoulder bone's hip. Mm. Okay. Yeah. So that turning point in your life kicked you off to a great career. To where? To help others? Yeah. Yeah, I was. I was headed to the military, and it's essentially a divine intervention because the guy I signed up with, unfortunately, is no longer here. But I often think about if I he got killed over and overseas and I think about that all the time. If that accident ever happened, would I be here? So I feel grateful, even though through trauma and tragedy, you got to look at the silver lining, right? Absolutely. No doubt about that. Can you tell us about three people in your life, inspirations, mentors that help inspire you to be what you are today? Yeah. Yeah. The first one that comes to mind is a professor I added when I was in graduate school in Florida, and that man has more passion and knowledge about helping others. That is contagious. So not just as a professor, but in the community you would volunteer, get involved. And from that one experience alone, I could see that the more you give, the more you get. And that has translated into my current situation. Sure, it's nice to go to work and help patients, but what you really feel good about is getting out there in the community and helping so his name's Eric. Shamus, the doctor. Eric Shamus. And he has wrote several books about physical therapy and it led me to realize the importance of volunteer work from that one man. Although elaborate on that. I currently volunteer for an organization called Access Surf where we get handicapped children out in the water to surf. So there's a whole team effort. Pete Doherty's nurses, doctors, we all get together and we carry the disabled individuals in the water and there's adaptive equipment so we can teach them how to surf. And then I also work for an organization that helps disabled veterans scuba dive. So I'm a scuba instructor too. It's fun. That's where I have the most fun. Yeah. Sorry. Detracted from the original question, but yeah, just from one interaction with a mentor or a figure that shows you the importance of living. I've carried that with me through my whole physical therapy career. Adaptive sports. I happy to do another podcast. In the beginning, when I first started with somebody here who works for a physical therapist called Brooks Rehab, and they have a similar program and they work through another organization called Oceans of Hope. I don't know if you've ever heard of them. Yeah, I actually have. Yeah, there's several organizations out there, but it's all in the same effort. I know somebody who has muscular sclerosis and she is involved in that program. She has been surfing with them. She has been water skiing, She has been kayaking, which recently she sure hurt her shoulder doing that. She's trying to recuperate from a tear in the shoulder. And that's why we need a physical therapist right there. Absolutely. Yeah. US personal trainers can't do it all. We don't have quite the extensive education that you have. Yeah. Oh, no, it's. Everyone has their specialty, and it's an interesting dynamic. I had started off wanting to be involved with personal training and life just kind of pushed me down the road of pretty. So yeah, I've been fortunate enough to work in many different environments and see what's out there, different specialties, how we all help each other. I think that's the most important message there are. Those in the medical field are wellness and exercise. It all accumulates into the importance psychosocial thing that we don't often think about. MM So exercise medicine. The first time I talked to you, you told me that you were going to a marathon that day. Oh, yeah. Maybe volunteering and shaping and helping the people who are in that marathon. And I was impressed right there from the start that you were volunteering your time to go on and how you're out there. Yeah, I just feel like it's part of your job to help out. And it's simple things, you know, sprains, strains someone twists an ankle and they've trained maybe, you know, six months a year for this one day. And I got to commend people to push through it. You know, I'll take a quick look. I was in the medical tent and we take a look at a couple injuries where there's a physician next to me and what do you think? I'm like, I could take it up and then, okay, let's go. So I worked for the World Surf League for about five years. That's pro pro surfing. My clinic was in how are you on the north Shore of Oahu? And I would do all the surf tournaments every weekend. So same thing surfers and get injured neck, have a wipe out whatever and we'd have to clear them to get back in the water just to make sure everything was okay. So that's the athletic trainer and me. I went to undergraduate athletic. Excellent. Yeah. Let's let's do a little talk about KT taping. Sure. There are still so many people who have never heard of KT, you know, And I had that used on my shoulder many years ago when I used to work at the post office and I had an injury with my shoulder and I was amazed. I'm like, okay, what's this tape? And on my shoulder, Yeah. And Robert is just amazed at how it helped heal. And can you talk about it a little bit later? Yes. No more. Yeah. So can you see a tape was invented by a very, very interesting Japanese man about 25 years ago. It's been around for a while, but essentially you have to think of muscles. There's origins and insertions story. The muscle starts and where it inserts and how muscles contract. So concentric motion typically with injuries, there over use, meaning you constantly do the same motion over and over and over and that leads to tendonitis. So can you say it was there to kind of help facilitate motion of injured muscle tissue, ligaments or tendons? So the way we apply it is just as important as how much pressure we put on it. So if you have, say, bicep tendinitis, you're going to put the tape farther down the arm or distal and then tape it proximal so up the arm. And that actually will help to turn the muscle off, essentially giving your body a break. So it's not just used for muscles, too. It's also used for ligaments. That's what holds our bones together. So the ligaments everyone has heard of probably the ACL or I'm sure that's the most common one we hear about in sports getting injured. But there's also an ACL or the medial collateral ligament on the knee. And if we put the tape on and like a different pattern, like X pattern, that'll help stabilize the ligament. And often it takes the pain right away. So you watch any baseball, basketball, football, professional sports of any kind. You'll see the tape on there. And it could be black, blue, pink, purple, neon green. And that doesn't really matter. But it's an effective way to get athletes back in the game and moving and give your sore muscles a little break. So do you recommend somebody who's just go into the gym and they're having some kind of soreness in their shoulder or their elbow or their knee to use the tape? Yeah, but it's also important you have to understand how to apply it. Mhm. And you put it in the wrong direction. Meaning again let's say biceps, I mean that is the stranger. Your biceps in the gym lift too much if you put it on from proximal or from the top of your shoulder to the elbow, it's going to actually make it worse. So it's going to activate the muscle, you want to inhibit it. So yeah, but this, this tape is effective for all sorts of instabilities, too. So most of what I see in the gym is wrist instability, especially those like cross fitters who are doing burpees and putting a lot of impact on their wrists as we get older. Sometimes those horrible bones, the little tiny marbles that are risk, get a little loose. And the most effective way to help stabilize is initiate is it bends and stretches and moves. And it's not 100% restrictive, so you can't move with the tape. I really like it. I'm a big advocate. Yeah. And of course, you know, if you really don't know what's going on inside of there, it's a good idea to go ahead and see somebody, a professional, so that you can find out what's going on. So you're making sure that you do apply it correctly. Yeah, there's some hurdles. So in with physical therapy, there's something called direct access that our organization has been fighting for for years. And essentially you don't need a referral to go to a party like in Hawaii where there's something called direct access. You spring an ankle and you're like, I don't want to set up my appointment with my PCP, a negative referral to an orthopedic specialist. I mean, that's where we can fix eight weeks, right? So fortunately, there's that light variable upon which state you're in. But ah, I feel like our field is heading in the right direction to try to help people out as soon as they need it. Because atrophy, right? Mm hmm. It takes place in three days. So essentially, I think my geriatric population, they have a fall, they get injured, they're not moving. They just sit around and then with three days, atrophy happens. So we often like to tell patients the sooner you get in, the better we can help you. Mm hmm. Absolutely. And if you do something to one part of your body, don't stop using the other parts. Right. Well, compensation. Yeah, that's a big thing to do. So you spring your left ankle, All you're going to see is overuse of the right hip and right lower back, and that leads to compensatory motor strategies. So because people always think, Oh, well, I hurt my arm, I'll just let it rest. And it's like, Yeah, but you should also know what specifically is injured so we can tell you what to avoid as well. Yeah, most people think peaches Oh I'll exercise or what have you, but in reality we mostly do a lot of education about what not to do, so not re injuring the thing that you may have hurt. Or if you do have a serious medical procedure with hardware. Right. So orthopedic surgery don't do this because it might aggravate that. So yeah. Of the makes it yeah. So I hear a lot of people believe in physical therapy. Others like physical therapy doesn't do anything for me. Yeah, right. Oh, that's every day. And just like dentists, I always like to use the analogy. You've been to a good dentist, and you've probably been to a bad dentist, right? I have that. So there are individuals out there with specialization, some, for example, mines in orthopedics. So bones, muscles, joints, habit. I wouldn't be very good at treating a pediatric patient. I mean, I try my best, but I'd rather than go see a pediatric specialist or there's geriatric specialist, someone who specifically handles the aging population and that with physical therapy, you're going to come across several, oh, for lack of a better word, quantity over quality. They just try to run the numbers up to good pace, right? I mean, at the end of the day, most clinics are businesses. And unfortunately, I've seen a current trend here in Hawaii where some major hospitals just look at numbers. It's not really about patient advocacy. It's more or less about just getting people in and out. Ride the bike. Do that stretch. Okay. Get out of here. Yeah. Know, it can be farther from what people need. They they need a specialized program, but we'll know right away when a patient comes in and says, I'm not better, Nothing's working. Okay, Okay. Show me your range of motion that we've been working on. Show me the exercise you've been doing that helps facilitate extra rotation. You know, we talked about this, and I'll give them texts and exercise, and you wouldn't believe how often we see people have no clue. They have a variable. And we're like, Come on, man, you've been here for four weeks. You got to know what to do. I can't do it for you. And yeah, and so there's some miscommunication sometimes. Again, psychosocial issues, pain avoidance, fear avoidance, behaviors. Right? When we're hurt, we don't want to move. And then that couldn't be further from the last thing you want to do. You want to you want to move for multiple reasons. But a lot of times you'll hear it didn't work. And it's partially because people don't adhere or comply to the program. So I always like to think about how hard it is to get myself to the gym some days and think about when you're hurt. Do you really want to go move? Especially with medication and co-morbidities? So there's a lot of variables to consider. But in my personal experience, people who do adhere to a program and are diligent and are active and community and have good support networks, it all, it all matters. And you have to get them out there and believing they will be better too. So the power of the mind, I think is important. You have to want to get better. There's definitely ways to do that without right away going through surgery. A lot of insurance companies won't even allow surgery unless you go through the steps to get better first. Yeah, that's a great that's a great example. A horrible side. Perfect. Say I come across the Well, this actually actually just happened recently. I was checking a young girl's high school athlete urging me out and I was doing a test and realized she's missing her ACL and the family was there and they're like, how long and until easy fixes it. Well, none because you need surgery. So we know she needed surgery, but the insurance provider I won't mention the company, but you need 12 sessions of failed conservative intervention before they even give you an MRI. And insurance companies, they have their policies for a reason. But I was like, look, while you're here, let's talk about how we can work on that opposite. It's compensating for your weak knee. So, you know, there's other stuff we do called free. Have getting you ready for surgery. So worst case scenario often is surgery. It's scary for a lot of people, but there are a lot of things that a provider physical therapist can do to help facilitate the recovery process and whether that's range of motion or strengthening or flexibility, it all matters. So the better program you have going into surgery, the faster your recover after. Yeah, there's the big picture. Just because one part of our body is hurting doesn't mean we don't have to work on the other parts to help it. Everything is connected. So just like you said, if it's the right side of the body, the that needs surgery, let's say the hip, you want to work with the left side of the body to stay strong, to help support it, maybe even losing weight. Right. Losing weight before surgery. You're going in for knee surgery. You've got somebody who's overweight. Do you recommend Oh, my gosh, That's like that's a that's a question we would love to talk about as physical therapist. However, there's only so much time. And I found in the past, you know, people ask me like, do I need to lose weight? Answer Often, most times we all need to, you know, I'll make a joke. I'm like, I got to work on my belly, too. But the reality is you kind of don't want to distract them from the goal of what we're trying to achieve in education about their injury, what to do, what not to do it compliance. But when we start talking about diet and nutrition, it often goes kind of off the rail and we lose focus. So but if I see someone several times are inquisitive, sure, I can absolutely help them with the program. And yes, losing weight and improving your cardiovascular health. It all matters in regards to recovery. Huh? Have you ever had anybody ask you about these new diabetic drugs to to lose weight? I just met with a wegovy rep last week. Yeah. So. Yeah, yeah. Semaglutide. So part of my job is like I do another job on the side marketing for a physical therapy company that sends pizzas to Medicare patients home. So I help out with getting peaches to people's homes that can't get home. So I go meet with several physicians around Oahu, and I ended up at a diabetic. The next thing I had, one of the docs I knew and shared it out for the pharmaceutical rep for Wegovy, also known as Semaglutide, the peptide. So we talked for a good hour and you wouldn't believe how often people bring it up to me. Probably every day. Wow. What are you what are your thoughts? Sir, before I go on my tangent, have you had people ask about Semaglutide? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, except I don't have the professional answers for them. I mean, either a not. Yeah. I mean, what I've read online and from blogs say I do enjoy podcasts like Dr. Andrew Huberman, neuroscientist egos into a depth, but essentially it's a new field of medicine and I was talking to a physiologist friend of mine who does stem cells Propecia shots, and apparently they're asking physicians to take continuing education on it just to learn, because the way I think the insurance companies are going is they're trying to push over this drug for cardiovascular problems diabetes, weight management, orthopedic, joint issues. I mean, the reality is, is when we lose weight, our bodies typically improve. So the the pharmaceutical rep had mentioned all this data and meta analysis studies, and I'm like, okay, great. But tell me if people are just not eating like that, let's be real here. If you stop eating, yeah, you lose weight, but you also will lose your lean muscle. The what you've worked so hard for. And she was like, Absolutely. So you lose fat and muscle and there are detrimental effects to just taking the drug and not having a proper diet. So as far as I know, they're looking into research about that. But, you know, let's face it, pharmaceuticals are a big business. Yeah, and if they can pass that drug for all those medical conditions, I think we're going to see it more and more or more every day. I mean, Elon Musk isn't right like can Yeah. These these celebrities I, I can't recall who else, but I'm sure there's some popular ones there. Yeah. So people do your research, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We by no means am I a diabetic physician, but they are using it and the qualifications to get I from what I understand from having a meeting with that doctor is that they're, they're pretty low. Meaning if you're obese and you have co-morbidities, you can be applicable so the drug so yeah yeah it's interesting. Okay. You had mentioned your PRP, the platelet rich plasma program under therapy. Yeah. Treatment, however. Yeah. Yeah. Say that you want to talk about that. Yeah, I know you're getting into that with Dr. Dwight Lin. That's right. Yeah. I said she told me yesterday we're starting a business in the future, maybe six months or a year. So it takes time. But when I worked with the servers, a lot of them don't want to have surgery, right? You have a tendinitis, you have a tenant apathy, you have a muscle strength, whatever it may be. And the last thing those guys want to do is get their surgery because being active is their whole life. So I'd often send the patients to refer them to my friend Dr. Dwight Wynn, physiotherapist. He works with stem cells and platelet rich plasma injection. That's my focus is combining rehabilitative medicine with regenerative medicine, and we see the light on the horizon, the future of medicine. Unfortunately, people are going to different countries to get the treatment they receive here. It's essentially, well, I'll just say more safe. I've been hearing some crazy story is about injections people I mean getting an infections that losing eyesight see whatever it may be horrible story so go to a professional But in any case your listeners or anyone has not heard of PRP platelet rich plasma. It's where we take a patient's own blood and you draw out several vials. So ten milliliters, we probably get about 40 or 50 milliliters of blood. And then you spin it in a centrifuge and extract the platelets, the top layer. Then those are re-injected back into your torn tissue or tendon and platelets are in our blood. And what they're responsible for is rebuilding new tissue or essentially fibroblasts that make new muscle ligament and tendon tissue. So it's actually pretty cool rather than our own body sending platelets to the site of injury. Let's call that one. Just how many platelets you have in your body at any given time. The PRP injections with Dwight Len, he's doing 50 to 60 X, so in one injection you're getting 50 to 60 times more platelets to that side of injury and it works pretty cool in inert. It's not funny is inflammation is our bodies way of healing damaged tissue. So the PRP injection really inflames the localized site for two weeks. It kind of sucks. So the first two weeks after you get your shot, we're telling patients don't do too much, no weight lifting. You can do some stretching, but essentially the platelets are rebuilding the scaffolding, your tissue. So it's pretty cool. So you can either put up with the pain from whatever is going on in your body or get the treatment and put up with that pain and hopefully feel better. Yeah, I mean, I've there there's a EMT I worked with recently and he didn't want eye surgery, so we went to ortho surgeons. They said, Yeah, you need surgery. And I was working with full mobility, pretty good strength. But he just is missing that snapping strength. He needed to lift patients and it's into his ambulance. And so I referred him to a friend and sure enough, the PRP, he had to take a couple of weeks off work just to chill. But he went back to work. I thought last he told me he's doing fine, so it's not 100% fixed. We'll say, Well, I've had it personally to my shoulder and neck and let's say my body's at 70% effectiveness. The PRP shot coming up to like 90%. So I did 100% better. But definitely improvement. So and that matters when we're engaged in our more vigorous activities of life. How long does it last? It yeah, you get the typically there's a routine of two shots, so you do them six weeks apart. So your first shot and then the two weeks you just kind of show stretch. Generally you start going back to some general strength training on that area that's affected light resistance work. So band lightweights, nothing advanced, no free weights, no bodybuilding. And then at six week mark you would get your second injection So and then now the VA tri west TRICARE that's the insurance for military members they're covering the PROPECIA. So I think it's great. And hopefully other insurance providers will get around to covering it too. Wow, that is great. They are the only ones right now that are covering it right here. I do, although there's a couple docs, but they utilize like four or five X concentration BRP and my friend Dwight Leonard, he's doing 5060 x, so and now I've only had that approach. There are variabilities in that specialization as well. So it's it's confusing. And I know I've been dealing with it for the last like seven years, having these conversations with my friend who has this. It's still confusing for a lot of people. So if you do have questions about here, you can always reach out to me directly and share my information, right? Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. And I do these little educational videos on social media to people, ask me questions and I'll show them what we usually do. It's been fun. Is that through your business or your own personal. So yeah, it's, it's, it's a business profile, but it's TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. But yeah, people ask me I'll could be anything from TMJ pain or it could be a criminal vehicular ligament sprain AC joint you know, and they'll send me pictures and what do you do? And I'll help them out. Obviously, it's it's better to go in person, of course. Yes. But it's been fun. So you used to do a radio show? Yes. Yeah. With Dwight Lin, the guy I was talking about. How long ago was that? Oh, so that was 2018. 2020. And then when COVID literally everything shut down, I mean, we all know what happened, but it was at the old doll Cannery factory where they used to count all the pineapples. They turned it into a business office as well. It's kind of cool. And when you would just take calls in the morning from people, I had questions about stem cells, PRP, physical therapy, so it was cool to combine minds on that. MM Yeah, it's called the Moving body. Yeah. Eventually I'll probably get back into something like that, but it's still nice to reach out to people and have individuals reach out to me about concerns they're facing with surgery or injuries and any of your lives. Magical. Always feel free to reach out to me as well. Very nice. So, Brian, with all that you do for others, how do you find the time to take care of Brian? Yeah, well, wake up early, okay? When I'm in in-person, yes, I don't want to be, But it's funny, you had mentioned influential figures in my life earlier, right? And I've been listening to these motivational YouTube videos. They're silly, but they work. There's a guy, Jocko Willink, he's like a Navy SEAL guy. And I put him out as my alarm clock. Get out of bed for three. I love it. Yeah, it's bad. But he's like, Stop making excuses, Make your bed, go to the gym. And it just, like very, you know, very simple advice. But sometimes we need to hear reinforcement. So you make your bed. I do. First thing, there's. There's several philosophers I listen to. But yeah, there's one pretty famous psychologist out there who's just. He has a whole thing about make your bed. Make your bed. And that sets the tone for the day. So if you fail at the minimal tasks, you're going to fail the big tasks. So how do you do anything? Is how you do everything right? Very good. Now wonder why my mom, my mother always told me, Make your bed. Yeah. It didn't end me till I'm in my later 30 years of age. And then it'll recently said that we're we're we're all still learning. Absolutely. Okay, what's your biggest failure and what did you learn from that experience? Oh, well, I tried to quit being a physical therapist in grad school. Wow. Yeah. I always consider that my biggest failure because the professor I'd mentioned earlier, he was the guy who kind of helped me back here. And now life gets hard sometimes. Family members pass away, relationships fail, or you just many second guess things. I recall going through some very difficult times in graduate school. And that's that's tough for anyone. Whatever you're studying school, hard, you have to be dedicated. And I had left and I said, I quit. I brought in my professor friend, colleague. Now, he advocated for me and I essentially begged and pleaded to let me back. And I didn't do anything bad. I just walked away. Yeah. And that I'll never forget him helping me to achieve the goal. I set out to do it and I want to quote my biggest failure, but that's the one that sticks out to me quitting. I, I don't want to quit in life, especially of myself or others. And it's in rehabilitation or injuries. Quitting. It's just not an option. Life's sometimes not fair. It can be difficult, but you have two options. You can quit or you can keep moving for it. Right? And thank goodness for that, Professor. Yeah. Eric, What's up, man? Thank goodness for his intervention and getting you back on your path again because look at what you've done with your career. Yeah, it's been fun. And every day you learn something, they're seeing things through. Even if it sucks. Maybe you're writing a book, maybe you're. I like to paint at night to relax my mind. You know, finish that book, finish your painting, whatever it may be. You know, I think dedication is more important than motivation. Meaning we get motivated to go to the gym, but there's days I don't want to go. Those days I don't want to read. But you have to dedicate yourself to the task that you started. And that goes for relationships, transcends all of life's little areas. Don't quit. Very good. Very good. So you said you're a morning person and you like to usually get to the gym in the morning or do your workouts in the morning. That works for you. Yeah. What about nutrition? Do you stick to a program? Do you have you made lifestyle changes or you just anything goes? Yeah. So I'm not quite as meticulous as some people you may see on YouTube, the wearing your macros, Right. Proteins, fats, carbohydrates. But recently in life, I would say just about a year now, year ago now, I quit drinking alcohol and that was a it's socially acceptable. So I went years just thinking, oh, okay. But absolutely, it's catabolic it affects your diet. You're not it's not good for you. We all know that. But I think that was the most important dietary change I made just less alcohol or no alcohol. It's just it doesn't it's that good. But more than anything. But as far as nutrition goes, I have. Are you familiar with Basal metabolic rate? BMR Yes, No, I utilize that formula with anyone who wants to lose weight. So BMR is just essentially how many calories you burn while you're doing nothing watching TV. And then you factor in how many calories you burn through exercise, and that should be your standard intake of calories through the day. So I tried to focus on that formula and how much calories I need just to stay consistent. Mm hmm. I hope that makes sense. Yeah. So, yes, yeah, counting calories is important, but I'm not as meticulous to say some bodybuilder rides. And what does your weekly workout program look like that keeps you healthy and strong? So four days a week at the gym and then I do yoga, like on Wednesdays and then on the weekends hiking or surfing and then as a scuba instructor, if they need me to teach a couple of classes or something, I'll get out there and you know, you're exercising, carrying tanks and swimming in the water. So something fun you can't like, you can't go to the gym every day. It's just boring, you know, before work. Great. You've done your good. It's accomplished for the day. But I think everyone needs to make time for that hour. Just an hour. I'm not saying you have to go to a gym, but just a walk around the neighborhood before you keep busy with your day to day life or start looking at your phone. Surfing, dieting variety is so important. You got to keep it interesting, Do the things you like to do, get out there and enjoy your life. Right. Keep me. Yeah. I even went for a bike ride two days ago, just at sunset around the ocean, and that's when they needed that. So nice. I feel like people get too stuck in their routines and it's like it's. It's okay to change it up a little, you know, try something new. Mhm. But a surfing day for your body, it's more for the mind because when I get out there and you're just sitting on the wave looking at the ocean and the clouds just kind of connecting with nature. So I always bring like a little face mask, a little goggles to see if I can see some turtles or marine life or anything down there. Okay. Yeah. So it's more for just like just connecting with nature. I'll be. Yes, I'm not a very good surfer. I'm from Cleveland, Ohio. I didn't I didn't learn to serve. So I was 26. Yeah. And there's kids out here who have been surfing circles around me and they're like, you know, ten years old. And you're like, okay, you can't focus on them. Just be you. So balancing on a surfboard, I mean, I know I've been out there paddle boarding and paddle boarding. Your legs are mostly in one place. You can move them around a little bit, but wow, your legs get tired from standing on that paddle board. Yeah. So for my neck injury, I sometimes can't surf that long. So we do sup surf, Right. Stand up, paddle. So I'll just paddle out catching waves on that thing. But yeah, it's fatiguing. And especially in the ocean, there's waves. You have to really lean or lean back and paddle through and yeah, it's a lot of fun. I just. It feels like that's where I belong. So nice. I enjoy it. You say it's just for your mind, but I think you're doing something for your body there, too. Yeah. And then you meet people on the water too. You're like, Hey, what's up? Make new friends. You know, everyone's out there to have a good time. So there's usually never bad energy, for lack of a better word. We used to have a boat and all the boaters you would meet out there Similar. Similar story. You know, it's just everybody's out there to have a good time. It's just a beautiful day. Beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Like the clouds, man. What's there to worry about? If you out on the water for a day, It's like being on vacation for a weekend. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I did some scuba diving in different countries, and we go on boats for, like, a week at a time. Pretty cool. But I don't think I could do that for work. I missed land too much. Just So you're from Cleveland, Ohio. I heard her. She mentioned that she went to school in Florida. Well, that's where I am now. You're in Hawaii. What? Wow, What a track record. There, here, there and there. I got a few more places, but yeah, as a physical therapist, they're in demand. So anywhere you go, you can pretty much guarantee you'll find a job somewhere. So, yeah, very fortunate in that aspect. Just like traveling nurses, there's lots of programs for traveling physical therapists and they do contract work. I've been fortunate enough to live in several states and check it out and went to Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and I was like, the desert is not for me. It's three months at a time. And this is when I was just starting out and then made it to Cal before. Yeah, and then Hawaii and I just never looked back. Nine Yeah. It's not bad here at everyone. Well complain about something but we just call Paradise Texas. I think a lot of people in society this is a speculation. So I think a lot of mental health issues have come from the inability to go out. I go for a walk in the forest or, you know, just the by the beach. I only get speak for myself on that one. But when you can't do something, you realize how important that one thing is. Yeah, I live like 10 minutes from the coast here, the East Coast and of Florida. And I just love going for walks on the beach or even driving down a one day and seeing the weather go. I know. A one day. Yeah. Yeah. Going to eat and having the view of the ocean or that time of year maybe catch a whale jumping out there. You know they're here. Yeah, the humpbacks are here right now, are they? Yeah. Yeah. Probably later today. I'll go down to the Waikiki and just try to paddle out. But same thing. Just driving along the coast, you're just like, I just there feels like your blood pressure drops just a little bit. You're like, okay, all right, all right. You're in paradise. Yeah. How lucky are you? I feel I'm okay. Doing all right? Yeah. So here is there's a question for you. What's the best thing that people can do for themselves, for optimal health? Create a program that works for you. Don't focus too much on the big goals because that will just frustrate you. When I was working with clients or patients through, I need to lose £80. I need to run so many miles, I need to lift this much weight. And it's like, okay, it's good that you think that way, but let's create some daily, weekly or monthly goals and save those big goals for the end of the year. Now it's January, so it's okay to write your big goals out, but we lose sight of the small girls in between. Now, whether that's not adding sugar to your coffee, right, or small little calories add up over a year. I was in this conversation with the friend the other day about Starbucks, those holiday drinks. You know, and she had like I Google that. She's like, look, I'm like I'm like 71 grams of sugar and like the one drink. And I'm like, you do know that any more than 45, you increase your risk of heart to heart disease, diabetes, stroke. She's like, yeah, I don't want to you know, we're having a good time, but I mean, those small goals, switching your favorite beverage to something with less calories, it adds up at the end of the year. So I would I would say the most important thing for fitness and well-being is just focus on your daily goals. Very good. Chipping away at little at a time. Make your bed and then drink your water and do it. Do it. You got to do well. It starts with the small daily routines and then that translates into noticeable differences. Absolutely. I've got friends who, you know, I hate to say disappear, but, you know, put down the social media, start reading, improving your quality of life. And it's amazing how much faster you improve when you're just focusing out while big love it very good answer. Okay listeners, take that and stick it in your back pocket and pull it out. What is one piece of advice you would give to someone starting out in your career? I would say don't get married to one idea of what you're going to focus on. People go into this physical therapy field because they most more times than that, they've had a injury and they're like, okay, I had knee surgery. I'm going to be a orthopedic physical there, but keep your mind open. Try new things. Like, for example, I didn't think I like wound care and I was right. I didn't like it. It was not for me. But then I work with pediatrics and somehow the kids just made me feel good. So you don't know. You think, Oh, these kids are going to be tough to deal with. But they were the most innocent, happy, grateful people you'd ever mock. They're just it's awesome so, you know, I've kind of navigated the waters back to orthopedics, how I got hurt. But I would just say keep an open mind. Never in my life would I think I'd be a from Cleveland, Ohio. I'm a scuba instructor for disabled veterans in Hawaii. It's weird. You know, paraplegics can't use your legs. So I'm like, I got you, man. Grab their and take them down. Just keep breathing. You know, we go over all this stuff before we get in the water, but, you know, you never know where life's going to take you and what experiences will change your life. So keep an open mind would be the appropriate are very good. Yeah. I used to work with a couple of personal trainers who one was going to school for physical therapy and it was hard. Wasn't easy. Well, that that's I didn't add that to the story, but I was a wedding deejay at college. Yeah. And I was like, Yeah, like ladies and gentlemen, focus your attention at the main doors, you know, the whole day, right? And you make good money. You do that. I was in Florida, and I was making, you know, X amount a week and I was like, I don't need to be a physical therapist. I'll just be a deejay the rest of my life. I really the reason I was thinking about just dropping out of school, I was like, I don't want to study. I'm just going to go play music. And oh my gosh, I'm so grateful I didn't keep doing that because that lifestyle is not sustainable. Yes. Yeah. So the personal trainer, he he stayed in school, he did it and became a psychotherapist. And then there was another one that started working there. And she was like, I want to go to school, but I don't know if I can handle it. And I, I kept on encouraging her to do it, do it, do it. You know, kids so much younger than me, you know, working at a gym it's like, how long can you sustain that? You know, you your people, your clients, they come, they go, you have cancellations. You don't get paid. You come. Why not do something more, you know, and get more education about the body. Especially if you love working with the body and learning about the body and how it works. Why not do more? Yeah, Yeah. I mean, even some physicians don't really know all we do, which is okay, because every now and again I find myself elaborating on spinal cord injuries or stroke. CVA Neurologic You had mentioned multiple sclerosis earlier arms and like there are tests that we do to help figure out if someone has it. They're weird tests, but I've always found that the more you learn, the less you know this though I if I recall back to we went through teenage years. We know it. All right? Cause I get anywhere I eat, you book you read, you're like, didn't know that. Oh, my gosh. What don't I know? And I always tell young students I was a clinical instructor for like six years. So taking out a students and I would always tell them, like, you don't know something, go look it up and teach me, because I don't know. And the more you know, the less you understand or vice versa. I can't say that right. Sorry. But essentially you need to keep the education process going strong. Yes, keep it going strong and using it, because the more you use it, the more familiar you become with it. It's just like you go to school, you learn all this stuff, but until you start putting it to use around every day and working with people and there are different issues, different personalities, different things going on in their lives, that's when you really start learning, right? You can read a book all day, but once you see that condition on someone like as one kid always comes to my I was in Miami and he got a gunshot wound in the neck and half of his spinal cord got removed straight from the bullet. And they call that brown cord syndrome. So basically he's out of his body, works kind of. And then his other side was like contracted. So what they call that decoder kit, spinal cord injury, which is so weird because half of his body work, the other half not right. So you hear you can read the same books all day and then you see it on one page and you're like, oh, okay, I get it. So my advice and, you know, with school, you go work with people. So a professor of mine had said the rule of 10,000, you know, you word with 10,000 thumbs, you'll be a thumb expert. You work with 10,000 ankles, you're an ankle expert. And until you work with that number of people, don't even think yourself of an expert. You're not even there yet. So it takes time. Yeah, especially, yeah. Especially with people where all felt just a little different. And some people adhere to the program, some people don't. So. Yeah, different. Personally, no stubbornness. Yeah. Why am I not losing weight? Well, tell me what you've been doing. You'll know right away. Like, I don't know if you've had this happen to you, but have you ever caught any of your clients in the parking lot Eating like what? They shouldn't be eating? I could think of several people I know personally. They're eating a McDonald's cheeseburger on their way, and I'm like, What? But I'm hungry. You got a letter? It was cheap. Oh, hungry. I'm like, Dude, you're good to go on that treadmill for 2 hours to burn your 600 calories. Did you stay with those two two cheeseburgers or whatever? It's just, you know, you got to think logically about it is all. Sure, I love junk food as much as I always like the treadmill analogy. Right. All right. You have your large frappuccino, extra premium. That's 800 calories. You got to be on the treadmill for 3 hours for that one. Sorry, Starbucks. It's about picking on you. Have you ever caught someone cheating on their way? It? No, I have a they're okay. Good. Hopefully they haven't caught me. Think someone did catch me at the grocery store not too long ago and I had, like, frozen pizza. This can be okay. So how is this? What do you want? Yeah, Yeah. They're like a healthy diet. I'm like, they'll tell you it's okay. Okay, So my next question is, do you recommend any books for our listeners? I was fortunate enough to go to Japan last year for snowboarding, right? I love Japanese culture. There's a lot of Japanese population here in Hawaii and there's a saying over there, ikigai that's like that's a word that defines life purpose. So there's a book that I picked up over there,

Ikigai: 48:40

The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. And essentially it's about finding your purpose when you wake up. You know, if I could just put it down to one sentence. If you don't have a reason to get out of bed and pursue a goal for that day, it's more often than not that you're not very happy. You struggle with maybe depression. But again, speaking for myself here, I did when I didn't have a focus or goal. In life, you just kind of feel out of it. Like I wrote about that. I read this book Ikigai You could find it on Amazon, but basically it goes through a series of steps to try to help you define what makes you happy and what's your purpose in getting out of bed each morning above all self-help books? I think that we all need to define and find our why. So something that motivates you and makes you want to work hard or learn, whatever it may be, it might be acrylic painting or hiking, mountains, whatever it is, you go do it, and if it makes you happy, that's good idea as well. Ikigai, I basically it's what give us your sense of purpose or reason for living because there's so many. I mean, I've, I read philosophy books and Thailand and China and all over the world, whether it's Christianity or, you know, religious texts or you I'm curious and the one that stuck with the most was the Japanese book I just mentioned, defining your life's purpose. And that just it's good. You know, once you can figure that maybe mine's physical therapy, right? I was out at a friend's. He's in a band. So I was at a show last night making friends, saying hello to people. And this girl, her elbow was you could see her as totally, essentially deformed. And they're like, oh, Brian’s a PT. And then she's like, Take a look at them now. Help me here. So I'm playing around with it and like, Yeah, we can help this. She's like, Really? I'm like, Yeah, of course. And it's just an all the injuries she never took care of. But I feel like my life's purpose is to help people improve from their physical injuries. And it just seems to follow me around everywhere. Like I go to the grocery store and there's, Hey, man, you know, like someone notice me or whatever it may be. And there you go. Yes, absolutely. That's awesome. You've found your life's purpose and you're following your dream. That's great. All right. So my last question to you, Brian, is I'd like for you to set a goal for our listeners and maybe tell them a little bit about how to get there. Well, are your podcast, we're focusing on health and wellness. And my goal would be to try to establish one thing just one that you can do each day to help your physical and spiritual and improve your quality of life for that day. Now, whether that's taking out the extra sugar in your coffee, whether that's going for a walk in nature, maybe you're feeling like your muscles are tight or maybe you feel weak trying to find that one thing that's going to help you improve for that day is the small goal I was talking about. If you have pain in your hamstrings, try stretching them that day. If you feel like you don't want to get out of bed and lay in bed all day and hide under the covers, go for a walk. It's like finding comfort in the discomfort, if that makes any sense. Well, there's a saying if you're not uncomfortable, you're not growing. And that really sticks with me. So redefining it, do something each day that makes you uncomfortable. What I'm focusing on in life right now is to be someone you've never been. You've asked to do something you've never done. And that the old saying is if nothing changes, nothing changes, right? So if you if you you need to find something uncomfortable to do each day that will define it. Yeah. I challenge your listeners to try to find something that makes them a little scared or a little uncomfortable, a little out of the comfort zone. And whether that's going for a walk around the block, trying something new or some kind of dietary change, try it out. Just start there. Start small now. Excellent. Brian, great advice. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Brian, being on the show. All right. Aloha, Brian. Yeah, Aloha to everyone out there and thanks, Angela, for having me. I really appreciate it. This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It’s all possible! It’s time to wake up. Here we go.