In Season 2, Episode 17 of Alone with Peter Board-Certified Physical Therapist Dr. Dan Maggio gives actionable, practical tips for increasing your mobility, improving your overall health, and recovering from injuries and chronic pain caused in daily life.
We also chat about Dan’s entrepreneurial journey and some of the relatable obstacles he is trying to hurdle in his business pursuits.
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If you are interested in following Dr. Dan Maggio you can find him on Instagram @DrDanMaggio, Anything talked about in this episode will be available in the show notes coming soon!
Dr. Dan Maggio – Board-certified Physical Therapist & Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Instagram: @DrDanMaggio
Email: [email protected]
Please enjoy part 3 of our interview with board-certified physical therapist Dr. Dan Maggio
*Transcripts may contain a few typos. With interviews ranging from 1-2 hours, it can be difficult to catch minor errors.
Peter Kersting: Welcome to Alone with Peter. I’m your host. And on this podcast, you’re going to hear interviews with entrepreneurs, artists, digital nomads, and people seeking personal growth. We’ll dive deep into what set them on their journey, where they are now, and how their story can impact you, including any helpful insights. If you feel inspired to take a similar leap of faith. No matter where you are on the journey, thank you for spending some quality time Alone with Peter.
Peter Kersting: Welcome back to our final part of this interview with Dr. Dan Maggio. If you didn’t tune in last time, please check out the episode. We talked about how your neurobiology, your immune system, the way that you think about and spend your awareness on your injuries can actually affect how you recover. Talked a little bit also about Dan’s background, why it was that he decided to go into physical therapy. And I’m really excited today on this episode to be talking about Dan’s entrepreneurial goals. So not only does he work as a physical therapist in a clinic, but he is also working towards his own clinical endeavors. And so I wanna touch a little bit more on how Dan is pursuing those entrepreneurial goals, what his next steps are, what some of those obstacles he has been encountering are, and also how you can take some actionable steps to deal with any kind of pain you’re dealing with, whether you’re out on the road and you don’t have access to a gym or something else, we’re gonna be talking about all that on this episode. So without further ado, we’re back with Dan, Dan, you ready, dude?
Peter Kersting: Ready? Yeah, let’s do it.
Peter Kersting: Sweet. So you mentioned earlier that you’ve been quietly working on a shift to starting your own practice. Can you give us a little bit of an insight to what that looks like?
Peter Kersting: Yeah. I mean, right now the idea is hustle, hustle, hustled, right? So anytime that I’m not in the full time clinic, I’m trying to meet people outside of work and outside of the clinic space and just, Hey, if they need help, I’ll be happy to meet you at your house or at a space that I’m renting. I’ll help you out. I’ll see you for whatever injuries things you want to come back from. It’s challenged because I think right now, a lot of it’s just based on word of mouth. And just the time that I have outside of work is, is pretty limited. And I think the goal right is to just be able to one day have that side income replace the full income, and then just jump ship into that side project.
Peter Kersting: How have you been approaching that shift because you work a lot in your main job, how do you find the time and, and how do you ramp that up?
Peter Kersting: oh man. The ramping up, that’s where I have a struggle. Because I know eventually there’s gonna be a day where it’s just a jumping off point, right? Like the hours that I have full time in the clinic practice, um, they’re gonna be taken away from whatever I do in my own project. And you know, I, I’m not sure the timeline on that. I haven’t sure it’s, I’m gonna have to run some more numbers, but
Peter Kersting: Well, I ask because I think it’s a very relatable problem. If you wanna call it a problem. I think for anybody, who’s trying to make a shift in what they’re doing. Not that you don’t find what you’re doing meaningful, but you have a deeper desire to do something that you have more control of, more ownership of. And so I just wonder how do you know, uh, how do you know wanna stop? You know, people talk about having an exit strategy. I listen to another voice actor and he’s also a business and marketing coach. His name is Mark Scott. He has his own podcast, which is really specifically geared towards voice actors. And I love it because I learned so much from the guy, but one of the things he talks about is do you have an exit strategy? And if you don’t, how are you ever gonna go? Full-time if you wanna go full-time. And so it’s, you gotta ask yourself some of those kind of questions. I’m not saying you have to have an answer for me right now, but I’m just curious to know, do you have some kind of preexisting condition that needs to be met before, you know, okay. I’m willing to jump in and what is it?
Peter Kersting: That’s a great question. And I think selfishly, I would feel comfortable and this, you know, it’s one of those irrational fears and irrational thoughts that like I’m gonna have a brick and mortar place that’s fully furnished that I’m gonna jump full ship into or full steam ahead. Right. I think the things that I would really like to have would be some pieces of equipment that I find value in to treat patients with in a brick and mortar setting. Right. Like, I, I know that I could probably do it with a couple bands and a couple kettle bells and lightweights. Right. Um, and that’s what I’m kind of doing right now, but for me to jump, I think full Bo ahead, I, I wanna build it, I think from the ground up and with, with the tools that I think are, I dunno how to say it, like, uh, the tools that I think are gonna get people, the results that they need.
Peter Kersting: Sure. Well, if you know, it sounds like you have a clear idea of what some of those things are. Have you been able to, and I’m not, like I said again, I’m not asking these questions to, to put you on the fence. I just think it’s, it’s certainly something I’m constantly asking myself is how do I take the next step forward? How do I keep building momentum? So, um, and, and for any of those, those aspiring entrepreneurs listening or people who are, are newly into their business endeavors, it’s a really hard thing. I mean, when you’re in your own position for someone else, you have a lot of the structure, a lot of those things assigned for you. You know, the equipment that you’re using at work is, is the equipment that you’re using at work. But if you know that there are certain things you’re feel like you have to have in order to really take the next step forward, what are some ways you’re working towards that? What are, what are some things you can do now to put yourself in that place? And, and are you doing them or what’s stopping you?
Peter Kersting: Probably, I think the biggest thing might be honestly my mindset around money. I have this feeling like I need to save up this lump sum of money to then spend on the equipment that I would like when I would open up this facility. Right. I have this idea in my head and I don’t know how realistic it is, but if I build it, they will come. Right. And part of it’s building demand, building the marketing systems, building the, the patient flow and the word of mouth marketing to be like, Hey, you know, if you’ve been doing PT at this place, you should probably go somewhere else and maybe see this guy, Dan, cuz he’ll be able to take a different perspective in a different look at you.
Peter Kersting: It sounds like there’s a couple things. There’s the clientele having the word of mouth spreading, whether it’s person to person like that, or you reaching out directly to somebody that you think is really fitting the demographic you’re looking for, or it’s some kind of social media marketing. Are there any tangible steps you’re taking to do that? Now, whether it’s asking people that you work with on the side to recommend more people to you like actually actively saying, Hey, if you like, what I’m doing, please recommend your friends to me. Or are you, do you have, are you doing that on your social media? What, what are some things, are you budgeting money to, to buy that equipment that you really need? Like, what are, what are you doing? cause it’s really easy to come up with the, with the, with the perfect plan and, and be perfecting it all this time and, and then not take the action necessary. I know I run into that quite a lot.
Peter Kersting: I think what I do really well of is just like stacking cash and just putting it under my mattress. , it’s probably a really bad thing to do.
Peter Kersting: Well for your back for sure.
Peter Kersting: Yeah. exactly. Yeah. I’m sleeping on this lump on my bed.
Peter Kersting: You know, I think, uh, the word of mouth thing I could definitely do better at
Peter Kersting: Personally. I love working with you, dude. I think you’re, you’re really easy to talk to. You’re a very personal guy and it’s clear to me how passionate you are about what you do. Um, like I said before, there’s not many people I think I would call to ask for a favor and have them profusely thank before it. So that speaks to your character and, and I think people, when they hear these interviews, I hope they, that that comes out. I, it certainly has in my conversation with you and I’ve really enjoyed that. , um, not to believe the point about some of the things that, you know, you need to work on your business, but I think it is, it is a sobering thing, but it’s a really helpful thing to say, like, Hey, you know, my mindset, just like your mindset for the physiological stuff, um, has an impact on how you recover your mindset about how you take the next step course of action, uh, is going to change.
Peter Kersting: I just know I’ve started to take this very, uh, intentional, uh, approach recently where I’m gonna put in this amount of work specifically at this time every day, um, to do this next thing, that is the next priority list. And I’m not gonna wait until the plan is perfect. I’m just gonna take action because that’s how things start to move. And then you perfect as you go. And that’s really been hard for me, but, um, I’m starting to see some really positive results from that. So I encourage you. Um, any of these questions I’ve asked you that, that you’re like, dude, I don’t know the answer, this we’re talking about physical therapy. Now you’re asking about business practice, uh, screw you for making me look bad. I, uh, that’s not though what I’m saying. I, I I’m fired up to talk to you more about it at some other point. No,
Peter Kersting: It’s, I, I appreciate you keeping me honest in that endeavor cuz I know it’s, it’s uh, it’s gonna be a struggle. It’s just like, yeah. I guess finding a way to still give people the best results that they deserve while I’m doing it. I guess. So that might be another concern, right? Is like, am I gonna be able to provide them the best that I think is the best as I’m setting out on my imperfect plan, right?
Peter Kersting: Yeah. Fair. No, it’s a challenge. It’s a challenge to try to do. There’s a lot of sacrifice that comes with working your full time job and being what you need to be to people while also trying to justify and, and really do justice to, uh, your dream goal. So I salute anyone who is attempting to do that. I certainly have mad respect for anyone who’s trying to do anything. Entrepreneurial is it is a, is a leap of faith required. That is never easy,
Peter Kersting: Before we get into the second half of this podcast, where Dan gives actionable practical tips for you. If you’re looking to move past pain and increase your mobility. If you’ve been enjoying this podcast I ask that you do me two solids. Number one, consider rating reviewing and subscribing to the show on your favorite podcast platform, whether that’s Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. And number two, send me a message on Instagram. @alonewithpeter. I want to hear from you. And it’s a great place to find highlights of the latest episodes. See who’s coming up next in the show and to interact with myself and the guests. All right, let’s get back to Dr. Dan Maggio with those actionable practical tips on Alone with Peter.
Peter Kersting: I wanna swing our focus to the audience here, cuz I think there are some pretty actionable steps we can be talking about with regards to being proactive in our health and managing pain. I love that idea of learning how to manage pain so that you can live an upgraded version of your life because it’s so easy to lose that in the shuffle. Like you said, so many of us, we don’t deal with our physical pain until it’s unmanageable. You go, well, my shoulder kind of hurts, but I don’t wanna deal with it. Why would we do that to ourselves? We do it all the time. And I think it’s just the attitude we have at least in Western culture. So what can people do to practice sound preventative medicine?
Peter Kersting: I know we’ve talked about the importance of having external load put on your body and then performing repetitions of whatever with that. But I think in general, having a movement practice is gonna be good for anybody, right. Um, now that could be like you said, Hey, I go running. That’s how I handle my stress if someone’s really into yoga or Pilates or some kind of body weight movement. Awesome. Um, I think having a movement practice is excellent and that it’s just exposing your body to different ranges of motion that you don’t naturally go through in your daily life. Um, the caveat to that is, is the latter part of that. Like, Hey, it’s different raises of motion that I’m not exposed to in my everyday life. If running puts me into the same movement patterns that I’m doing time and time again with my head going forward and my arms moving at my sides.
Peter Kersting: Like if I’m out only doing things forward, then I’m only getting exposure to those ranges, right? And I’m not doing anything rotational or twisting. And those are other experiences that my, my muscles and my joints need. Um, if I’m only doing things slow and controlled in yoga, man, like why don’t we do some explosive running or explosive jumping if I’m only doing high intensity interval training, like why don’t I do some yoga practice or some slow mindfulness training? I’m only doing like heavy loaded, weighted exercises. Why don’t I do something that’s slow, steady cardio on a bike or some running. Right. So what I tend to also a lens, uh, or perspective that I take is a pendulum approach, right? So you gotta find out where, where in your life of let’s say physical movement right now, your, your body is existing in this pendulum, right? Maybe I’m all the way at one end of extreme endurance with running. I love doing my, um, eight to 10 miles, you know, three to four days a week. Um, if my capacity to endure and have my muscles go through that much, um, contraction, if it exists on one end of the pendulum, then what is the complete opposite end of the pendulum that I’m my body is not experiencing. And how can I give it a little bit of this guy and a little bit over here to end up somewhere in the middle,
Peter Kersting: In the example of the long distance runner, what would the opposite power lifting?
Peter Kersting: maybe maybe something similar to power lifting. You don’t have to be exactly a power lifter to, uh, to, you know, but I think some of the principles of power lifting, um, can help a lot of long distance runners, right? If you’re used to doing, um, let’s, you know, while you’re on your feet running miles, that’s a ton of reps. That’s a ton of, uh, let’s put it in a weight room term, right? Like your foot hits the ground. It’s a lot of force going through your foot through your legs, through your hip, but I’m doing small loads, many, many, many repetitions. It’s like getting on a leg press and only pressing it with five pounds, but I’m gonna do it 500 times. Now. Let’s just reverse that and say, maybe I wanna get on the leg press and do six to eight repetitions with something that’s fairly challenging, right.
Peter Kersting: Something that’s gonna make my muscle strain against it. What this does is it creates a protective, um, overload, um, if you will, on the tissues and on the body. So that if I expose my tissues to this higher capacity, when I do something that’s lower, I’ve already, I have this buffer zone. If you will, I kind of equate it to, Hey, if I’m gonna go offroading, do I want to go in a Prius or do I want to go in Jeep? Right? And most people are gonna say Jeep, right? Because I have the, the capacity of extra metal, extra frames. I’ve got, um, bigger Springs to absorb the shock and the load. Right? So all that we’re doing for people’s bodies is saying, what is the task that you wanna do now? Maybe you do it recreationally, or maybe you do it for fun. And it could be something as simple as running, right. But if I’m just gonna go out running, is my body prepared to handle that load and that task. And if not, what do I have to expose to?
Peter Kersting: So in that situation, if we’re still using the analogy of the long distance runner would the opposite of the pendulum actually look more like sprinting because it’s a high intensity, low repetition movement.
Peter Kersting: You got it. Yeah.
Peter Kersting: Or would it be, like a weight lifting using the muscles that I would be using for the long distance run to strengthen those muscles?
Peter Kersting: Kind of both honestly. Um, because, because they both exist on that other end of the pendulum that our body’s not experiencing. Um, what from the sports performance world, sprinting is the strength training of running, right? Because the pattern is the same. Your body is going through, uh, a reciprocal pattern of right arm, left leg. It’s going forward. Things are switching sides left to right. And now I’m doing it in a faster manner. My tissues are going at a higher load, higher velocity. So you’re gonna build a protected effect by doing sprints.
Peter Kersting: Okay. Let’s say, I’m just talking about my normal everyday lifestyle. Yeah. And I’ll give a couple different scenarios and maybe you could tell me what are some things I can do. I’m somebody who spends a lot of time on my computer and that maybe affects my posture. Mm-hmm and the tension in my neck and shoulders or my wrists. What can I do?
Peter Kersting: Yeah. So let’s say the neck and shoulders, right? The neck and shoulders are oftentimes going into a forward position. Let’s just reverse engineer ways to get those things backwards. Right. So if I’m gonna try to get my shoulders back, I’m gonna do that same thing with the head, get the head back. I’m gonna do some different stretches for that in the same sense. I want to think about the, the planes of motion that my body exists in. Not only do things bend forward and backward, but they also twist, right. And they also go side to side. Those are different ranges that you want expose your body to as well. So if you’re not doing any twisting patterns, Hey, maybe it’s as simple as land on the ground, getting your spine to twist a little bit more, taking one arm, opening it up, getting a big stretch through that. It’s just exposure to ranges that your body doesn’t have throughout its normal working day for things. But the wrist, man, if my hand is always flexed, I gotta somehow get it open. Right? If my tissues are getting stiff and very contracted on this side, maybe I’m gonna take a massage baller. I’m gonna take my hands and start to work through some of those tissues. And I’m gonna work the ones on the other side to help increase the strength on that side. So
Peter Kersting: Those all sound like very reactive situations to me though, right? I’m already encountering the stress in my neck or shoulders or the pain in my wrist. How can I be taking a proactive approach to say, okay, I wanna strengthen those things. I wanna get rid of the pain, but I don’t wanna encounter it anymore. Cuz I still have to work at the computer. What do I do
Peter Kersting: The same things? Right. So rehab and training are worn and the same. So I think a lot of times people have this idea that, and maybe this is my, my fault for not describing it well, but what we do from a rehab standpoint are all of the same things or it should be all the same things that you’re doing as a, uh, proactive, preventative approach. Right? So the same things that I would give you for the neck pain that you’re having now are the same things that I would prescribe myself on a daily basis. If I’m gonna be experiencing the types of time and load that I’m gonna be spending, looking at my computer. Right? Like, so for me, you know, I, I’m having, you know, four to five minutes at a time of looking at my computer and then working on somebody. So the, the time that I spend on my computer is gonna be different than someone else. But is, is that time spent like, is it, am I able to get outta that position?
Peter Kersting: Is it just changing your range of motion or being really conscious about shifting positions of taking breaks or is it about having a better posture? Just like a lot of times you get slumped because you’re in case of a computer anyway, you’re trying to really focus on what’s on the screen and you’re just leaning. Right. So I’d be curious to know how much of it from the preventative standpoint is, okay. I I’m using these muscles a lot, so I really gotta strengthen them. And the ways that will help avoid entry or is it actually, I’m just not aware of how much I’m taking a bad posture when doing these things. And therefore I need to put myself in the position where I can do that thing, but not with bad posture,
Peter Kersting: Uh, both. Right. And let’s so the first part was super important. I wanna have enough training and a lot of good repetitions and good strength built up to avoid, um, injuries going forward. But in terms of like bad posture, there’s really not a bad posture. It’s just like, what are those positions that you’re gonna get exposed to that can lead to more things later on, right? Like I there’s no bad posture. It’s just your next posture. Right? If I’m gonna spend eight hours looking this way, maybe I wanna turn my computer screen, go to the side. I’m gonna go to the other side over here. There’s different ways of looking at how to change posture and not always have it be, oh, people come in and say, oh my posture’s really bad. Like your posture’s not bad. It’s just that your muscles just can’t support you in that position for that long. And maybe they’re not meant to, maybe they’re supposed to move around. Right. Like I’ve never known…
Peter Kersting: Maybe you’re not supposed to sit at a computer for five hours at time.
Peter Kersting: Yeah. You got it right. yeah. You’re supposed to take some breaks.
Peter Kersting: I’ll be honest with you. Posture is I think something I misunderstand sometimes then, because I think, well, if I had had better posture, I wouldn’t have gotten injured is the way that I think a lot of times, what are some common misunderstandings or mistakes people have or misconceptions, even with regards to therapy and recovery.
Peter Kersting: I think the, probably the biggest one that you hit on right now was that your pain can be related to posture. Right. And what we often find is, yeah, it can be related to posture, but oftentimes it’s the postures and the strengths and the endurance that you’re not able to support yourself in or not able to get to. Right. So, um, you know, like you said, our bodies are not made to be in a position for five hours. Like I’m, I don’t know, on this zoom call, I’m kind of like moving around. Like I can’t, I,
Peter Kersting: I wanna, I wanna do it too. Yeah,
Peter Kersting: Totally.
Peter Kersting: Well, I do standing desks for a lot of the stuff that I do. And I mean, that’s, that’s nice for me, but even that it’s pretty hard to be in tight space for very long. And it’s good. Sometimes you can’t take breaks though, man. I mean like depending on the way that your job is, and especially in, I think in today’s world, when people are going more and more remote with their work, they’ve got a home office set up of some kind and, and it’s a whole nother story about like how you have a work life balance when your work is at home. But I think if there’s gotta be ways that you can set up your environment or your routine, so that either have the breaks that you need or you can position yourself so that you’re not putting as much stress on your body.
Peter Kersting: I also wonder if people over correct. Like if I recognize, oh man, like my neck and shoulders are hurting right now and I’m paying attention to that. And I go, I don’t want my neck and shoulders hurt, so I’m gonna change my posture and now I’m doing this and yeah, my neck hurts, dude. Yeah. Cause I’m thinking about it and I’m moving my neck differently. How much of it is, is, is that hyper awareness you spoke about earlier and how do you, what, what should I do when I notice that I’m starting to have, uh, you know, my, I have a, I know it’s my neck and my shoulders when my, my body starts hurt. It’s one of those two things. So when I recognize it, what should I be doing?
Peter Kersting: Finding different positions that you haven’t been in? Uh, I know, I think I, I think kind of just talking in circles, but it’s sometimes it’s as simple and it’s as I’m as complex as that. Right. Um, maybe it’s also holding tension in those positions, right? Maybe it’s not the fact that your head is forward. It’s just that the fact that your head is forward, but it’s passively going there. Right. If I’m just like hanging on my ligaments and all of my soft tissues are just like holding onto this thing, maybe I wanna forcefully get my head there and see about putting tension in that position. So I think oftentimes we, we just take like one approach to it instead of saying like,
Peter Kersting: And, and when you say that you, you mean that in terms of that’s the strengthening exercise? Not like
Peter Kersting: I totally mean that. I totally mean like, Hey, maybe like, and this is because I think important for physical therapy and movement, right? Like I’m not, we’re not gonna be dogmatic about it and say like, Hey, if your, your head is always forwarded, you always need to go backwards. Like you only need to go double chin for everything. But like, Hey, maybe sometimes it feels really good to stick my neck forward and to stretch it out. And it just get some tension into those muscles in different areas.
Peter Kersting: But it’s funny that you used the word tension because in my, um, and maybe this is just uniquely me, I don’t know. But I think like, oh, I’ve got pain in that area. I must be too tense. So I need to try to relax.
Peter Kersting: That’s a great, I’m glad you brought this up, cuz this might be probably my biggest pet peeve that patients and anyone say right. Is I’m tight. Oh, I feel so tight right here. Oh my upper traps are tight. My back is tight. My hips are tight. Right. And tightness is just a garbage term. It’s just like, Hey, how’s that food? Oh, it’s salty. Oh this food is so bland. Oh. It’s like, it’s like, it’s just a, it’s just a whatever. Right. But it tells us something important is that when your body is giving you a feeling of tightness, it is trying to activate those muscles and it is trying to pull something back and it’s trying to help hold you there and it’s not able to do it. Right.
Peter Kersting: So it’s almost like your body is telling you, Hey, Peter, your back is not strong enough to support your neck in that position. I’m really trying. But I’m, it’s like you’re playing tug war. Like at the imagery in my head is you got three people on one side or three people on the other and the, the muscle that’s too weak is getting dragged the other way.
Peter Kersting: It can definitely be one of those things. It can also mean that, Hey, maybe the endurance of those muscles ISS kind of at a, at a point where it needs recharge. Right. And so if I’ve got three hours and three hours later, my neck’s like, oh, I just need some time. Maybe I stand up, take a little break, lay on the floor, whatever, if my job allows for it. Um, but it’s, I think when we look at muscles too, muscles, muscles don’t have this like unlimited span of energy. Right. It’s kind of like, you know, the charger on your phone, right? Your battery kind of wears out after time. I gotta go plug that thing back in. And the, if I have like 80% of battery, I’m gonna use my phone. Like I have 80%. But if I buy, if my phone only has 20%, I’m gonna use it very sparingly.
Peter Kersting: So my muscles are kind of the same way. Right? If I don’t, if I do have a big strength reserved, I can tap into those muscles a lot easier than if my muscles are a little bit weaker. And they’re like, Hey man, every day we start off these muscles and they’re at 20%. And I go through that 20%, a lot faster. And if I start those muscles at 80%, and I think that’s why I’m a huge proponent of strengthening as being the way to get your muscles, to increase their battery supply. Right. Because that’s really the, the main way we know how to do it is get them stronger, get them more oxygen, get them more blood flow, and then they can have a longer endurance.
Peter Kersting: I love it. Okay. So couple other questions. When I’m talking about managing pain, if you’re talking to the average person, what is the checklist? If you will, the procedural approach I should take to that. And what one point should I really be seeking out physical therapy?
Peter Kersting: Yeah. I would say if you’re having pain and you’re not having results with, maybe it’s, you’re doing some stretches and these stretches really aren’t getting you anywhere. Or it’s almost where there’s been no trauma that happens. Right? Because trauma trauma always muddies the water. You gotta make sure that a bone’s not broken or nerves not getting pinched or something more serious isn’t going on. Right? Like, so make sure you screen that stuff out, go to a, go to your primary care, go to an urgent care, make sure things are not physically damaged. Right. But if these things are going on and if there’s no real sign of an injury that’s happened or irritated your tissues, then it might be time to look at, Hey, what are my habits of movement? And have I been, have I seen a specialist take a look at how my body moves and what movements I should do to undo that pattern that I’m stuck in.
Peter Kersting: I appreciate that. What if I am constantly on the go and I don’t have access to something like Jim, or maybe even worse, I actually don’t have healthcare coverage. What do I do? I mean, do I just deal with it?
Peter Kersting: I think, uh well, no, you don’t wanna, I mean, dealing with, it’s only gonna get you so far,
Peter Kersting: But I mean, that’s a real question. I think people ask themselves, you know, like people just say, I’m you, I gotta messed up back. Totally. That’s what it is.
Peter Kersting: I’ve just, I just gotta do this. Yep. I think there are going to be some good resources wherever you look stuff up. You know, if you’re gonna try, try some stuff on YouTube, try some stuff on Instagram. I know YouTube and Instagram are kind of, kind of the wild west of who’s putting information out there. Um, I think from a, from a self awareness standpoint, it’s saying, Hey, if my back hurts, what are the times of day that my back hurt? And does it hurt when I move forward or when I move backward, does it hurt when I go sideways this way or sideways that way, does it hurt when I twist or twist here? So what I want to find, or what people should be interested in is maybe finding a, a movement pattern that brings their pain on or alleviates some of their pain. Right? Like, Hey, I, I have pain when I’m sitting at my desk, but I, I can sit on my couch and I put my feet up. All my pain goes away. I don’t know what it is, but it’s, but it happens right. Or my back pain goes away when I lay on my stomach. Um, but when I roll out of bed in the morning, that’s when my pain starts up. I’m looking for a pattern for those things. Right.
Peter Kersting: Is it a lot of, it’s the range of motion you’re checking for?
Peter Kersting: Range of motion in just the pattern in general, right? So like, Hey, maybe it’s the way that multiple joints and multiple muscles are working to that. Cause your pain. Um, maybe it’s the way that you’re doing something. Um, if you’re a little bit older and you’re getting out of bed and your back is stiff, maybe it’s the way that you’re getting outta bed or the fact that you’ve been sleeping a certain way.
Peter Kersting: There’s a lot of factors. That’s why this stuff is so hard. So I think for the average person to know how to deal with they’re painfully aware of what they’re dealing with, but they’re not necessarily sure how to handle it. I mean, I I’ve certainly found that to be true for myself. A lot of times it’s like, is weightlifting gonna help this? Or is it gonna aggravate it? I think that’s a fear. A lot of people have in regards to the things to say, here, you talk about those kind of things. Actually, that might even be a good question to ask you, talk about strengthening the muscles. How do I know that I’m not gonna make it worse by my shoulder hurts trying to do a shoulder press or something, you know? Like what? You just stay light, pay attention to what range of motion is aggravating it, if it’s pushing it, but not aggravating it, then do it then. Or what would you say?
Peter Kersting: Yeah. So I would, I would strengthen in the ranges of motion that you can actually control, right? If you can’t control getting your arm all the way overhead without pain to begin with, I wouldn’t start to put strength in that range. Um, now granted, like if I could get my arm all the way toward my ear and I have no pain, good, I’m gonna start to press there. But if I,
Peter Kersting: And for those who are not able to see this, he’s reaching directly up above, over his head. Yeah. To do this.
Peter Kersting: Yeah. But if my arm is a little bit more forward and I can, I have no pain here, I’m gonna start to work in that zone. So work in the zones
Peter Kersting: And with the goal of reaching yeah. Directly above. Yeah. It’s almost like if you’ve got a ceiling, you wanna get to the point where you’re pushing the ceiling, but not
Peter Kersting: Yep. So you kind of push that barrier each time. So it’s like you said, it’s kinda it’s pattern recognition. What am I doing through my day and what am I not doing through my day? Um, am I sitting with my hips in a certain position for eight hours? Cool. Do I have to spend the next eight hours doing stuff to unload that position? Maybe, you know, um, can I hijack that time and say, Hey, instead of eight hours of my hip being this way, maybe I gotta go eight hours this way. Well, I can’t spend eight hours that way. So maybe I’m gonna do some repetitions of just doing the other position. Right?
Peter Kersting: Well, we could talk all day about these different scenarios, whether it comes to, you know, how much should I be stretching versus, uh, strengthen the antagonist muscle and all this stuff. But I wanted to ask you one final question, which is if there was one concrete, actionable thing, you could have people walk away from this podcast interview with what would that be?
Peter Kersting: I would say it would probably come back to being more mindful of your movement, right? Like being aware of what you’re doing on a daily basis and where that’s gonna have, uh, different cost to your body from your movement, as well as what you can do to undo that pattern. Right? I mean, we talked about that pendulum, right? If what I’m doing throughout my day is existing on one end. How can I do the opposite of that? So I think just being more mindful, because maybe it’s something that you it’s, it’s doing while you’re lifting your, your kid out of the ground or off the ground, right. Maybe you’re lifting a, a heavy box of the package that came to your house. You bent over, you picked it up. Oh, you weren’t really thinking about how you did it and now your back hurts. Right? So thinking about how you move is as important as just moving in general.
Peter Kersting: I love it. Well, Dan, this has been a lot of fun for me. It’s it’s just nice to catch up, dude. And I love your energy. I love your enthusiasm. And I know you’re an introvert, so I probably just depleted all of your energy levels the entire day.
Peter Kersting: It’s all good.
Peter Kersting: Go lift some weights, apologize to your wife. You’re low energy because of me. You can blame it on me if you want.
Peter Kersting: .
Peter Kersting: If anybody really wants to get in touch with you, uh, Dr. Dan Maggio on Instagram and Dr. Dan Maggio, gmail.com. Uh, those are the two ways that they can get ahold of you, right?
Peter Kersting: Yep. Yep. Those will work out.
Peter Kersting: Awesome. Well, dude, it’s been so much fun and I’m so thankful that you spent some quality time alone with Peter. If you like this episode with Dan, please be sure to rate, subscribe, review, and, uh, give him some love on his Instagram. He’s a really great guy. And I know from experience, he’s just really trying to help people get those tools that they need to navigate through pain and improve the quality of their lives. So what’s not to love about that.
Peter Kersting: Thanks, Pete. I appreciate it.
Speaker 6: Coming up on the next interview of Alone with Peter
Peter Kersting: The founder of Expat Empire, David McNeil is focused on inspiring people to move abroad and to help them do it. In addition to producing online courses, books, podcasts, blog posts, you name it, Expat Empire also offers consulting services to give everyone the opportunity to achieve their international dreams. We’re talking with the founder, David, about his expat journey, why he moved abroad to Tokyo, how he ended up in Berlin. And now ultimately in Porto, Portugal. We’ll talk about how you too can become an expat and why you might be interested. All right, here on Alone with Peter.
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