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Published by Garrett Salpeter
We believe that the most powerful and transformative way to help people recover from pain and injury, heal from trauma, and reach their highest levels of fitness and performance is to focus on the nervous system! In this podcast, we'll share knowledge from the frontiers of neuroscience and inspirational stories of how applying that knowledge has empowered people from all walks of life to heal, adapt, and grow.
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I have been fascinated by the relationship between mind and body for years. Of course, calling it a relationship implies two separate things. In this solo episode, I make the case that they are one system. The same playbook that took a football player's shoulder from 45 degrees to fully overhead in minutes (without ever touching the injured ligament), is the playbook it runs in psychology and behavior – limiting output based on the perception of threat and safety. Key insights include: Why guarding, inhibition and pain are protective outputs rather than failures, and why the same three show up in psychology as walls, withholding, and avoidance. The compensatory behaviors most of us carry, including examples like hyper-achievement, putting on the happy face, people-pleasing and the need for control, and what each one is actually protecting against. Why you cannot force a release in either system, and why every one of these patterns had a positive intention at the time it formed. The second door: research on entering the system through the mind, including Ellen Langer's famous studies like Counterclockwise and the Chambermaid Study. Attention to variability, and how asking a chronic pain patient when their pain is better can loosen the label and restore a sense of agency. Most of what we call resistance, whether it's in a shoulder or in a life, is not stubbornness. It is a pattern of protection that has outlived its usefulness. And this episode is about how to tell the difference and what actually helps it let go.
Most clinics choose their equipment based on what the research says, what the rep promises, or what everyone else is using. Chad Sirratt does something simpler and considerably more revealing: he tests the patient before and after, and asks one question. Did that device turn the muscle on, or turn it off? In this episode, Garrett sits down with Chad, owner of Texas Muscle Activation in Frisco, Texas, for a conversation about muscle activation, the whole-body detective work of finding out why something hurts, and what Chad learned when he started putting his patients' own recovery devices to the test. Along the way Chad walks through the layered treatment model he has built -- one of the most compelling and intentional sequences Garrett has seen in any clinic -- and explains why so many of the things we do to feel better may be quietly making us weaker. In this episode, we get into: What Muscle Activation Techniques actually is Why your hamstrings are tight, why stretching them is usually the wrong answer, and what the tightness is actually doing The whole-body assessment: why a flat foot can end up as neck pain, and why Chad reads the hip, foot, spine, shoulder, and neck as one system What a muscle test is really asking: not how strong is this muscle, but can it contract at all Why stretching, foam rolling, trigger point work, cupping, and dry needling can all leave a muscle testing weaker, and what that means for your recovery routine The device test: what happened when Chad put an athlete's popular stim unit on his arm and found inhibition running all the way down to his foot -- and what happened when he ran the same test with the Neubie The mistake Chad's clinic was making before decompression sessions, and how understanding current changed their entire protocol How MAT, the Neubie, and IsoPhit stack together to build stability the nervous system will actually trust Chad's one-line rule for what earns a place in his clinic Whether you are a clinician deciding what belongs in your practice, an athlete wondering why your recovery tools are not working, or someone who has been stretching the same tight muscle for years without lasting change, this conversation offers a different way to evaluate what is helping you and what is holding you back.
In this episode, Garrett sits down with Noah Franco -- a 6'3", 240-pound two-way player at TCU and one of baseball's most intriguing prospects -- for an unusually candid conversation about the road that got him here and where he is headed. Noah walks through his California-to-IMG-to-TCU path, explains the MLB draft rules that most baseball fans do not understand, and gets into the daily discipline behind training as both a pitcher and a hitter at the highest level of college baseball. In this episode, we get into: Why leaving home for IMG Academy at fourteen was the first time Noah "banked on himself," and how that single decision reshaped his career trajectory The draft rule most fans do not know: why signing with a four-year college takes you off the draft board until after your junior year, and how NIL is changing the math for the next generation Choosing TCU over real pro money out of high school, and trusting the moment to develop rather than cash in early Two-way life at TCU: pitching AND hitting, how the coaching staff builds his weekly workload, and how Shohei Ohtani has opened the door for players like Noah at every level The physical transformation from 189 pounds to 240 pounds, and the shift from focusing on raw strength to new areas like lateral stability and rotational efficiency What we worked on in the clinic: thoracic mobility, teaching the nervous system to safely occupy new range of motion, and rebuilding the eccentric "breaking force" behind a healthy pitching follow-through The mindset that keeps Noah moving forward through pressure and outside noise Whether you follow baseball, work with elite athletes, or just want to understand how the best young players actually make decisions and train their bodies, this conversation is a rare inside look at what it takes to bet on yourself and play the long game.
Achilles injuries seem to be everywhere right now, from the NBA and NFL to weekend warriors. In this episode, Garrett sits down with physical therapist Luke Brohm, PT, DPT, OCS, for some big updates on our understanding of the Achilles tendon in 2026. It is a uniquely personal one, too: Luke is four months out from surgery to repair a full rupture, while Garrett is working back from a partial tear that became a stubborn tendinopathy. Together they compare notes on why these injuries happened, what actually drives recovery, and how anyone can build more resilient tendons for the long haul. In this episode, we get into: Why Achilles injuries appear to be rising, and what contributes to the "perfect storm" of under-recovery paired with spikes in load The load-vs-capacity framework that explains almost every injury, and why both of us were under-recovered the day we got hurt Luke's phase-by-phase comeback from Achilles surgery, from cast and isometrics to reintroducing plyometrics at four months Garrett's non-surgical tendinopathy journey: isometrics, resistance training, the Neubie, and the surprising setback culprit of the golf swing Modern tendon science: why "little and often" beats "long and hard," and how collagen plus vitamin C before loading feeds the repair Where the Neubie fits in tendon rehab: fighting atrophy, reducing inhibition, and restoring the neuromuscular connection The three biggest mistakes in recovery, and a prevention blueprint rooted in how our hunter-gatherer bodies are actually built to move Whether you are rehabbing an Achilles right now, working with patients who are, or simply want to stay explosive and injury-free for decades to come, this conversation will change how you think about tendon health.
Turning 40 inspired me to stop and reflect in a deeper way. In that reflection, I asked a question I hadn't asked in a while: which ideas have actually changed the way I live? Four rose above the rest (convenient since it was my 40th!), and one thing that surprised me is how they build on each other, almost like a manual for how to live. In this solo reflection, I walk through all four, along with the single thread that connects them: awareness/mindfulness comes before change, every time. Key insights include: Why alignment, not achievement, has been the biggest unlock for me, and ways to know when something is truly aligned. How meditation became less about reaching some blissful end state and more about being still enough to hear what's actually true (with a nod to "self vs. parts" from Internal Family Systems). Why identity is built through repetition, and how treating life as an ongoing experiment turns results into feedback instead of judgment. How your standards, what you're willing to tolerate on your lowest day, quietly shape your health, relationships, business, and even the standards your team accepts. The balancing act of not postponing your life for a "someday" that may never come, and why success should expand your life rather than delay it. Tune in for an honest look at how a decade of small shifts, and one big birthday, changed the way I make decisions - plus a simple one-question challenge to carry into your week. TRANSCRIPT: Garrett Salpeter (00:00.974) Hello, New Fit Nation. Welcome back to the Undercurrent Podcast. This is the first episode that I am recording in my 40s. I just turned 40, and that is actually the theme of today's episode because it certainly feels like a milestone. It has caused me to stop and reflect, and I'm going to share some of those reflections with you here today. In the recent years of Gone through periods of transition in business, in life, my kids have hit new milestones. This year, my daughter, older daughter started high school. I've also gone through some personal transitions with a separation and divorce. And all of this has caused me, especially in combination with with a significant birthday like this, caused me to look up from the day to day and ask some bigger questions and wonder if I'm living my life in the way that I wish to be living my life. I I look at and I think about. How I'm responsible for what has happened and is happening in my life. The one that immediately led to this episode, I also thought about and asked myself what ideas and principles have influenced me and actually changed the way that I live? And when I sat with that question, there's four principles that rose above the rest. So I was, as you can imagine, I was very excited to see that having four corresponds well with a 40th birthday. I'm glad the numbers work out. I also saw a common thread and realized that they're not necessarily four separate lessons, but that they build on each other. And there's almost a sequence that for me is like a manual for how to live. And that is what I want to share with you today. And before I get into that, a couple notes. One is that if you're familiar with me, with our work at Newfit, you know that for nearly 20 years now, for me it's it's all come back to one thing, which is the nervous system. And when we're Talking about the new fit method and the newbie, it all comes down to helping people retrain their nervous system. It's the operating system of the body. We want the whole system to be running better. And I, in reflection on these, I see how I've been doing the same type of thing with myself, trying to get my operating system to work better. And one of the biggest things that, as you know, the nervous system does it's to make us aware, aware of our internal and external. Garrett Salpeter (02:22.486) environments and so awareness is a thread that also ties together these four lessons that I'm going to share with you because each one of them is preceded by or begins with awareness with noticing noticing where I am where I'm not in alignment noticing what my habits are and how they're influencing my life noticing what I'm accepting or tolerating in my life and also noticing for me areas in which I've been postponing my life and waiting for something to happen so I could achieve something and then feel a certain way, things like that that that I'll get into here. So these are the four, I don't necessarily want to say lessons, but I'd say the four biggest shifts in how I've lived that really stand out to me as being very impactful. And my intention here and sharing them with you is that they'll also be worthwhile to you in some way. So on to the first shift. For me, it's all about alignment. This is number one, I'm choosing this first because choosing to share this first because I feel like alignment has been the biggest unlock for me in the sense that finding where I feel aligned or where I haven't felt aligned and how the decisions I made from that, I can see how things play out. And one of the first times where I really realized the the dark side of this of acting out of alignment was an issue with a a person I had worked with and I knew deep down inside that there wasn't alignment. It wasn't a good cultural fit. And I overrided or overrode that in part because of people pleasing tendencies, because it was difficult for me to have hard conversations and and let this person know what was problematic, what was not working, what needed to change, difficulty for me setting boundaries. And I also had this, this was very early on in my career, also had this sort of scarcity mindset as opposed to abundance mindset of like, gosh, can I ever find anyone else to work with me? You know, so there's this feeling of not being worthy, not being good enough, noticing these things certainly all influenced it. But in overriding that, I allowed to continue Garrett Salpeter (04:49.91) situations and dynamics that ended up costing far more in the long run, emotionally and monetarily, costing a lot more than the initial pain and cost or the immediate pain and cost would have been having a hard conversation up front or getting rid of a person, you know, who wasn't a good fit years ahead of when I finally found the courage and clarity to do it. And when I Look at at other times where I've made decisions that have come out of alignment. Like, for example, coming out of college, I had a physics undergraduate degree, and I was set to go to engineering graduate school at the University of Texas here in Austin, which is how I got down here. And it was a fabulous experience, and I'm so glad I did it. And I had options to take jobs. I had a job offer with a big consulting firm out of college. I had an opportunity to interview with a large, very well-known investment bank, which I may or may not have gotten a job, but I decided that I wanted to pursue this because it felt more aligned with who I was and what I was interested in doing. And that ended up being a great decision. And that engineering background ultimately gave me the the experience and the perspective to be able to lead the team that ultimately created the newbie device and do the things that I'm doing now. It was a big part of that journey. So I'm I'm so glad that I did it. Also early on in my career back when I was working in a clinic and I had this hundred and twenty square foot office in the chiropractic office, chiropractic clinic of the guy who was the U T Longhorns chiropractor, his private practice. I was using older versions of electrical stimulation. That's part of what led me to ultimately creating the newbie. And I you know, very young doing this, it wasn't sure no one was really sure where this was gonna go. Me l me most of all. but I I knew that I really want to do it. And there was a moment there when when Brianna and I, my former wife, got pregnant with our first daughter. And I was still in my early twenties and I was honestly scared. And there were some suggestions, like my father, for example, very reasonably and lovingly encouraged me to take my master's degree in engineering and go get a stable. Garrett Salpeter (07:13.814) job so I can provide for my family. And I understand and appreciate why he said that. And for me, I sat with that and realized that what I really wanted to do was to follow my heart and pursue this work, doing this clinic and this type of work that led to new fit and everything that that we're doing now. And I'm so glad I did it. And it came from alignment. So those are some examples of acting from alignment or overriding the internal knowing. and acting from a place of misalignment. So that to me, that really is the f foundational framework. And a big catalyst for me understanding this has been my experience in meditation over the last couple years. I probably first got interested in meditation From listening to and reading Sam Harris's work and conversations with my friend Wesley Cress, who's been on this podcast, and hearing his experiences and his his explanations of meditation really helped it resonate with me in a way that it got me interested in pursuing it. And I've done more formal work both with Shauna Shapiro and Corey Muscara. Shauna's been on the podcast as well. And I highly recommend both of their books and their online work and courses or in-person work and courses because For me, meditation has been the way to really clarify and crystallize this concept or operationalize this and bring it into my daily life, where a lot of times we think that meditation is about sitting still until we get to a place of bliss or happiness where nothing bothers us. But what it's really about, as I've learned from people like Corey and Shauna, what it's really about is Have being still enough so that we can be aware enough or mindfulness, right? Mindful enough to be aware of what's going on in our own experience. So that I can actually feel when something I'm contemplating doing is aligned or is not aligned. And the the framework that I really love here that I have started using w whenever I can is understanding when I'm making a decision. Garrett Salpeter (09:28.44) From a place of self or parts, using the language of internal family systems. Another great book recommendation is No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz, Dick Schwartz, that describes this concept of internal family systems. When I'm making decisions from my true self, which you have a true self, I have a true self. We all have this true self, this place within us that is our deepest truth, where we feel clear and calm and confident and courageous and creative. And connected. There's these different C words that describe this state. Even just hearing those, you may feel some energy resonating. And the the parts are the different different patterns within ourselves that I alluded to earlier in my own experience, where I learned to act a certain way, you know, in people pleasing, difficulty setting boundaries. I had also learned that I felt like I had to achieve something in order to be worthy of love. And so these are the patterns. These patterns are parts. Of me and different parts can be online at different times and they can interact in certain ways, and I can be acting from certain parts or acting from self, those different places. And so meditation for me allows me to have the opportunity to slow down enough to drop in deeply enough to get clearer on what is my true motivation for doing something and making a decision. Is it aligned? Is it coming from a place of self or is it coming from a place of parts? And so the the question I really love to ask myself, which I got from Corey Muscara and his teaching is am I doing this? Am I considering doing this thing because I already feel complete as a person and it's aligned with my true desires? Or am I feeling empty inside and I'm choosing this thing as an attempt to grasp at something that might fill me up? Because we all know that that you know, getting past a certain point at least getting more money or getting a nicer house or a nicer watch or a nicer car, you know, we feel like that's gonna that's gonna be the thing that finally gets us happy. And we know that it doesn't work that way. But there's these patterns that I even will notice sometimes that I fall into. And it's the kind of underlying awareness of this alignment dynamic that helps me navigate this. And there's a few examples where I've seen my ego that Garrett Salpeter (11:50.307) that that part many many examples where I've seen that you know I was I was just reflecting in preparation for this like one for example doing what I do for work I I admittedly take a lot of pride in helping people get get results in sports medicine and rehabilitation and things like that and and with myself I put off for many years getting a hip surgery that I likely should have gotten earlier, and that I finally did get, and that was helpful. I got bone shaved down, bone spurs shaved down off the neck of my femur where I had a femoral acetabular impingement FAI. And I you know, I'm so glad I did it. But I put it off for a long time. I also noticed really interesting, after my first meditation retreat. I, as you likely can tell, you know, I read a ton of books, and I think a lot of the the where I am and what I've learned and who I've become is positively influenced by the books that I've read. And so I think that's wonderful. And I also at the same time observed that a lot of that came from a place of feeling somewhat empty or incomplete and thinking that if I was just a little bit smarter, If I knew a little bit more, then I'd be better, then I'd finally be worthy of some sort of status or love or belonging, some sort of internal drive like that. And I learned that some of that consumption of you know books, podcasts, etc., was some of that grasping trying to fill me up inside. And it was so interesting that after my first meditation retreat with Corey Muscara for a couple months. I I noticed that desire was significantly diminished. Where I you know, instead of always wanting to listen to a podcast or a book on tape audio book when I'm in the car, book on tape, they're not on tape anymore, but when I noticed that I would actually just enjoy sort of doing a breathing exercise or sitting and listening to music, things like that. It was it was an interesting shift. And so now I still read. Garrett Salpeter (13:59.679) And I ask myself if I'm doing it from some sort of compulsive desire to fill a perceived void, or if I'm doing it from a place of true interest and alignment. And it often is from a place of interest and alignment, but I really like that framework, and I felt compelled to share that with you. So I think the big, the big question that I would ask, and that I encourage everyone listening to this to ask, is It's not necessarily about following your passion, but following your alignments. I would ask you if what you're contemplating doing is truly aligned. And one exercise that that I have done in the past is actually close my eyes and consider a path A, consider a path B, and see how they feel in my nervous system. Because that often will give us a clue. It'll, you know, sometimes it's as dramatic as one path. will feel very constricting energetically and one will feel expansive, like it's giving us energy. And I've that's one thing that I've found is that if I'm doing things that could be objectively hard, even if it even if it is hard, it feels somewhat easier to me because that sense of alignment gives me energy and and it doesn't feel as hard. It makes makes having a going through difficult times in business or having a a a workout program sustainable. So I would ask myself and encourage you to ask yourself, where in my life am I choosing from emptiness rather than from fullness? Whatever, whatever that means to you. So that's the first the first one is is understanding alignment. And we really have to understand our identity, our true selves, who we are, what is most important to us, what we value, what what is in alignment with us at that deepest level. And then This second shift principle that I want to wanna share is how our identity is built through repetitions, how we are a culmination of our habits. And I think a lot about my life as an ongoing experiment. I think about my inputs that I do in my in my training and lifestyle, in my business, how I show up with my family and what you know what I do with my kids. And I look at the results that that come out of that. Think about it as as sort of one big ongoing experiment. There's also this great quote. Garrett Salpeter (16:25.578) Of attributed to Aristotle of we are what we repeatedly do. He talks about excellence is not an act, but it's a habit, because what we repeatedly do adds up to who we are. And so I think also in this sort of scientific ongoing experiment, results are feedback. They're not necessarily judgment. We don't fail, we gather information. I think that's a good mindset shift. I also think a lot about this in terms of Fitness and and health, which I think is a great metaphor for anything, because in fitness there is this balance of of work and and recovery and rest and regeneration. There's this this balance of delayed gratification of having to work for a period of time to see a result that comes later, of having to have faith in the process of of getting help and support and coaching and learning and and finding the most effective way, not the shortcut, but the most effective and direct path to your goal. So there's all these different lessons that I think extrapolate beautifully to all areas of life. And I I think a lot about the the way that what how what I do every day, how to have a daily routine. That helps me get to the levels of health and fitness and physical and mental performance and vitality that I wish to achieve for myself. So one thing that I'm working on is I'm generally very stiff. I have a background of ice hockey. As Greg Cook says, I was was one of these examples of someone building fitness on top of dysfunction. I didn't have my core movement fundamentals down, and yet I built a fair amount of size and strength and speed on top of that. And so couple that with playing ice hockey and being locked in that kind of half squat position with hips and external rotation, very little foot and ankle movement because the feet are locked in a in boots, you know, ice hockey boots, the skates, and all that leads to significant mobility restrictions that now I want to work on. And so I think about how my habits influence that. And there's things that I do to work on hip internal rotation. Garrett Salpeter (18:38.638) And I do those six or seven days a week. I work it into my plan. And over time, it's been so cool to see my hip internal rotation go from generously zero degrees to you know 15, 20 degrees. It's still not, you know, anatomically ideal, but it's gotten a lot better. And it's cool to see the progress, even in something that's as slow to change as structural remodeling of joint capsules. And I think this is a great. prompt for us all to look at our habits. You know, if someone all also going back to fitness, there's a great a great quote that the body you have is the body you've earned. So how if we're if we're not as strong in a certain area or we're several pounds overweight or you know, there's there's likely some reason for it. And it's sometimes not the individual's fault. Sometimes there's there's toxic exposure or things like that that's out of their control that's causing more inflammation that That throws things off or some disease state. And oftentimes once once we know about it, then there's things that we can do about it. So there's certainly the I think a lot of value in understanding that our life now is the culmination of our habits and really examining and evaluating those and making sure that yes, they are aligned
Dr. Sachin Patel believes the single most accessible, highest-leverage tool for our health has been right under our noses the whole time: the breath. In this episode, Garrett and Sachin go deep on why breathing is the "first domino" that knocks down a hundred others – influencing everything from our metabolism and circulation to the immune system and nervous system. If you've ever felt like your health routine is getting more complicated instead of simpler, this conversation is a powerful reminder that the most sophisticated answer is often the simplest one. We cover: Why breath is the "steering wheel" of your nervous system that helps you ramp up for immediate energy or ramp down for true healing CO2 is a misunderstood molecule that determines your calm, your energy, and your longevity, and why we want to train for greater "CO2 tolerance" How to measure your own breathing with the Control Pause (or BOLT) score, and what your number means Simple daily drills to build CO2 tolerance – at a traffic light, on a walk, or anywhere you can fit it in Client stories of how breathing practice has influenced health outcomes in real life Sachin's message is as empowering as it is simple: you already have everything you need to start, because you're already breathing. Tune in to learn how to take conscious control of that one process. Learn more and access his free trainings, guides, and live breathwork experiences at breathworkwithsachin.com.
Most of us were told that running is the purest path to leanness, heart health, and a long life. Mark Sisson spent a career as an elite endurance athlete, becoming a sub-2:18 marathoner and top finisher at Ironman, before his own body forced him to question all of it. In this conversation, he makes the case that – for many people – "chronic cardio" quietly breaks the body down more than building it up, and that the movement your body is actually engineered for is one that we have stopped respecting: walking. In this episode, we get into: The broken promises of running for exercise, including injury rates, the fat loss myth, hormonal dysfunctions, and more Real aerobic training and why the fastest marathoner on earth trains 80% of the time at an easy, conversational pace Why persistence hunting was never a steady-state jog, but more of an alternating walking-climbing-sprinting endeavor How modern shoes "brace and encase" our feet, dulling our connection to the ground and setting up injuries What a fitness routine looks like when it aligns with evolutionary biology Mark is 73 and, by his own account, fitter than he's ever been. This makes him one of the rare voices on aging who is living the message in real time. If you want to understand a sustainable framework for fitness and longevity, this episode will clarify how you think about it.
As a physical therapist and creator of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), Gray Cook has spent more than 30 years changing how we think about human movement. In this episode, recorded at the Functional Movement Systems headquarters in Chatham, Virginia, Garrett sits down with Gray for a wide-ranging conversation on what "functional" actually means, why most of us are chasing symptoms instead of causes, and how to build a body that moves well for life. If you've ever wondered why your training isn't translating into real-life movements or why pain keeps coming back, this episode is for you. We cover: Why Gray defines "functional" as simply meaning "good enough" in the most important areas that influence musculoskeletal health. How movement screening is a status check for the musculoskeletal system, just like we take blood pressure for the cardiovascular system and use an eye chart for the visual system. The value of "regressing to progress" by working through the developmental phases: roll → crawl → kneel → squat → stand → walk → run The difference between calibration and conditioning (and why most warm-ups are wasted) Reclaiming physical culture for everyone from kids in school to adults who have "given up" on regular movement practices A real-life example in Gray's assessment of Garrett's movement during their time together If you check a wearable every day to see your readiness and recovery, what are you doing to check your movement system? In this episode, you will learn a clear framework for running that same type of diagnostic on your musculoskeletal health. And underneath all of this is a deceptively simple principle. As Gray puts it, the sustainable path to health, fitness, and vitality is to "first move well, then move often."
Imagine being a speech therapist and waking up in an ICU, unable to speak, swallow, or move your head and neck. That's what happened to Vanessa Abraham, MS, CCC-SLP, seven years ago when she was paralyzed by the pharyngeal-cervical-brachial (PCB) variant of Guillain-Barre. In this episode, she shares the full story from ventilator, tracheostomy, G-tube, and eye gaze boards through her path to eventually rebuilding her voice, her ability to swallow, and her clinical practice. We cover: The PCB variant of Guillain-Barre and what recovery actually looks like How Vanessa found the Neubie, which turned out to be the missing link in her recovery The ways she uses electrical stimulation on the head and neck in her speech-language pathology practice, and how she dials in for swallowing and vocal cord function Polyvagal theory, why the body can't heal in a state of fight-or-flight, and how Vanessa uses the Master Reset Her frameworks for working with children with autism, adults with neurodegenerative conditions, and people experiencing PICS (post-intensive care syndrome) Vanessa is now one of the first SLPs in the world using the Neubie and has become a passionate educator through her book Speechless, her various talks and appearances, and her clinical practice. Her story is a very powerful pain-to-purpose conversation.
When Dr. Ted Arkfeld started as a team chiropractor in the early 2000s, the standard sideline concussion test was a whiff of smelling salts and a question: "Feel okay? Get back in." Twenty-plus years later, he's built one of the most rigorous neurological assessments in the field, and is one of the only chiropractors in the country presenting concussion research alongside the world's foremost authorities. In this episode, he walks us through what changed, what's still broken, and a better way to treat concussions from the nervous system up. We cover: Why you cannot have a concussion without a cervical spine injury and why mainstream concussion medicine has been late to catch on The Neuro Sports Performance Evaluation that combines autonomic testing, sensorimotor function, and Neubie mapping The 3x increase in lower-extremity injury risk after a concussion and how to prevent it Why even gentle treatment can metabolically overwhelm a concussed brain and how a $20 pulse oximeter solves it The layered treatment protocol Dr. Arkfeld uses: Cox flexion-distraction, Master Reset, Normatec, BrainTap, and progressive neuro rehab If you treat athletes – or you're the parent of one – this conversation will change how you think about concussion management.
In this episode of The Undercurrent Podcast, Garrett sits down with Dr. Trent Nessler, a physical therapist, biomechanics researcher, and founder of The Athlete Lab in Franklin, Tennessee. Over 28 years in practice, Trent has built one of the most comprehensive movement-data engines in the world: the ViMove+ AMI wearable sensor system, which has now captured over 4,700 data points per assessment on more than 490,000 athletes across five countries. What he's learned from that dataset is rewriting how we think about injury risk, ACL rehab, and return to play. In this conversation, we cover: The profound role of pelvic stability and dynamic valgus speed in predicting ACL injury Fatigue-state training and why the ACL Play It Safe program works best after practice How Trent integrates NEUBIE, BFR, biologics, red light therapy, and nutrition into a truly holistic rehab model Lessons from assessing thousands of firefighters, police, and Special Operations personnel The role of mindset, hope, and a warrior ethos in recovering from catastrophic injury Whether you're a clinician, coach, athlete, or tactical operator, this conversation offers a rare look inside the mind of someone who has spent nearly three decades measuring, questioning, and refining what it actually takes to move – and heal – at the highest level.
Most golfers are chasing a better swing. But what if the real limitation isn't your technique, but your body? In this episode with Mike McDonnell, we break down the Golf Performance Pyramid and discuss why most players are building their game on an incomplete foundation. We cover: The Golf Performance Pyramid: mobility → stability → strength → power Why hip mobility (especially internal rotation) is a major limiter of speed and consistency How skipping foundational movement leads to compensation and injury The difference between training muscles vs training movement How to structure training year-round, including during competitive seasons If you want more distance, consistency, and longevity, don't just work on your swing … Fix the foundation it's built on.
We often treat movement like a one-way equation: Brain → Body → Performance. But in reality, it's a feedback loop. The body is constantly sending information back to the brain, and that information shapes how we move, perform, and recover. In this conversation with Harry Worrow, we talk about his frameworks for working with everyone from athletes to individuals with neurodegenerative conditions, and how he uses biomechanical analysis paired with functional neurology. Specifically, we cover: The two-way relationship between neurology and biomechanics Why better sensory input leads to better movement output A deeper look at working with the visual and vestibular systems Why movement quality should come before load and intensity Strategies for long-term progression in neurodegenerative cases Movement is a blend of hardware and software, mechanics and neuroscience. Ultimately, it's shaped by how the nervous system interprets and responds to the world – and the good news is that this you can influence this process with the right techniques and strategies.
What happens when physician referrals start disappearing? For Chad Madden, it forced a complete reinvention of how his practice attracted patients. That shift ultimately led to scaling his clinic to seven locations and co-founding Breakthrough to help hundreds of practices do the same. In this episode we discuss: The New Patient Pipeline and how it works The difference between clinician messaging and patient messaging Why direct response marketing works for healthcare The systems that turn cold leads into paying patients How cash-pay services are reshaping the economics of private practice The takeaway: Great care alone doesn't guarantee growth. You also need a system to create demand, and Chad shows us that system.
Most healthcare is built around managing symptoms. A little treatment here. A quick intervention there. "Let's try this and see how you respond." But what if the real problem isn't the pain – it's the system treating pain? In this episode, Dr. Mike Carberry and Colleen Carberry, PT, the founders of Advanced Medical Integration break down: Why symptom-based care keeps patients on the "train to drugs and surgery" How integrating physician care, chiropractic, and PT, compresses recovery time Why frequency and coordinated team care matter more than isolated visits How structured treatment plans drive measurable functional outcomes The systems that allow practices to scale without sacrificing results If you want better outcomes, you don't just need more visits. You need a better model.
What separates a good practice from a top 10% practice? In this episode with Brian Gallagher, PT, we unpack the mindset shifts, leadership frameworks, and operational discipline that consistently show up in the highest-performing clinics. This isn't about hacks, it's about how elite operators think. Specifically, we discuss: The identity shift required to move from clinician to true business leader Why culture must be built intentionally, not accidentally The role of systems and accountability in sustainable growth How top practices approach hiring, retention, and performance standards The top few ways successful practices outsource to improve efficiency If you're a practice owner (or aspire to be one), this conversation will challenge you to raise your standards – not just clinically, but strategically. As you'll learn from Brian, the top 10% don't get there by luck. They build differently.
Healing is rarely about fixing a single tissue or structure. In this episode, Lisa Chase, PT, shares the frameworks from her new book, Be Responsible, Because the System Isn't, and describes why true recovery depends on the health of the entire system – from the nervous system and sleep to lifestyle, resilience, and capacity. When the whole system is robust, healing becomes possible. When it's not, symptoms simply move around. In this conversation, we discuss: Why pain and injury are often downstream expressions of system overload How nervous system regulation shapes recovery, inflammation, and resilience The Pyramid of Healing and moving beyond symptom management What it means to rebuild health instead of chasing relief How tools like movement, lifestyle changes, and technology fit into a whole-system model This episode is an invitation to rethink healing. It's not something that's done to you, nor is it something done in isolation. Rather, healing is something that emerges when the whole system is supported.
What happens when a child suddenly loses the ability to walk – and the answers aren't structural, surgical, or pharmaceutical? In this episode, Garrett sits down with George James and Katie, the mother of 9-year-old Jodie, to share an extraordinary and deeply human story of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), resilience, and recovery. In this conversation, we explore: Jodie's sudden onset of FND after fainting during a field hockey game, and the loss of walking, speech, and confidence The emotional and logistical journey of navigating a misunderstood condition George's decision to travel from the UK to Kenya for a 5-day intensive The clinical framework for approaching FND, including an emphasis on sensory input, play, and nervous system retraining Broader takeaways from this story and what it teaches us about neuroplasticity, graded exposure, "deconstructing" movement patterns like gait, and more This story is an inspiring example of patience, trust, and the remarkable adaptability of the human nervous system, with some extremely valuable clinical insights mixed in.
Most practice owners don't get stuck because they lack tactics – they get stuck because they're still operating with a clinician's identity. In this episode, Garrett sits down with Jamey Schrier, DPT, to unpack why sustainable growth and practice value require a fundamental shift in how owners see themselves and their role. In this conversation, we cover: Why clinical excellence alone doesn't build a valuable business The identity shift from clinician to true practice owner Common traps that keep owners stuck in the day-to-day What actually makes a practice "sale-ready" How systems and leadership replace owner dependency This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants their practice to create freedom instead of just more responsibility.
Modern pain care often focuses on fixing structures, but what if the real key is changing the signal? In this episode, Garrett and Dan Neff, DPT, dive into the idea of therapeutic input and how precise neurological stimulation can reduce pain, restore function, and build trust with patients – even the ones who've already tried everything else. You'll learn about: Neurological versus mechanical models of pain Why less force can sometimes produce better results How spinal input influences pain perception The nuanced differences between manipulation, adjustment, and neuromodulation Integrating Neubie for complex cases of neurological injury and degeneration If you're a clinician, practice owner, or someone struggling with persistent pain, this conversation offers an insightful perspective on what effective treatment really looks like
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Observed September 16, 2026. Cached outside the daily freshness window; the positions keep the date they were taken on.
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