Dr. Sean Burkhardt,DC,FIBFN-FN,CCSP,CFMP,CSCS,CSPS,TSAC-F,PES,CES

If I had to teach a course about a specific topic, it would be brain health. We all have one brain, and so we should have a general understanding of the anatomy of the brain and how the brain functions. The course would cover topics such as nutrition and its effects on the brain, stress, sleep, and how the brain interacts with other organs and systems.
 
Transcript: "Alright, exciting times. My first question. If I had to teach a course about a specific topic, what would it be? So if I had to pick only one topic, hands down, it would be brain health. To me, your brain is the most important organ. Now one can argue we have all these different organs, but you only get one brain, and we can't transplant it when it goes bad. So I think as humans, since we all have one, we should have a general understanding of the anatomy of the brain and how the brain functions. So in simple, you have one brain with two hemispheres. Each hemisphere has different tasks that it does. Like the left side is very analytical in general, right side is very creative. And within these hemispheres, we have different regions. And these regions might have different functions. Like the front over here has to deal with speaking, the back deals with vision. So if someone has a general understanding of the anatomy and what normal function is, then I can give you specific objective tests to measure on yourself so you can compare yourself against normal. Because the brain tends to work well for the majority, we don't recognize it becomes a problem until we start to lose function or we get injured. So having a class that teaches about brain function, having a way to teach you how to analyze your own brain function, I think is totally crucial. From there, we can get into all the dirty details of how nutrition affects the brain, how to recognize when your brain gets fatigued and doesn't have a lot of endurance to do tasks. So as an example, if you've ever been reading a book and you got tired, well, the areas that deal with reading might not be functioning as well. But there, we can give you exercises on how to kind of rehabilitate or give more integrity to those areas. But again, there's so many topics that pertain to the health of the brain. How nutrition affects the brain, how stress affects the brain, how sleep affects the brain, how the brain interacts with your immune system and your gut and so forth. So I think if I had to pick one topic, it would definitely be brain health because we all get it."
 Brain Health

My process for rehabilitating an injured athlete involves obtaining a thorough history and interview, diagnosing the injury both medically and functionally, and then using a methodical approach with passive modalities at first and active care at the end while monitoring progress.
 
Transcript: "Alright, the question reads, what is your process when it comes to rehabilitation for an injured athlete? Well, step number one is always a thorough history and interview with that athlete or that patient. We need to determine was there a very specific mechanism of injury like a trauma or was it something that was repetitive or cumulative in nature. From there, we have to go into an examination. Now I like to come up with two different diagnoses during this examination. One is that medical diagnosis. What's the name of the injury? That will tell us the physiology that's involved and the timeline that that specific injury takes to heal. The second diagnosis is more of a functional diagnosis, meaning was there a breakdown in their movement patterns, was there a lack of strength, or was there repetition? What was going on that caused that medical diagnosis to come to light? That can help us to accommodate while we're doing rehab, but also start to integrate some changes in their lifestyle or particular movement or whatever habits may have led to causing that so we can reinforce it. As far as rehabilitation, there should always be a methodical process over that timeline that it takes to heal where you have these specific goals. So you're going to start off doing the crawl, walk, run method of rehab, meaning a lot of passive modalities up front before we get into active care at the end. I won't go into over details because each injury is unique to the individual and each person might need a different variation on rehab. But the main process is to have a clinical thought process of what may have caused that, what is it, how can we reverse engineer it, and how can we accommodate you during these healing phases and make sure we have markers that keep us measured as practitioners that hold the standards saying we're actually making progress while you're healing up."

The training environment can impact an athlete's training by giving them a sense of comfort and familiar setting. Additionally, acclimation to altitude and heat can also have an impact on training and performance.
 
Transcript: "Hey Markeith, I hope I pronounced that correctly. Dr. Sean here. You have an awesome question. How does the training environment itself impact an athlete's training? So a couple things that I think of are like the home field advantage versus traveling, right? Anytime you're in home field or just a familiar setting that's going to give you that sense of comfort. It's going to down regulate your sympathetic nervous system, your fight-or-flight, and it's going to make you more present-time conscious within your training environment. The other thing that I think of because I am Colorado based, so I am at altitude, is absolutely acclimation to altitude and to heat will impact your training and your performance. So that one is an easier answer for me. So if someone comes to Colorado, I got to make sure that they've been here long enough to adapt to the altitude itself. Also as well to like if it's cold or if it's hot, making sure that they're prepped and they're ready to engage in the environment."

I maintain a daily routine, practice self-care and gratitude, exercise regularly, surround myself with positive people, and single task when possible.
 
Transcript: "Hey everyone, Dr. Sean here. My question is, what are the daily habits you have to remain grounded and also happy? Love it. First things first, a morning routine. So I try to wake up at the same time every morning. I'll go on a walk with my dog and then we'll make coffee between my wife and I and usually just try to connect with each other. Second thing after that is I'll take a little bit of me time. I might do some stretching, I might do some breathing, but the point is I'm connecting with myself. After that I usually dirt dive my day, meaning, hey what do I have to accomplish today? Let me make a list, let me set some goals, small or big. That way when I hit them, you know, I get this dopamine hit, it gives me a little sense of invigoration and it keeps me motivated to keep going. Another one is reading, right? By reading you get to take time for yourself but you're also educating yourself and just kind of connecting with different topics that are out there. Yeah, so if you have any interest, like reading is a good one. I like to practice gratitude. I have to get reminded to do this at certain times so when I make a good accomplishment, you know, tell yourself, like, good for you. Don't get stuck on it, move forward, but recognize those small wins. Exercise every day, you know, just staying moving will keep you healthy but it will also change your neurochemistry and actually make you feel happier. So that can be under self-care, it can be under exercise, but either way just stay doing something, stay moving. Surround myself with positive people, right? If you want to be better, you got to be around people that hold themselves to a higher standard so it keeps you moving forward to a higher standard. So I know there's a lot there but I hope these are helpful for you. Also single tasking, right? If you try to multitask, you're gonna get lost. So make sure you're focused on whatever you do, you're present-time conscious with whomever you're with, and those are my habits."

The importance of recovery for athletes is essential. It helps their muscles and systems adapt, allowing them to come back even stronger after their training. Recovery reinforces all of the effort they put in to maintain their health, fitness, and skill.
 
Transcript: "What's up everyone? Next question reads, what is the importance of recovery for athletes? So I would say train hard, recover harder. Your body and your brain are your most important tools and as an athlete you are using these daily to complete the task, the position, the skill that you're engaging in. So when you do your training you're specifically trying to break down these muscles and your systems so they can adapt and come back even stronger. The process of recovery is when that happens. You're not making gains while you're in there working out. You're making gains while you're resting, while you're sleeping, and while you're fueling. So the importance for recovery for athletes is there's no debate, it's just absolutely essential. If you keep driving a car without maintaining it or putting gas in it, eventually it's just not going to work as well. So all the effort that athletes are putting in to make sure they're healthy, that their function is good, that their fitness is up, and that their skill is pristine, the recovery reinforces all of that. So it is absolutely key."

To improve brain health, decrease inflammation by reducing or eliminating excessive alcohol or sugar intake. Increase microbiome diversity with polyphenols, resveratrol, and curcumin. Utilize essential fatty acids and fish oils for cell wall and neuron membrane health. Supplement with magnesium, antioxidants, and short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, acetate, and propionate.
 
Transcript: "What's up everyone, Dr. Sean here. My question is what specific nutrition recommendations do you have for improving your brain health? Well, two obvious ones right out of the gate are decrease inflammation any way you can. So try to limit or remove excessive alcohol or excessive sugar usage. Remember you have a gut lining. We've all heard of leaky gut. Well, there is such thing as leaky blood-brain barrier. The same tight junctions are in your gut, that are in your lungs, that are in your brain. So we want to keep those tight junctions secure so we don't ingest things that are going to go bi-directionally from the brain-gut access, gut-brain access, and cause excessive inflammation. Things you want to utilize from nutraceutical standpoint are polyphenols, resveratrol, curcumin. Those are going to increase your microbiome diversity, decrease your inflammation, decrease your free radicals. They're essentially protecting your blood-brain barrier and protecting your neurons. Essential fatty acids, fish oils. Your cell walls and your neurons, the membrane is literally made of this material. So you want to ingest fish oils or get it through eating fish. You want EPA, you want DHA. In case you do have some leaky gut, short-chain fatty acids, butyrate, acetate, propionate. Those are going to help to restore the blood-brain barrier and the tight junction gut barrier. Other nutrients are magnesium. Your brain literally needs it to function. Antioxidants like glutathione. Basically there can be a lot of things that can be helpful that you can obtain from natural foods or you can supplement. The key idea is you want to try to get it from natural foods as much as possible so you don't have to spend excessive money on supplements because supplements are just that, supplementing what you're missing. So once you know what that is, you can start removing bad things and replacing with good things. So I know this is a lot in a short period of time but I hope it helps you and we can always have follow-up questions on each of these subjects."