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Everyone in healthcare stresses protein intake, and if they don’t they should! What most don’t tell you is that the timing of protein consumption is also crucial to performance. Case example:

Athlete walks in for concussion rehab at 345 pm AFTER a full day of work. When she was unable to perform word association as well as she has previously, we asked how much protein she has eaten today. Her response sounded mildly defensive, but she did respond with a smile on her face when she said, “I just ate a protein bar on the way here, and had muscle milk for breakfast”. We estimated that this was about 1/4 of what her daily protein intake needed to be for her body weight.

The clinicians had a great discussion with the athlete about the timing of protein consumption. It is most important to start the day off with natural sources of protein and then consuming it evenly throughout the day so that there is no drop in energy level. It is also important to consider how much protein is consumed of an evening, because this increases sleep quality. 

If you are unsure what the definition of a “good” source of protein is, you can always ask us and work collaboratively for positive patient outcomes. 

Keeping patients engaged in their care can help with patient compliance, leading to better outcomes of care. So what are ways that we can keep them engaged during treatments and when not in our direct care?

Did anyone watch the Master’s this weekend? (April 6-9, 2023)

We did. And wow, what a show. It reminds me that even professional athletes are human, in reference to Jon Rahm pulling out a ham sandwich in the middle of the tournament. I will attest, I am not a huge golfer. In fact I have a hard time watching it because I don’t understand when an athlete has good form, bad form, or what a “good” shot looks like. Regardless of that, each professional (and amateur in this year’s tournament) golfer spend countless hours training physically with trainers, mentally, and actually on the golf course. Some also do sports vision training in order to get their eyes to sink the putt, or to use the appropriate force in their swing. Which takes depth perception and eye hand coordination. Sports vision training also strongly utilizes cervical positioning. What kind of sports vision exercises could you do in various cervical positions that are golf specific? 

While you think about that, let me give you some ideas: 

1. Ball toss with cervical rotation
2. Chart exercises in side plank. You could also have them do thread the needle with this to really work gaze stabilization after changing direction.
3. Pursuits with eye hand coordination in cervical rotation at various distances and eye levels.

Although golf seems like a slower paced sport, it’s really not. It takes a significant amount of concentration, technique, and visual endurance to be above average at the sport. Next time you spectate golf, or participate yourself, think about what kind of visual requirements the sport takes and how you as a healthcare professional can improve those skills. Until next time…

Raise of hands for those that get the “norm” 8-10 hours of sleep. When does your body cue you to fall asleep and wake up? Try not to confuse this as when you think you should go to sleep and when your alarm wakes you up. If you could stay up until midnight and sleep until 8, would your lifestyle allow you to do so? What about sleeping for 7 hours at night and 1 hour during the afternoon?

A podcast that I found by Peter Attia, The Drive, episode 221 Understanding sleep and how to improve it, describes chronotypes: the time of day when you feel the most awake, when you are hungry, etc. People that report having insomnia may not truly be an insomniac…what if their chronotype simply does not match their current lifestyle? After a brain injury, as many of us manage on a day to day in our professional careers, someone may have been able to compensate their mismatched chronotype/lifestyle before an injury. Now, they are telling you all of their symptoms and that they are sleeping all the time. Well, think about it. Has their chronotype changed? Is it the same as pre-injury and they are unable to tolerate the mismatch now? We are excited to have an open discussion below on this topic, so make sure you put your comments in the box below!

Follow this link for a more in depth definition of chronotypes: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/chronotypes