More Than Medicine Justin Geissinger and Charles O'Malley

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major disruptive force in so many people’s lives for so many reasons. In this episode we talk to the owner of Empire Tri Club, Alison Kreideweis, to see how her business and athletes have overcome these disruptions and continue to press on in these uncertain times.

Alison is an accomplished triathlete, having been on Team USA’s AG National Triathlon Team twice and has competed in both the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships and the Olympic Distance ITU World Triathlon Championships. She was also named “Best Personal Trainer” in the Northeast in 2014 by Competitor.com. If that wasn’t enough, she does all this while being a mom to two young boys! Alison is a force to say the least.

Even without races on the calendar Alison is working to keep her athletes motivated to train while safely promoting community and accountability during a time of distancing and isolation. Listen to find out how she does it.

On this Episode of More Than Medicine Justin and I speak with Radiologist Dr. David Saul. While David is one of Charlie’s closest friends, he is also a very talented physician. He graduated from Drexel College of Medicine which was followed by a residency in diagnostic radiology and a fellowship in pediatric radiology. While he specializes in pediatric radiology, he has practiced radiology for multiple Philadelphia area hospitals and health systems. Using David’s wide breadth of experience, we are able to follow up on the previous episode’s discussion of pain to talk about the dichotomous role of radiology in diagnosing pain. Justin and I learned a lot and have a new respect for radiologists. We hope you will too after listening to this episode.

Justin and I start off Season 2 with a deep dive into many of the factors that contribute to pain. As we will discuss, comprehending how and why we feel pain is quite complex. However, with so many layers involved in the pain experience we can use all sorts of interventions to impact a specific layer or multiple layers, thus improving how people feel and function. Join us as we head down the rabbit hole of pain neuroscience to better understand how we can learn from pain and why it is really a good thing. .

Season 2 is on the way! From now on we will be posting one episode per month at the end of each month. So stay tuned for the return of More than Medicine!!

For part 2 of our obesity focus Lori Groff shares with us her story about how she chose bariatric surgery as a means to turn her life around. Lori candidly tells about her struggles with weight and the negative health consequences related to it. Ultimately she opted for bariatric surgery and her journey through this process is both enlightening and uplifting.

In part 1 (of what may end up being many episodes) of our obesity focus, we speak with Shauna Mugavero. She is a registered dietitian who works as the Bariatric Coordinator in Lancaster General Hospital’s Healthy Weight Loss and Bariatric Surgery Department. She shares with us information about how she works with individuals who are looking to better control their weight in both surgical and non-surgical ways. She also shares some practical advice about how we can all eat healthier and work towards reducing the alarming obesity trends sweeping across the U.S.