359-SYNCPodcast_RushSimonson

Jenny Swisher: [00:00:00] Welcome, friends, to this episode of the [00:01:00] Sync Your Life podcast. Today I’m joined by my new friend, Rush Simonson. He’s a healthcare entrepreneur and innovator with over 25 years of experience across finance, medical technology, and regenerative health. He’s the co-founding CEO and chairman of Juvent, which is a company behind a clinically studied micro-impact platform originally developed from NASA-backed research to combat bone density loss in astronauts.

The technology has since been shown to improve bone mineral density and support overall musculoskeletal health, and it’s now used by clinicians, athletes, and aging populations worldwide. He’s founded and scaled multiple ventures, including Cytonix Corporation, which discovered the protein complex responsible for joint pain, which led to a strategic partnership with Johnson & Johnson, and a spinal and neurosurgical implant distributorship with Medtronic.

This is so cool, that Med- Medtronic actually acquired it after it grew to over $25 million in sales. An inventor and operator at the intersection of healthcare and innovation, he focuses on building solutions that improve patient outcomes at scale. I’m excited be- for this because you guys know I love a good biohacking [00:02:00] conversation.

I feel like if we really want to serve women well or really just serve people well in health, we’re gonna have to have entrepreneurs like Rush Simonson who can bridge that, that technology, that we can bridge the knowledge that we’re gaining with actual tactical, tangible things that we can do to improve our health.

I’m fascinated by his background. I’m excited to dig into all of this today, specifically talking more about bone density, uh, in women and what we can do to really combat this as we age. Those of my listeners who’ve been listening to me for a while know that I’m very passionate about sort of the three leading causes of poor health in women as we age, right, being osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s.

In fact, my keynote speech that I give, uh, involves just that, the research on those things. So when Rush kinda came into my sphere and we had our little pre-chat, I could have gone on and on with him. And I’m like, “Wait, we gotta hold this. We gotta wait for the recording,” right? We can’t just talk now about all the good stuff, but I’m excited for this.

I, I, I am really truly, um, enthralled by what he’s up to. So Rush, I just wanna say thank you for coming onto the show and sharing your [00:03:00] knowledge and expertise. Um, if you wanna just tell my listeners more about you. I mean, obviously we just heard a lot about what you’re into, but tell us more about how you got into this.

Rush Simonson: Thank you, Jenny. Um, I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and your guests. Um, it’s always fun to get to help, um, continue the education process lifelong. Um, I got into medicine a long time ago. Um, my aunt was the medical director for Murdoch, which is a rehabilitation– one of the largest rehabilitation centers in the country, and they had a whole host of, uh, different conditions that were there.

And I used to go up and visit her on the summer, and she’d take me on her, uh, rounds and go around and visiting patients, and there were patients all the way from the criminally insane all the way to, um, you know, severe birth defects. So she managed a clinic that was massive in size, and so I was able to get a lot of exposure early on to a number of different medical conditions and, uh, it left a, it left a mark on me.

And [00:04:00] she served there 30 years, her whole life pretty much, and she was one of the early, um, uh, female physicians actually, MD, and so she was a real pioneer and, uh, a great, great lady. And then my brother-in-law is a thoracic surgeon, um, doing a program at Duke University, a decade with Sabiston, as they call it.

And, uh, I was able to assist him in a number of, um, uh, large dog, large animal procedures, um, as, as a surgery assist. So I was the second one in the room with him, and so I was able to really firsthand, uh, literally get, um, my hands, uh, involved in, in a surgical procedure, a very, uh, significant surgical procedure.

So it really left me with a, uh, a real yearning to understand more about, you know, the human body and how that worked. And, uh, I went to work for Medtronic many years ago and was involved in their spine and neurosurgical division. So I, uh, was involved with over, in over a [00:05:00] thousand surgeries as an advisor, received a ton of training, categoric training, as well as surgical training from some of the top spine surgeons in the world, neurosurgeons.

And, and there I got to experience bone health in a real way because, uh, we used to o-open patients up sometimes and go in and try to instrument or do surgery, but their bone quality was so bad we just couldn’t do it. You couldn’t use any of the normal instrumentation that you would. Um, we actually had a term for that called jelly spine, and, uh, it was very sad because you really were left with very few surgical options to give those patients pain relief.

Um, later on I was involved in a number of different, uh, vertebroplasties, which is a procedure where you have a fractured vertebrae, and then you inject, uh, plastic into that, uh, vertebrae to try to firm it up So you can eliminate the pain. And bone pain is some of the most severe pain you can have. Um, so anyway, I’ve, I’ve had a lot of exposure, uh, to poor bone health unfortunately, [00:06:00] and it also drove me to look for ways of alleviating that or avoiding that.

And, uh, our company, Juvent, uh, fast-forward, um, we’re partners with the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation corporate roundtable members, so we’re very much involved. We’ve been there about eight or nine years now. And, uh, one of the things that really has struck me is that osteoporosis has always looked as a, a old person’s disease or, uh, someone in later years, but when you really look at the etiology of the disease, it actually starts in the teen years.

And so it’s very much, I, I equate it to, like, smoking. You know, you don’t get emphysema when you’re 55 because you smoked one cigarette when you were a kid, right? Um, it was a result of chronic behavior over a long period of time, and I think that’s one of the reasons why osteoporosis is a confounding disorder with many physicians and practitioners is, ’cause I’ve spoken to many of them, and a lot of them are my best friends, that they just don’t see it as a disease that’s [00:07:00] curable.

And, um, what we, what we’ve discovered is it is very curable. There’s good science now, and we understand the disease condition a lot better than we did before. But most importantly, um, it… we need to look at early years. So, um, when mothers are looking at osteopenia, they need to be talking to their daughters early on so that they make sure that they avoid any of the, uh, fad diets, you know, um, that might be going on or extreme sports, because a lot of, a lot of women now are, young women engage in extreme sports and, and stop having periods.

And they need to understand when that occurs, that they’re essentially entering a menopausal-like period in which their estrogen will be severely, uh, affected and diminished, and so their bone density will start to not improve but actually, you know, uh, get worse. And the Army actually saw this, a study with our device years ago, uh, at boot camp.

They were starting to see fragility [00:08:00] fractures in young women that were coming in for training in the military. And so they actually sponsored a study with our device to help improve, uh, women’s bone mineral density, uh, in those early years. So it is a lifelong disorder, one that’s not recognized unfortunately.

Most women aren’t diagnosed with osteoporosis until they have a fragility fracture and they show up in the ER. And, uh, usually that’s like most disease conditions, when you catch it in the late stages, it’s a lot more difficult to, uh, to make better than it is if you catch it early on. So we really encourage, uh, women to get a DEXA scan early on in their 40s, premenopause.

And then that way they have a reference scan to look at once they’re through menopause, because most women will have a small decrease in bone mineral density, but they won’t go on to develop osteoporosis, and that’s really an important difference. So many women are alarmed when they have a DEXA score that maybe is a negative one or something [00:09:00] post-menopause, but if they don’t have a reference scan to go back to, they might have been a negative one pre-menopause, right?

Or maybe a zero. And as long– and then they– as long as they get another scan two years later, they can then see if there’s a trend or not, and that’s really what you’re looking for is, does it continue to get worse? Because when it continues to get worse, that’s when you really need to have the alarm bells go off and do something about it.

But most women will go on to have just a s- a new normal, which might be negative one, and they’ll maintain that the rest of their life, and so it’s no real reason to be super concerned. But in general, anything you do that helps your bone is also gonna help your entire body and your entire health, because the bone now we know is a full member of the endocrine system.

Usually most people think of bone as something just holds you up, and they think that, you know, the bones that you have today are the same bones you had when you were young. But what we do know now and understand is that your bones turn over about once every 10 years. So you know, in a 10, 10 to 15-year [00:10:00] period, the bones you have today aren’t the bones you’re gonna have tomorrow.

So– and that’s one of the good news is because that means that you can– your things that you’re doing hormonally, nutritionally, and exercise can really have a significant impact on the health of your bone So one of the things we focused on at Juvent is the necessity for impact, and specifically micro impact.

And that’s like the impact that you get from walking barefoot two to five miles a day. And it turns out that this impact that you receive from walking is really essential to great bone health and, and good health overall. But most of us when we walk are walking today in running shoes, and that is a problem because when you, when you walk in running shoes, running shoes are designed specifically to minimize impact.

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm.

Rush Simonson: And specifically high impact, which you should, because high impact can damage joints over the long term. But it does also insulate you from that micro [00:11:00] impact. And so when you’re out walking your maybe one to two to three miles or more a day, if you’re doing it in running shoes, you’re not getting the benefit of that micro impact.

So you can actually end up impact deficient. And we see this with even Olympic athletes that are bicyclists and swimmers. They can end up, uh, severely osteopenic, uh, in their 30s and 40s, uh, because they lack impact in their exercise routine.

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm.

Rush Simonson: So we encourage people to either walk in sandals, like a leather sandal, uh, or, you know, barefoot would be ideal, but that’s hard to do.

But they’re also have a lot of these new shoes now. They’re like barefoot shoes.

Jenny Swisher: Yep.

Rush Simonson: There’s a company called Xero, um, with an X, that has, makes shoes. I’m not affiliated with any of these companies. But there are a number of them on the internet that you should look and research. And, um, as you break your foot into that new form of walking, uh, and you need to do it slowly.

You can’t go cold turkey. You’ll get [00:12:00] a real bad case of plantar fasciitis if you do, because those shoes don’t have big arches in them, and a lot of people’s feet have, uh, accommodated a large arch in those sneakers. Mm. But as you… You’ll find out that you’re feeling better. You’ll feel like your walk is really ben- more beneficial for you because you’re getting that micro impact.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah.

Rush Simonson: The, uh, physiological term for that is mechanotransduction, and that’s what’s happening. When your heel hits, the calcaneus of your heel hits, it sends a pressure wave all the way through your body. And what w- what we now know is there’s a lot of pressure-activated ion channels in the walls of our cells.

And by activating those pressure-activated ion channels, it allows nutrients into the cells that you otherwise wouldn’t have access to. And in the case of an osteocyte, which is the cell that most of our bones are, uh, built from, that allows calcium. They have a calcium ion receptor. And so when you, when you have that micro impact travel and that pressure wave passes through, [00:13:00] it opens up and allows calcium into the cell.

So we know in osteoporosis and osteopenia that the cells can be calcium deficient- So if you’re taking a lot of calcium but you’re not getting that stimulation, then the calcium’s n- never absorbed by the cell, so you won’t see the, the benefit.

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm. This is als- I mean, I could just, like, let you talk ’cause this is all just-

so, so amazing. But so, so you started the company- Yeah … really, like, with this in mind of, of how, how can we combat this, this bone mineral density loss. So let me just plug in a little bit of my story here too because- Yeah … it’s so funny. Every time, every time somebody comes on the podcast, I, I’m convinced at this point, you know, five years in, that I created the podcast apparently because of a universal, um, I don’t know, spirit thinking that I needed these guests on my show for my own health.

So it’s just interesting because I’ve actually been dealing with, um, since January, but probably over the course of years, degenerative disc in my lumbar spine, and now a herniation in my L4-5, L5-S1. Now, [00:14:00] take it or leave it, right? Who cares what the MRI says. Ba- base it more off of symptoms. But I’ve been doing things like pelvic floor therapy and physical therapy and everything I can to avoid anything else, um, more invasive.

Yeah. But it’s interesting because, uh, when I first started seeing this physical therapist, he gave me the same conversation, we had the same conversation that you just gave about sh- footwear. And I started thinking about, you know, I’m, I’ve been into health and fitness for a long time. We owned a gym, and for me, footwear was fashion.

Like, I should wear whatever shoes look good with my outfit. Right. Right? Like, I wasn’t necessarily- Right … thinking about it from, definitely not from a bone de- bone density perspective, but I wasn’t even- Right … thinking about it for even just, you know, structurally. So I know that back in my 20s, I was, I tried things like the FiveFingers, the Vibrams, like the, the minimalist shoes.

Right. And those were always, like, they could always trigger some tight hip flexors for me. Um, but at the same time, like in these last 5 or 10 years, I’ve been just using, you know, I’m a mom, so it’s like what, what can I slip on? What can I… [00:15:00] Like, running shoes, I’ll just wear those all the time. And it’s interesting because when my MRI report came back, it showed s- like pretty significant atrophy of my multifidus muscle, which I’ve done some research to investigate is sort of like right along your spine, right?

Mm-hmm. And I started thinking, like, if I’m somebody who I’m doing the things I felt I should be doing as far as lifting heavy weights, incorporating a little plyometric a- plyometric activity. I don’t go HAM on the hip training. Like, you know, I do yoga. Like, but how is this atrophy, like, how is this happening to me?

So you’re kind of explaining that when you’re saying, first of all, this all probably started a long time before now, a long time before 42. But also, I’m curious, what does this mean, then? So I know you guys have a vibration plate. What types of things do you, have you found in the research that can help someone, like maybe even in my position that’s in their 40s or beyond, right?

And maybe they don’t have the term osteoporosis, or maybe they’ve never had a DEXA scan. I know you mentioned having that done, so I’ve already made a note for myself to, to make that a priority. But what else- Yeah … can we, what else can we be doing, and can we [00:16:00] start talking a little bit about vibration and how that could play a role?

Rush Simonson: Yeah. So, um, yeah, so w- w- if you don’t mind, we’ll chat a little bit about your disc situation, so, um, I’m very, very knowledgeable in that area. Um, so as we get older, our discs begin to dehydrate, and so they tend to compress. So, um, the way the disc hydrates is primarily through an osmotic pump, which is through the end plates of the, the discs ab- the vertebral bodies above and below.

And so, um, one of the number one ways those discs rehydrate, one, you need to be hydrated yourself, number one, so be- being in a continual state of dehydration, which surprisingly a lot of people are, um, but also getting sleep. Sleep is critical to the rehydration of those discs. So when you unload those discs at night- You wanna make sure that you’re in a– your, your spine’s in a rested position, we call flexion position, [00:17:00] and so those discs can actually rehydrate.

And when they do that, you actually gain height at night. People don’t realize that, but if they were to measure theirself, measure themselves when they went to sleep, and then measure themselves in the morning, they’d actually be a little higher, and that’s because those discs rehydrate and you gain the height again.

Um, so that’s really important. Obviously, excessive stress or excessive impact can also be negatively influenced that. We know that from a, a lot of the studies that were done on bus drivers and people exposed to chronic vibration and particularly high vibration over a long period of time. And that’s a good segue into my next, uh, part here, talking about the right kind of vibration.

So there’s good vibration and bad vibration, right? Um, and we tend not to look at it that way, but it really is important because in the literature there’s two types. There’s high-powered whole body vibration, which is what you see most of the time, these Chinese platforms that people buy off the internet, you know, or that, you know, these things that shake the heck [00:18:00] out of people.

Um, those really are i- very excessive in terms of the vibration exposure, high impact, um, and most of them don’t meet ISO or OSHA standards for safety, okay? And if you look at the occupational literature, most of the literature on vibration is the negative effects of it. And so we see this with truck drivers that, um, in long-term driving, that they see a lot of lumbar disc degeneration.

And so a lot of money is spent on, um, designing seats to minimize that exposure to vibration. And it’s interesting, one of my medical advisory board members was actually the designer of the Volvo seat, which was designed to minimize vibration, also improve, um, lumbar, lumbar health. Um, so the other thing is the other category.

So you have high-powered whole body vibration, then you have low magnitude mechanical stimulation, and it’s abbreviated LMMS, and that’s what Juvent is. Our product is in that category. And that’s [00:19:00] exposure of vibration levels 1G and below, so it’s one, below 1G of energy. And, and a G is just the, um, representation of the force of you standing just on the ground.

So the, the amount of energy our body exerts when we just stand is 1G. So our device only uses .3 to .4 Gs of energy, so it’s actually less than the energy you, you standing on the ground. High-powered whole body vibration, on the other hand, uses 1 to 10 to even 15 Gs of energy. So it’s, you know, uh- g-geometrically more and, and, uh, logarithmically more informa-, uh, energy, which again, the bones love it, the bones love high energy, but the rest of the body’s the challenge, you know?

And anything in medicine, it’s all about dose, right? You always look is what is the minimum dose to get the physiologic response, and that’s where all the research went into Juvent. And they spent years, over 15 [00:20:00] years researching both in the, you know, test tube and also through animal studies, and then human trials of what is the minimum amount of vibration can we use to get the physiologic pos- positive physiologic response.

And that’s where Juvent is. 32 to 37 hertz is the frequencies that we use, and then .3 to .4 Gs of energy. So it’s very low when you compare it to the high-powered whole body vibration. So, um, we know that that impact is critically important as a trigger for the endocrine system. And as you know, for bone health, endocrine sy- system is very, very important is that aspect.

And so, um, things that it does, we know now it upregulates a certain type of stem cell, a mesenchymal stem cell from the medullary canal of your bone. That’s the center part of the bone, the soft part of your bone. That’s where also you create, um, your red and white blood cells. And so it’s very, very important that you get that stimulation because those stem cells will help your body to [00:21:00] rebuild a lot of things.

The mesenchymal stem cells are what we call a multipotent stem cell, so it’s capable of differentiating into a number of different musculoskeletal tissues, including bone, but also muscle, new cartilage, new neuro extremity nerves, and also extremity blood supply. So we see, uh, a lot of improvements with patients with diabetic neuropathies, you know, the distal neuropathies.

And, uh, we also see improvement in bone mineral density in some patients as part of an overall, you know, physician-supervised bone health program. I don’t want to represent that just Juvent alone will be, you know, your cure, which it’s not. But it’s part of an exercise program, essential part of an exercise program to improving bone mineral density

Jenny Swisher: Yeah.

Well, and just to kind of like bridge the knowledge here for my listeners too on, you know, you’ve mentioned it a few times, the bone isn’t so involved in the endocrine system, and I just want to call attention to this, ’cause I actually was just speaking with someone a few weeks ago, and her daughter is a, um, [00:22:00] collegiate, Division I collegiate cross country runner.

Mm-hmm. And she came up to me after I gave my keynote where I was talking about bone health, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular disease, and the tie-ins to hormones, and she came over and she was like, “I think I need to sit down with you. My daughter and I need to sit down with you because she’s never had a period.”

She’s a junior in college running collegiate Division I, you know, 100-mile weeks of training. Right. And, um, she’s ha- starting to have a little bit of hip, hip pain and all the things, but also I didn’t realize how important her cycle really matters. So for all of my women listening- Right … who are still cycling or who have daughters who are cycling, this is why we emphasize the importance of the menstrual cycle, and this is why we talk about the menstrual cycle really being your superpower.

Because-

Rush Simonson: Right …

Jenny Swisher: if and when that period were to go missing, right, you’re in an amenorrheic state, which like he mentioned earlier, is basically like almost like post-mon- post-menopausal state. There’s no rise of hormones.

Rush Simonson: Right.

Jenny Swisher: There’s no ovulation to produce progesterone. There’s no rise in estrogen. So you also are losing that bone protection.

And so I just said- And

Rush Simonson: vascular protection. I kind of- And [00:23:00] vascular protection

Jenny Swisher: And vascular protection as well. Right.

Rush Simonson: Right.

Jenny Swisher: And so it’s, I mean, I went, uh, just a few years, so I’m 42, so I think it was in my mid-30s, I went two years with no period, and I’ve never had that in my life. I was always a very regular 28-day cycler, like to the, down to the T, down to the- Yeah

to the day, you know? Right. And all of a sudden I had this, it was probably about a six-month period of my per- of it just disappearing slowly. But when I look back now, I’m like, I was in a period of over-training. I had a young child, and so I was also not only training too hard, probably under-fueling myself nutritionally, and taking care- Mm-hmm

of a baby in the middle of the night, all at the same time. Mm-hmm. Right. So my body, of course, is gonna prioritize survival over anything else, and so it’s gonna say, “We don’t need this menstrual cycle right now. We’re gonna put that toward helping you survive,” right? As a result of that, though, impacts my bone, impacts my heart, impacts my brain, right?

And that’s what we’re trying to say. So, um- Yeah … this is also fascinating. I mean, one of the things that I teach, of course, so I have a fitness background, so a lot of the women who are- Yeah … who come, they come, like I said earlier, they [00:24:00] come to me for what they want, which is maybe cycle syncing or understanding how to work out in alignment with their cycle or understand their female physiology and training and lifting heavy and all that.

But I try to give them also what they need, and we talk a lot about the importance of some level of plyometric training. Um, and I’d love to kind of pick your brain on that if y- if you’re okay with it, because I’d love to hear from you, is, is plyomet- and I don’t, I don’t mean like jump knee tucks, like crazy, insane, high intensity necessarily.

Mm-hmm. But is some level of plyometric training, I know Dr. Vonda Wright talks about like little hops, like doing 50 hops a day or 100 hops a day. Yeah. Are those things that are gonna benefit women, even just my mom in her 70s? Is that something that she should, should pay attention to?

Rush Simonson: Yes, they absolutely should, and it is very beneficial.

There’s actually something really simple just called a heel drop, um, that can be done. The only caution is, is that someone has had that assessment of their bone density before they start those– before they initiate those kinds of [00:25:00] exercises because, um You can, um, actually induce a fracture if you have really poor bone density.

So if you were at a minus three plus, uh, you know, minus four, then those types of exercise might not be indicated at that point until you have, you know, stopped or improved your bone density. Now keep in mind that density is only one indicator of fracture risk. You really do need to look at other things, you know, collagen content, that’s super important to give the bone the resilience that it needs.

You know, I think all of us have, have seen those turkey bones where you can just sort of bend them, um, and, and those where they have, um, an excess of collagen like children. That’s one of the reasons it’s hard to break children’s bones, because they have a lot of collagen in their bones at those younger years before they calcify completely.

And, um, and vitamin C is super important in that collagen production, and that also benefits our skin of [00:26:00] course too, and, um, so that’s really important as well. Um, and then silica is really important, another mineral too, and you can look at people’s nail beds. That’s always a good indicator. Um, you know, I had one really famous naturopathic physician tell me that he starts from the out and moves in.

So he always in– he always examines people’s feet and then their hands, because at the extremities is where you die. You die from the outside in, you don’t die from the inside out. And so, um, they look for that. So if you look at, if you’re having issues with your bone, uh, I mean, with your fingernails fracturing or your fingernail quality is not good, that’s probably a good indicator that you might have some bone density issues as well.

And so you want to start dealing with that, and that’s kind of a good little canary in the mine type of, uh, indicator to use. But yes, any type of impact exercise like that, as long as it’s not really high impact, um, is gonna give you those mechanotransductive [00:27:00] waves we talked about that are gonna give benefit to that.

Um, not so much with like the trampoline, we get a lot of questions about that. That’s not gonna give you the type of impact you need. You really need that sharp, that sharp hit like that, that, uh, gives you that. So heel drops are really good, jumping can be good, skip roping as long as you’re not, again, insulating yourself too much from that.

But just even walking is, is so good for us. I mean, what does walking not make better? Um, it’s really probably the most appre- it used to be the most underappreciated, now it’s becoming the most appreciated exercise that you can do because again, it’s low impact on the joints, it has a lot of regenerative capabilities to it.

And the JUVIT device, our device, is really meant for people that can’t get out and walk Enough or won’t. In case of my mother, 94-year-old mom, she just won’t do it, but she’ll stand on her Juven. You know, she’ll do that. Right. So that helps. So it’s really good for that. And, uh, we have a lot of athletes at rehab with our product, at rehab on our Juven.

[00:28:00] Um, they get microfractures like the Olympic gold medal tennis player Mike Bryan, a doubles champion. He had terrible microfractures in his lower limb, and he, he was in pain every night when he would sleep because those would hurt. You know, he would lay in bed at night. So if someone has restless legs or if someone is dealing with pain in the evening, then a lot of times the Juven can resolve that.

It did in his case completely. And, uh, so there’s really a lot of benefits from regular micro impact exposure.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Well, it brings a few things to my mind. The first thing I want to make sure we don’t c- miss is we’ve talked about the DEXA scan, and I want my women- Yeah … to hear this because I’ve never, we’ve never gone deep into bone density before here on the podcast.

So when it comes to DEXA scans, though, I know it’s ki- it’s, it’s like everything and I feel like, you know, like with, um, for example, like colonoscopies, right? Like, we’re starting to see a higher rate of, of issues with colon cancers and things younger, but yet it’s not recommended until you’re 45. Right. So when it comes to the DEXA scan, what is, what is, what is said to be [00:29:00] when to start?

When would you start, and then how do we advocate for that with our doctor? Is that something we, we have to, we, can we just pay for out of pocket or what does that look like?

Rush Simonson: Yeah. Fortunately, it’s become a lot more affordable than it used to be. Um, and you can negotiate with hospitals and imaging centers to get a better price, a cash pay price.

Um, I would say- This, this is not quote the approved recommendation, but, you know, if someone is in their late 20s going, you know, you reach skeletal maturity around 26 to 28 years of age. So ideally, you might try to get a scan done then just to be, you know, extra safe, belts and suspenders. It’ll also give you other indicators of fat content, other things that you can look at.

Um, there’s also, um, something I also want to make sure I mention. There’s a thing called MediMap, which is a, an additional software that a DEXA, um, provider should have on their [00:30:00] DEXA scan, and that– I met the inventor from Geneva. He’s a brilliant professor. Um, I met him in Washington, DC at one of the osteoporosis meetings, and it’s software.

It’s an overlay, and it’s in thousands of locations around the United States. But it really goes a lot deeper and analyzes the output from the DEXA scan and gives you a much better qualitative analysis of the bone, and it’s not as good as a CT scan is, um, but it’s really close, and it’s been clinically validated.

It’s really awesome. Unfortunately, where we are in Memphis or in, uh, Chattanooga, Tennessee, we don’t have any imaging centers that have it, which is crazy. Um, there’s one that’s up, up just north of us. So you need to call around and ask them, “Do you h- do you have MediMap?” But it’s in thousands of locations.

Um- So anyway, I would get that scan as a reference scan. K- make sure you keep those files, uh, for yourself to maintain your own medical record. [00:31:00] And then, you know, once you, uh, go into menopause, then get another scan done, and then, uh, probably a year to a year and a half post-menopause. Now, insurance is only probably gonna pay for the post-menopause, um, and only if you have certain risk factors that are associated with osteoporosis, which is a shame.

Um, but again, you can negotiate rates, so maybe, you know, as low as 100 or $200 you can get a scan done for. And it’s a worthy investment because, one, it can give you peace of mind, and two, it can be the canary in the, in the mine that you need to really be doing something about it. Yeah. And you don’t wanna wait till you have a fragility fracture, because spinal fractures particularly are absolutely horrifically painful.

Um, and, you know, breaking a rib or

a wrist, uh, which is some of the earlier fractures that present themselves, is no fun.

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm.

Rush Simonson: And again, it takes a lot more time to heal, and, uh, and you just don’t wanna go there in the first place.

Jenny Swisher: [00:32:00] Yeah. Yeah. But it is… it’s, it’s interesting that it’s so similar to so many other things, right? Like, women will come to me and they do their first, their first Dutch test to look at their hormone cycle mapping, you know- Right

post the menopause. And then they ask, like, “Well, how does this look?” Like, “What does it look like?” I’m like, “Well, it’d really be great if we would’ve had this when you felt really good.” Right. Right? Because we don’t know- Right … like, are you somebody who operates better on higher estrogen or higher b- testosterone?

Like, we don’t know because we didn’t do it when you felt good. So it’s a shame that medicine- Right … doesn’t work that way, that we’re not, like, proactive thinking, right? Um, I don’t understand why we don’t look at women’s, like, pathways for estrogen metabolism. I don’t understand why we don’t do genetics testing.

Like, I’m planning on doing that- Right … with my children here very soon. There are so many things. So this kind of falls in that category of, don’t wait until you’re post-menopause- Right … and it’s all covered, and then… ‘Cause y- you may not even really know what you’re looking at, right? It might just be- Right

data that you’re not sure what it looks like ’cause you don’t have that comparison. I wanted to also ask you just, um, so briefly I wanted to say, you know, this, there’s all the rage right now around especially women wearing weighted vests. I went and bought a weighted vest ’cause [00:33:00] everybody was talking about it, and of course, probably because of my degenerative disc issues, I immediately went into, like, I don’t think this is right for me.

Um- Right … I would walk, and within fif- 10 or 15 minutes I had to shed the vest ’cause I would just, I felt like it was just crushing me. Yeah. And I have a lot of women who say, you know, like, “I’m wearing the weighted vest, but I can only walk maybe this far with it,” or I’m… And I always tell them, “You have to be able to do it with proper posture.”

Rush Simonson: Yeah.

Jenny Swisher: It has to be the right amount. You also don’t wanna have something that’s too heavy, right?

Rush Simonson: Exactly.

Jenny Swisher: And so I j- I feel like pe- we see this on Instagram and we’re like, “Oh, this is cool,” like, “This is the next biohack.” But actually could be problematic too. So I’d love your take on that, and I also wanna talk about supplementation briefly as well.

Rush Simonson: Okay. Good. So, um, you brought up a super, super good point and a real hot subject for me. So, um, I used to run a regenerative medicine clinic, um, when I was at Jupiter, Florida. Uh, I had four physicians that worked under me, and we, um… So we used to do two and a half hour physical intakes, so history and physical.[00:34:00]

And I can’t overemphasize how important it is for users and, and patients to keep their medical records, keep them in a form that they could be reviewed by a physician Because it is, that’s why it’s called history and physical. So it’s one thing to do the physical exam in the exam room. That can tell you something, but it doesn’t tell you nearly as much as the history will tell you.

And it’s so frustrating when you start talking to a patient, and I saw this so many times, where you’re half an hour into the discussion and then they go, “Oh yeah, and I forgot to tell you I had breast cancer,” or, “Oh, I forgot to tell you that I had colon cancer. I had…” You know. And you’re like, wow, okay.

That completely changes, right, the clinical picture, right? And so what I always recommend patients do if they can is… ‘Cause physicians really do wanna treat patients properly, and they get a bad rap, okay, for not doing a better job, but that’s because the [00:35:00] insurance only pays them for about a three-minute encounter.

Jenny Swisher: Yep.

Rush Simonson: And their office manager’s banging on the door if they’re not out of that room in five minutes, okay?

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm.

Rush Simonson: So what you need to do is collect all your medical records in chronological order from all the way back to when you were born, follow all the way through, and then make an appointment with your physician.

Try to ask him for an hour of his time, and be willing to pay for that. And each physician will charge different. It might be $200, might be $300, but it’s worth it. Give the, your records to that physician to review prior to that meeting. They will review your, uh, your health record, and the encounter that you have with your physician will be so much better –

Jenny Swisher: Yeah

Rush Simonson: than when you just have that five-minute encounter in the exam room and when they’re trying to recommend things to you. Because really, at that point, all you can do is treat symptomatology, and then all you can do is give a, give a pharma prescription, right? Yeah. [00:36:00] About some drug to mask the symptom or hopefully, you know, ameliorate that.

And so that’s one thing. So I don’t wanna get on

Jenny Swisher: my soapbox on that. Yeah. And be- and before you c- And I don’t wanna interrupt you, but I wanna just plug this in- Yeah … really quickly and say also important is this is exactly what you’re talking about, is exactly why I tell women that they need the body literacy about their own bodies- Right

to be able, to be able to up-level the conversation that you do have in that three to five-minute span of time. Yeah. So that way you’re supplying the history, and then you’re in front of them and you already have a certain level of knowledge of what your menstrual cycle even is and how- Right … you’re feeling and how, you know, or whatever.

I’m just giving you that as an example. Absolutely. And then that allows you to then get right to it with the doctor- Yep … as opposed to what you just said, which is as they’re walking out the door, “Oh, and I had breast cancer.” Right? So. Right. Yeah. It, it really is a matter of it’s not just… I, I say, I probably say it too much that we are, you know, being underserved, which we are, but at the same time we also aren’t knowledgeable on our own health and we have to take that into our own hands.

Right. And we’re not gonna change- Right … the whole system until enough women are saying, “Hey, but I thought this [00:37:00] because I’ve done my own research.”

Rush Simonson: Right. And also, I will tell you this too, if a physician believes that you really care about your own health- They will be so much more engaging and so much more involved.

But I can’t tell you how many physicians are so frustrated by patients that say, “Doc, I don’t care. What do I need to take to reduce my blood pressure? What do I need to take?” You know, they want a pill answer. They want a single, you know, sentence answer to their problem. And so physicians get really frustrated with that, okay?

So if you’re educated, they know you’re educated and that you really care, man, they’re gonna be so much more engaged and give you a lot more constructive feedback than, than not. Now, i- in regards to the weighted vest, that’s a great subject and I’m glad you brought that up In general, weighted vests are not a good idea, uh, particularly as you get older.

Um, because one of the things that you have to overcome is a condition called kyphosis, and the kyphosis is when the, when you bend forward, [00:38:00] and that is a, a condition that sort of naturally occurs as we age, and we have to fight that. And so when you weight the upper spine like that, it tends to kind of move you in that direction.

But additionally is what you noticed, that additional weight like that can also compress and cause additional compression on those discs. And if they’re already dealing with a dehydrated disc or less than hydrated disc, it can cause more disc compression and actually, um, exaggerate or exacerbate that herniation if you have a specific level of herniation.

So not really recommended. Um, what I like to, uh, see people use is a waist belt. So you could still use more weight, but put it on your hips, and that way you’re not loading the spine, but you’re still increasing that impact loading. And then you can also see ankle weights too that can also be used, that can also help as well.

Um, but the good news is you don’t really need any of that. Your body has enough [00:39:00] weight on its own in most cases that as long as you’re in the right shoes and you’re getting that impact, then you’re going to receive enough impact to be able to make a significant difference on your bone, bone quality and bone strength.

So, um, the key will be, is working into those, uh, barefoot shoes over time. And I mean, like, maybe you only wear those barefoot shoes for the first five or 10 minutes walking around the house.

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm.

Rush Simonson: But don’t go and get those shoes and go on a- Right … two-mile hike. You will end up probably with some very severe foot pain.

And one of our number one recommendations is avoid injury at all cost- Yeah … particularly as we get older. So I always tell people, start really slow and build up. You know, the body takes about six to eight weeks in a cycle of recovery.

Jenny Swisher: Yep.

Rush Simonson: So take that six to eight weeks to let your body acclimate and to start to develop those new muscles, those new ligaments, and also to let the fascia stretch out and to rest.

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm.

Rush Simonson: [00:40:00] Um, and then you won’t end up with those injuries that can take months and even years in older people to recover from.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mentioned that my, my physical therapist put me into different shoes. I, I, I don’t know if I ever got to that point earlier, but when I saw him, he’s like, “What are you doing wearing these slip-on, like, running shoes, highly supportive?”

You know, the same thing you said. Yeah. So I’ve been wearing, they’re called, they’re Altras. Um, and I’ve been wearing those now for, I think it’s been about six weeks. And at first I was like, “Oh, my feet are gonna hurt so badly.” But I actually now I can’t put on any other shoes. So I have- Good for you. Yeah

I got them in different colors. Mm-hmm. And now I’m making all outfits match these shoes because- Yeah … um, because now I just feel so much better in them, and I, I think you’re absolutely right. Like, I mean, it’s, it’s a, it- I show, I was actually telling my mom about it ’cause my mom comes from a background of needing supportive shoes, and I need high arch support and all these things.

I’m like, “No.” That’s

Rush Simonson: what they were taught. And actually-

Jenny Swisher: That’s what they

Rush Simonson: were taught years ago. Yeah …

Jenny Swisher: it’s what they were taught, right. And I’m like, “Actually, it’s the opposite, Mom.” Right? Right. And so what I do know that he, he told me the, the first pair that I’ve been in is, I, I forget the wording and, and the, the terminology, but it’s, [00:41:00] he’s taking me down, right?

So we’re kind of slowly taking my foot- Right … down to zero gravity or whatever you wanna call it. So- Right. Right … um, so I’m glad that I, I’m glad I followed his advice ’cause I think in the past, like back in my 20s, I, I f- I realized the importance of minimalist shoe and being- Right … more barefoot-like, but I went straight to that, which was probably not- Yeah

the best plan. Right. So that, that slow gradual thing can be key. Yeah. The other thing that I’m learning just in my own back injury, uh, for what it’s worth, is the importance of sleep and regenerating bone. And, um- Really important … I think, I mean, in general we talk about the importance of this for hormone health.

We talk about, you know, my average woman listening to this who’s burnt out. She’s like the sandwich generation, taking care of her parents- Yep … also taking care of her children. Yeah. Um, going through maybe perimenopausal changes at the same time and hormone shifts. Yeah. Right? Sleep is the first thing to go, and- Right

obviously plays a role in our cognition, obviously plays a role- Yeah … in our bone health as well. Yeah. So before we wrap this up, ’cause I, I mean, I, I could talk to you all day, but I know you do have places to go. Um, we have to have you back on later. But [00:42:00] I wanna talk briefly, you’ve mentioned collagen a few times, and so are you a fan of collagen supplementation?

Rush Simonson: I am. Mm-hmm.

Jenny Swisher: And what does that look like? ‘Cause I know there’s a broad spectrum of collagen supplementation. There’s anything from marine collagen to, like, chicken beaks being in the ingredient list on something. Yeah. So I’d, I’d love to get your, your take on it.

Rush Simonson: Yeah, it, it’s hard, and I don’t have a specific, you know, one that I point to.

Um, but, you know, bone broth is good. Chicken broth is also good. Um, and but there are a number of different collagen supplements out there. I would go with an animal collagen. Um, you know, so chicken or beef, uh, probably beef tend to be, um, so you don’t get too much of the omega-6s. Um, but the, um, you know, we talk about supplementation, and supplementation is super important.

Um, we do have a bone health supplement. Our company does HydroxyBMD, and it’s very, very well-researched. Um, and we take it, I take it, my wife takes it. [00:43:00] Um, and it’s just got– And you should look at the, look at the ingredients. I encourage everybody to study the ingredients, um, because they’re informative, if nothing else.

Um, and if you can find those ingredients in any- anywhere else, then I recommend you get those. But it’s really important. So hormone balance, proper exercise, and good supplementation, good diet, those are the key things. If you do that, in almost every case, unless there’s something really extreme going on, like you’re taking some kind of medication, like we really, really frown on the proton pump inhibitors, you know?

Um, because those lower the stomach acid to the point where you won’t, you won’t, um, uh You won’t be able to, you know, utilize and liberate those minerals both in your food and also in your supplements, too. And as you know, the microbiome is becoming incredibly important, the short chain fatty acids particularly.

Um, and so we really recommend that people… You know, you can get microbiome testing now. Uh, there’s a company called Biome, I think now, that’s doing that. [00:44:00] Um, but yeah, you’re right. We could talk about this for hours.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s a field- And that’s, that, that’s a good ans- … of study … that’s a good quick answer for me.

But yeah, I, I agree with you. Yeah. And I think, um, I mean, I’ve had plenty of people here on the podcast to talk about anywhere from the quality of cattle and regenerative farming and why that matters- Yeah … even in… I mean, so it’s not, even though, yes, we wanna pay attention to ingredients, it’s also the quality of those ingredients and w- what’s the best that you can get.

Um, and you know, for me, this is something, this is, this is where I put my money, right? So, uh, before kids- Yeah … I put my money into my fashion, and then when my kids came along, I was like, “I’ll wear the same five outfits every week.” Um, but I’m gonna put my money- Right … into my food and my supplementation.

And everything you just said is a perfect summary for us to wrap this up because in my community, my women know that we teach the five fundamentals of hormone balance. Perfect. Those being nutrition, fitness, bio-individual supplementation- Yep … sleep, and managing our traumas. And we touched on- Quality sleep

quality sleep. Quality sleep. And we, we touched on, we didn’t touch on trauma a whole lot, right? But we- Yeah … but we did touch on [00:45:00] the importance of those things- Yeah … in bone mineral, um, density. So I think- Yeah … it just proves the point time and time again. So I’m so grateful for you being here. Yeah. Thank you.

I have a list of links that you had supplied me, uh, for Juvent and, and, and just your social media and all that- Sure … that I will link up for people in the show notes. But if there’s anywhere that you wanna point people in particular, um, please share.

Rush Simonson: Yeah. Um, I mean, our website’s got a lot of really good information on it.

We try to make it as educational as possible. Um, you know, we, um, we just encourage people. Again, testing is really critical. You wanna get involved early on, and then, um, just getting impact exercise, healthy impact exercise, you know, and stay away from those high-powered whole body vibration platforms. I know it’s…

They’re enticing ’cause they’re 300 bucks or whatever at Walmart, you know, but it’s just like, you know, you don’t wanna get street fentanyl either, you know? I mean, it’s just something you don’t… They can actually do more harm than good, so don’t hurt yourself, you know? So, uh, if, you know, I’ll emphasize that.

But you can call us. We’re available at [00:46:00] [email protected], and, um, you can pick up the phone and call us, our salespeople. I’d be happy to talk with patients and doctors. We talk with them all the time. Um, we also do a lot of training with physicians. So we’re just all about helping people get better. Yeah.

That’s our, that’s our goal.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Well, thank you, Rush, so much for being here, and to all my listeners, thank you for taking the time. Hopefully you’ve learned something today. We’ll link all of this up for you in the show notes as usual. Um, but this is… It was about time we talk about something like this, ’cause this really matters, you know?

The average woman who breaks a hip and later in life will most likely not live beyond five years past that. Yeah. So hip fractures are a major thing. Um, but like you’ve mentioned before, even just wrist fractures and just bone fractures in general can really lead to poor quality of life, um, in general.

So I’m learning this the hard way, uh, through currently using a lumbar pillow and having to prioritize things like physical therapy. It can really put into perspective how important- Mm-hmm … it is, right? And I didn’t say this earlier, but so far, I… It’s funny, people will ask me, like, “Have you found anything to relieve your [00:47:00] pain?”

Right? Like, “Have you tried a steroid? Have you tried the NSAIDs? Have you tried… Does lying flat help?” And I tell them every time, “The only thing that helps me the most is movement,” and if I can keep moving, right, then I’m actually healing my body. So I stand by that belief. I stand by everything we said today.

Rush, it’s been great to become your friend. Um, I hope to have you- Thank you … back on here in the future so we can talk more biohacking fun. But you guys- Yeah … stay tuned. Thank you so much for listening. We’ll link everything up, and until next time, bye-bye.

Rush Simonson: Thank you.