All Episodes
April 12, 2017 - The Joe Rogan Experience
01:47:29
Joe Rogan Experience #945 - Dr. Roddy McGee
Participants
Main voices
d
dr roddy mcgee
01:04:25
j
joe rogan
40:54
Appearances
Clips
j
james damore
00:01
j
jamie vernon
00:07
j
josh olin
00:01
| Copy link to current segment

Speaker Time Text
joe rogan
Five, four, three, two, one!
Hmm, false start.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
Hello, Dr. McGee.
That sound is not me peeing.
If you're hearing that, you're like, what?
Is this a podcast in a bathroom?
No, that's coffee.
Okay.
How are you, buddy?
dr roddy mcgee
Good.
Thank you for having me.
joe rogan
Thanks for being here.
For folks who have heard me rant and rave about the fantastic results that I have had getting treatment on my shoulder where I was that close to getting surgery, it's this gentleman, Dr. McGee, who has fixed me up out of Las Vegas, Nevada.
And now we're here to talk about it.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, I appreciate the chance to be here.
joe rogan
You're a man of very short words today.
He was very talkative before the podcast, folks.
That's how it goes, man.
dr roddy mcgee
Well, now I'm hearing myself.
joe rogan
Oh, is it weirding you out?
unidentified
Yeah, a little bit.
joe rogan
You can take him off.
We can take him off if it's too weird.
You've never done a podcast like this before.
You did John Dudley's, which was excellent.
We can take it off.
dr roddy mcgee
I might have to.
joe rogan
Okay, let's take it off.
I don't want to freak you out.
Is that better?
dr roddy mcgee
This is a little more like a normal conversation.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
I don't want to freak you out.
To me, it's better because I can hear if things are wrong.
What's the notes, Daddy-O? What do you got there?
dr roddy mcgee
Just a couple of things I jotted down.
Just make sure I give you all the information you want to hear.
joe rogan
Well, I just want to tell you that I feel super fortunate to have met you and to have been treated by you and to be able to have these conversations with you in your office, which is why I wanted to have you here to talk to you because, I mean, I was having some really significant shoulder issues before you treated it and it's amazing the results and what, you know, I mean, what I've avoided, avoided in shoulder surgery.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, I mean you've had a tremendous result so obviously we're very thankful that you're able to get that benefit and I think we're in my community of orthopedic surgery and sports medicine you know we're very excited about the possibility and eager to continue to learn about it and see what it can be and how it can help and what it does best for what.
joe rogan
Now where's all this stuff coming from?
Like where is this science coming from and how has it evolved over the last few years?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, a lot of the stuff that we're using is not new in terms of the tissue or that type of thing, but it's actually the application for orthopedic sports medicine.
So you could go back decades to when it's been used in plastic surgery for corneal ulcers is one of the original applications of placental tissue.
So the idea of it isn't necessarily new.
It's just that as we've gained more understanding in our community of orthopedic surgery, now we're starting to see what the applications can be.
joe rogan
Now, when you say plastic surgery, what have they done with plastic surgery?
dr roddy mcgee
Mostly helping with wounds.
So that's been the big application.
Wound healing.
And the potential for there to be wound healing without scarring.
So that's one of the things that we'll get into.
joe rogan
How do they do that?
dr roddy mcgee
It's part of the mechanism of how the cell helps the process of the healing.
But we'll talk about that for sure.
joe rogan
Now, when they extract the placental tissue, they're doing it on young women who have had cesarean sections, correct?
dr roddy mcgee
Sure.
joe rogan
So it bypasses a lot of the ethical concerns that a lot of people had during the Bush administration, which kept them...
dr roddy mcgee
Okay, so let's...
You said a couple of different important things there, so let's start breaking that down a little bit.
So the first thing is...
Where does it come from?
It comes from a young, healthy mother.
In this case, what we're talking about, this particular category of biologic treatment or cellular tissue.
This comes from a young, healthy mother that's having an elective C-section and prior to the delivery has agreed to make a charitable donation.
And then they have been screened.
And there's a process that must be followed by the American Association of Tissue Banks.
And they have a series of blood tests that they have to go through.
And so you're checking to be sure that there's no communicable disease, for example, hepatitis or HIV, things of that nature.
And so once that has been cleared and they're an acceptable donor, then they go through the delivery, the tissues collected, and as you said, this is stuff that typically would go in the garbage.
So essentially the ethical and the moral dilemma shouldn't exist for that portion of it because otherwise it's just garbage.
Now, that's taken by the company that has harvested And they have their processing center, which also has to be evaluated and approved by this AATB, American Association of Tissue Banks, to be a facility that is up to their standards.
So they have a sterilization process.
The tissue is not contaminated.
Their packaging is appropriate.
Their shipping is not causing problems with the tissue.
So you have to meet all these standards.
It's very stringent.
And so if you have that, if a company has that Approval, then, you know, they meet the standards allowed so that that stuff can then go either to an office or to a hospital.
So, now, the next thing of what you said...
Let's talk a little bit about President Bush and that whole discussion.
So first of all, that is about embryonic stem cells.
An embryonic stem cell, and that doesn't have anything to do with what we're doing.
An embryonic stem cell is when the sperm and the egg join and begin to form the beginning cells of life.
And there's initially two cells, and then it divides into four, eight, etc.
In the first five days of life, that's called a blastocyst.
And those cells can be harvested.
And they are what we call totipotent.
That means they can become anything.
They have the ability to transform into any line of tissue or organ.
Or, in the case of that first five days of life, those individual cells can actually become a complete organism.
So that's where we had the cloning of the sheep.
So that's what happened.
So they took the cells in that first couple of days, and then they had a process to allow it to continue to grow.
And so you had two different, from a single sperm and egg, you had two organisms, complete mammals, created.
joe rogan
So when you say this blastocyst, is that how you say it?
dr roddy mcgee
That's just the term for the initial, you know, the ball of cells that's formed.
joe rogan
And how many cells is blastocyst?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, they're dividing over the number of days and doubling each time.
joe rogan
Hundreds, thousands?
dr roddy mcgee
Not by that time.
joe rogan
No?
Hundreds?
You're 16, you know, 32. So if you have 32, how many different organisms can you make off of those 32 cells?
dr roddy mcgee
Technically, if you have a totipotent cell, every individual cell has the ability to become a complete organism.
unidentified
Whoa.
joe rogan
So that could be one blastocyst, could be 32 different people.
dr roddy mcgee
I guess, potentially.
joe rogan
Wow.
dr roddy mcgee
I don't know if that experiment's been carried out.
joe rogan
But theoretically at least.
unidentified
Theoretically, yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
So, now when they have like frozen embryos and people do things like that, when they decide they want to have kids later in life and they freeze their embryos, how the hell are they doing that?
What's that about?
dr roddy mcgee
I'm not like a reproduction specialist, so we might be getting, you know, out of my region.
joe rogan
But those frozen embryos, a lot of times they don't get used, right?
dr roddy mcgee
I don't know.
I don't know how that works.
joe rogan
Because I know there's been battles, like people have had battles with their ex-wives and shit.
Yeah, it's very strange.
dr roddy mcgee
My understanding of it would be that if you're, you know, you're freezing it with the intention of maintaining the cell viability, and so somebody has demonstrated that you could then thaw that cell and it still has the opportunity to divide, produce, and, you know, become a living thing.
joe rogan
Wow.
I was thinking, like, for the non-viable ones or the ones that don't get turned into people, they could probably use those as well, right?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, that...
That's a big debate.
joe rogan
That was the thing, right?
That was the big George Bush thing.
dr roddy mcgee
Well, okay, so let's back up on that, because I think there's a lot of misconception about that, and I hear very strange comments made about it all the time in the media.
So, the thing that George Bush signed in 2001 stated that the federal government was not going to supply money for embryonic stem cell research.
That's it.
It was not a ban on The application?
On stem cell research.
So for all of that time, I mean, private equity companies and any private investor could have and probably has been spending the money to continue to research that and develop it and find it.
So I always find it interesting when I hear on TV, oh, like...
Our country has been set back a decade because they signed this bill.
joe rogan
So you feel that's wrong?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
All he said was, we're not going to dedicate federal money to it.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
That's different than a ban on any study.
joe rogan
But how much research does rely on federal funding?
dr roddy mcgee
I don't know.
I mean, there's private funding for all kinds of things.
joe rogan
Is it more common now than it is before, or has it always been the case where there's a lot of private funding?
dr roddy mcgee
So President Obama in 2009 lifted the ban on the federal funding.
So federal funding has been going on for it since then.
joe rogan
Interesting.
So what is the difference in terms of the viability of placental stem cells that you would get from a woman in a cesarean section versus something that you would get from a blastocyst?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, so a couple of things about that.
One, there's...
It's actually to our benefit in orthopedics not to be using that line of cells because those cells, starting from that time point, have the ability to have teratogenic potential.
So what that means is they can potentially form tumors.
So that makes it obviously a big disadvantage because now we're adding our risk to what we're doing.
Once they've gotten to the point where it's a part of the whole, you know, we call this like a human placental stem cell or mesenchymal stem cell.
And that includes the placenta, the umbilical cord, the Wharton's jelly is a mucus type substance that's around the arteries of the umbilical cord.
The amnion or the amniotic sac, which is the inner layer around the baby, and then the outer layer is called the chorion.
Now, all of that has cells in it that we would put in the category of mesenchymal stem cell or mesenchymal stem cell.
Now, what that means is they have a specific line of tissues that they can become.
So, now, back to when I was explaining the formation of the The blastocyst becomes a morula, becomes an embryo eventually.
So in that process, you have this ball of tissue, and then it starts to kind of fold in on itself, and then it starts to layer out into these three layers.
So you have endoderm, ectoderm, mesoderm.
Each of those kind of is directed towards a certain line of cells and tissues.
The mesoderm and what the mesenchymal stem cells can become are all of the things that we care about in orthopedics.
So cartilage, bone, muscle, ligament, tendon.
So we have that whole line of cells that this particular cell has the potential to become.
So when we talk about a stem cell, By definition, what it means is, one, it can divide and become another stem cell.
So it can duplicate itself so that now you have another cell that can divide and become another cell.
Or it can divide and differentiate into a cell that then has the characteristics of the things that you're hoping it will become.
Now that's a directed and ordered approach in embryology.
And in the case of treating an injury, what we're hoping is that that can differentiate into the injured tissue.
joe rogan
And how long have they been doing that?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, studies on that have been going on for at least 10 years.
So I want to say maybe back as early as 2007. Now, we've been...
If you go way back to the early days of...
Arthroscopy, and that would be like the late 70s and early 1980s.
And I don't know exactly what year, you know, he would have started doing this, but Dr. Stedman in Vail, Colorado, and he was in Reno and Lake Tahoe area before that, they would...
He's the one that developed the microfracture procedure.
I don't know if you're familiar with that.
You've had a couple of knee surgeries, so...
I don't know if you've heard that term.
joe rogan
I have, but I don't really recall exactly what it is.
dr roddy mcgee
Sure.
So basically, if a patient had a small cartilage defect, he took an awl, or what looked like a tiny little pick, and made a puncture into the bone.
And what that did is it releases marrow elements along with blood.
And they were able to see with time, and there were occasions when they got to have second-look arthroscopy, that that cartilage could fill in.
Now, they also found that that didn't become the native cartilage.
It becomes something called fibrocartilage.
So when you look at it under a microscope, it looks different compared to our normal cartilage.
Appearance, like, physically looks the same, but under the microscope looks different.
joe rogan
What is the difference?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, the main difference in what's applicable is that it doesn't have the same structural properties.
So it was more easily able to kind of come off with a sheer force.
So just picture, like, your knee bending.
Yeah.
You could kind of flake off, or in some cases just didn't form as well as, you know, you would want.
Hmm.
So that experience, and having conversations with the guy that I trained with, his name is Larry Lemack in Birmingham, he noted just over his career that he always felt like patients that had worse arthritis, but they would do this microfracture procedure on in knee arthroscopy, actually would do better than patients with less arthritis, but that they didn't do the The procedure.
And so it had always been in his mind that somehow that marrow stimulation was providing something that was helping with either healing or pain relief.
And it's only now that we start to understand, you know, because the bone marrow has some of these mesenchymal stem cells available also.
And we'll kind of talk about the differences and stuff like that.
joe rogan
So it's essentially like a crude version of stem cell transplants?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Yeah.
I mean, our hope is that we're using cells that can, again, change into other things that we want.
joe rogan
And when did they start applying this on people, like in terms of not just tests and studies, but actually in practice, like what you do?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, in orthopedic sports medicine, I don't think I started to hear about it until around 2012. So that was the first year that I was in practice, and I attended a conference in Las Vegas, and it was called the Emerging Techniques in Orthopedics.
So they were kind of talking about what's the newest and most forward-thinking ideas that are coming through.
So a company presented and one of the physicians presented information showing that they had harvested fat tissue from patients' abdomens and injected into their knee for patients that had knee arthritis.
And they were showing new growth of cartilage.
and an actually improvement in some of the x-rays So when you look at an x-ray, there's some characteristics that we look at that define what arthritis is.
So if the patient has narrowing of the joint space or they have bone spurs, things like that.
They were actually seeing more space between the bones on some of these serial x-rays.
So, you know, I saw that and that was just like so incredible and something that I never heard about, read about, or, you know, had encountered before.
And that's really what kind of sparked my interest.
joe rogan
And what are they doing with the fat?
Because I've heard that they do stem cell fat injections.
dr roddy mcgee
They harvest the fat similar to like a mini liposuction.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
And then they either spin it in a centrifuge or there are these syringes that you can pass it through a filter and then you re-inject it.
And what you're trying to do is, again, take advantage of the fact that there's these mesenchymal stem cells in the tissue.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
And like what can they just are they just taking the fat like when they spit in a centrifuge like what does that accomplish?
dr roddy mcgee
It just separates out the cells.
So then you can, you know, inject the portion that you want.
joe rogan
So we do that.
Do it visually?
dr roddy mcgee
You've had it with PRP. Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, exactly.
I've had it with Regenikine, which is like a form of PRP. Correct.
Yeah, where they heat it up and it becomes like a yellow serum.
dr roddy mcgee
Right.
unidentified
That's the platelet layer of the blood that you're looking at.
joe rogan
Okay.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
So the red cells separate out and you can easily see that in the tube.
joe rogan
And what is the difference in the results from someone who does that?
Because I know quite a few people have done it that way.
They've had injuries treated where they suck the fat out.
dr roddy mcgee
There isn't any research to differentiate one of these treatments versus another yet.
It's just not available.
joe rogan
So it's all anecdotal in terms of talking to patients?
dr roddy mcgee
It's happening.
I mean, people are collecting the data, but it's just not at the mature stage where...
You know, where it's available and we have, you know, published stuff to look at.
joe rogan
Do you personally know of anybody who's had really good results using the FAT method?
dr roddy mcgee
Yes, actually.
A physician friend of mine in Memphis, Tennessee, her name's Dr. Laura Lenderman, she has utilized that quite a bit and she's been very happy with the patients that she's treated.
And naturally some people do better than others, but...
You know, the rigorous study of this, though, is still yet to come.
joe rogan
That's really fascinating.
Have you considered trying that?
Definitely.
Yeah, but you don't so far?
You just do the stem cells?
dr roddy mcgee
I haven't had anybody specifically request it.
joe rogan
Maybe somebody wants to lose a little fat and fix their knees.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, I mean, that's probably taking things in a direction I don't want to be going, but...
joe rogan
The plastic surgery direction?
dr roddy mcgee
We know there are a number of different options in terms of where these sources of the cells can come from.
Bone marrow has certainly had a lot of use and continues to be used.
joe rogan
Daniel Cormier had that done.
dr roddy mcgee
That's what he told me, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, he had it pulled out of his hip and he said it was brutally painful.
Then he was walking with a limp for like two weeks.
dr roddy mcgee
Obviously, it's a procedure.
There's pain and there's morbidity.
There's a consequence to...
You know, putting a sharp object into the bone and drawing that bone marrow out.
Yeah, so that means a bad thing.
joe rogan
I don't like that word.
dr roddy mcgee
No, we don't like it either in medicine.
joe rogan
Morbid is a bad word.
dr roddy mcgee
We have conferences called Morbidity and Mortality, and that's where you basically...
own up to things that you've done a terrible job with or explain why somebody has died as a result of your care.
And it's an awful thing to go through.
And it's critically important to be able to evaluate yourself and understand what things happen when they don't go the way that we want them to.
So it's an important exercise that physicians go through to review cases.
joe rogan
Oh, I can only imagine.
Especially if you're dealing with people that are broken apart.
Essentially, as an orthopedic surgeon, you're dealing with people whose bodies have failed.
Your limbs have failed.
Ligaments have torn off the bone.
Knees have exploded.
I mean, you've told me some gnarly stuff in terms of the kind of injuries that you've had to treat, and I can only imagine some of them.
Yeah, yeah.
And so, your time doing this with placental stem cells, how long have you been doing that?
dr roddy mcgee
It's been a couple years.
joe rogan
So, essentially, you did mine, I think, how long ago was it?
I think it was July of 2015. Yeah, so I kind of came in pretty early.
Because Jeff Davidson, the doctor from the UFC, he was the one who told me about it because he had shoulder surgery and...
He was very stiff and had real problems after the shoulder surgery and was just very unhappy with his range of motion and the pain that he's experiencing and then he got some stem cell treatments and it just all went away.
dr roddy mcgee
And he trains a lot.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
He trains really hard.
He's very fit.
I was pretty impressed with, you know, what he told me about how he was, what he was able to get back to after, you know, he had been treated with that type of injection.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, so he told me, and then I was like on the fence.
I mean, I'd seen an orthopedic surgeon, and the only thing that was keeping me from getting surgery is, you know, he put me through all these stress tests where he pushed down on my arm and all this stuff, and I resisted all of them.
And he's like, this is, it's kind of odd that your injury's this bad, but you have so much strength in your joint still.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like maybe you should hold off a little bit before you get the surgery.
dr roddy mcgee
He's like, cause you- Well, I thought that when I examined you too, because I really couldn't reproduce your pain.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
So, and that's another reason, and I probably would have been in the same boat as the first guy, in terms of trying to make a decision about surgery.
Because, you know, if your physical exam doesn't, you know, show that somebody has some significant deficit, it's hard to make the jump to take somebody to surgery.
joe rogan
Well, during normal everyday life, there'd be like zero pain.
The problem is what I put my body through has nothing that resembles normal everyday life.
Between jiu-jitsu and kickboxing and kettlebells and archery and there's just so much explosive movements and so much weight-bearing movements.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, you're doing really high-demand stuff.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So in that case, that was one of the reasons why I was thinking, because I don't want to walk around with a compromised body.
I'm like, if I have to just get surgery and then take six months of rehab or whatever, what is the, for a type of shoulder injury that I had, what is the rehabilitation time?
dr roddy mcgee
You know, for sure, probably three months.
I mean, it can be longer than that.
It depends on the patient.
Somebody like you that...
One of the things that we...
Have trouble with.
With some patients, they've never even lifted weights, for example.
So for them, the recovery and rehab, we're introducing things to them that they've never seen or done.
And they don't understand the difference between being sore and pain that they should be conscious about.
And it's challenging.
It's hard work.
And it's uncomfortable.
And so some patients, you know, they're, they struggle to get through that part of it.
Um, and it naturally will take longer to improve.
So it's harder for them to get their motion.
It's longer, much longer for them to return their strength.
Now you already have like a significant baseline level of strength.
So, you know, much easier in your case to bounce back.
And then also the things that you would do in rehab, they're so rudimentary, you know, you would move through that very quickly.
And then, uh, Once you're at the point where you have had enough tissue healing and it's safe to progress you, you know, through higher level exercises, then you could really push it.
And you would.
I mean, you would be committed to it, dedicated, diligent.
I mean, we'd almost have to hold you back.
joe rogan
Yeah, that was another question I had.
How often do you have people where that is the issue?
Like, I know you've treated a bunch of fighters.
And when you treat MMA fighters, is that an issue where you're trying to, like, slow them down, go...
dr roddy mcgee
All the time you've got to let people know.
One of the lines that I say to all my patients regularly is, you've got to respect biology.
You have to allow the healing to happen.
I know you feel good, I know you're moving good, and you're ready to go.
You want to be back on the court, on the field, things like that.
we risk having you re-injure and then you're right back in that same boat we don't we only want to have you miss the most limited block of time that you can so i never want to i don't want people to miss one more practice game you know match workout or whatever then they have to uh but same time we don't want to put them in a situation that's unsafe so it's always a it's a balancing act So in your time of doing this, have you had people that didn't respond to this particular type of therapy?
joe rogan
Oh, definitely.
dr roddy mcgee
Definitely, yeah.
joe rogan
And were they the people that we talked about before that don't exercise and aren't in good shape, or is it across the board?
dr roddy mcgee
So, you know, I would have to go back and look and kind of critically evaluate each case.
Certainly, you know, we worry about the patient that has lower, like, baseline fitness, like their overall health is poorer, you know, and what their response might be.
But I think that's information that is still, you know, to come.
But definitely, I mean, some of the people that have responded the most dramatically, like, for example, you and John Dudley, I mean, you guys are...
Fanatical about your nutrition.
You're working out regularly.
You're doing all kinds of things to optimize your chance to not, you know, in this case, heal, but in other instances, perform.
And I have to believe that that has, you know, that's a huge factor.
joe rogan
Yeah, I would wonder how much of a factor it is if your body is conditioned in a way to constantly generate muscle tissue and breaking down and rebuilding and it's always constantly under stress.
dr roddy mcgee
Definitely has to be a part of it.
You know, I think it's not the typical realm of my specialty to be looking at all those other factors, but I think with all of the information that's becoming available...
One of the cool things for me has been it's forcing me to have to learn about it.
It's forcing me to have to take a look at, you know, how can we do better?
You know, what are we ignoring?
And I think if you're not looking at every aspect of that wheel, then you're missing a chance to do as good as you can for each patient.
And it might be things that we have to do before somebody even has treatment.
We might have to bring them up to some baseline level with a number of different things.
And the other side of it, too, is we're in a system now where there's so much information.
One person can't be your source for everything.
So you really have to have a good team all around you.
I think that's really important.
I find myself more and more seeking help and just saying, hey, I don't know enough about this.
Can you help me with this or explain it better?
Can I have the patient talk with you and maybe get some more information?
And I think that may give them an even better chance to do well.
joe rogan
Just because the options and the possibilities are so comprehensive?
dr roddy mcgee
And time.
In a typical orthopedic practice, you don't have a ton of time to go through all of this with every patient.
And so you just have to make sure that you're providing resources and getting them as good information as available.
joe rogan
One of the things I thought was interesting, you were telling me that there's been really good results with people going into a sauna directly after treatment.
dr roddy mcgee
Well, I don't know that there's been good results.
I think it's interesting.
And the things that you've talked about for other applications in terms of heat shock proteins, you know, there's some belief that that may either assist the cells in proliferation or their ability to, you know, have as robust a response as possible.
That's hypothesis.
But I think it's interesting.
And again, it falls into the category of a lot of these things that we're talking about where the science, the basic science is there.
We understand how it happens in the embryo, in the developing child.
We know what it does in a lab.
We can add these things to a Petri dish and watch these changes happen.
But nobody has demonstrated this in a human, in a clinical trial where we're treating an injury.
So we have to be very careful about that.
In fact, the FDA is very clear that, you know, we cannot be making those claims.
Companies can't be making those claims about their products and physicians cannot be making claims and marketing their practice to drive people to them stating that these things are happening.
joe rogan
Now, when you talk about heat shock proteins, I don't know if you can answer this question, but is there a difference between the heat shock proteins that you receive from, say, like a steam shower, like a steam room, versus a sauna, versus even a hot bath?
I've heard people saying that you get heat shock proteins from a very hot bath.
dr roddy mcgee
And I think there would have to be some kind of...
Biopsy or blood test and you know sample like have people go through each of those things and control for all those factors, right?
joe rogan
But the whole idea is just Being involved in an environment that's extremely hot where your body is like what is this guy doing?
And then it produces the heat shock proteins to try to compensate as a protective mechanism So, just the knowledge of this, I mean, this is really interesting because people have been using saunas forever, and it was all sort of anecdotal.
Oh, the sauna makes me feel great, and I would look at them like, what are these assholes doing?
They're going to go in there and sweat?
I always thought it was people that were just, like, lazy and they didn't want to lose weight, and so they went in the sauna and they thought they lost weight in the sauna.
Yeah, I really did think that.
dr roddy mcgee
They're just dropping water.
joe rogan
But talking to Dr. Rhonda Patrick, and she was explaining the benefits of sauna, where there was one study where mortality decreased 40% from all causes through daily use of the sauna.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, all cause mortality was less.
joe rogan
Yeah, 40%.
Here it is right now.
Using the sauna four to seven times per week associated with a 40% lower all-cause mortality might be heat shock protein.
ScienceDaily.com.
Fascinating stuff.
Yeah, click on it.
Click on it, young Jamie.
Here we go.
Let's get a little larger there.
dr roddy mcgee
Journal of American Medical Association.
joe rogan
So serious stuff, right?
dr roddy mcgee
I mean, it's a peer-reviewed journal.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
You can assume that there may be some validity of the information.
joe rogan
Amazing.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, I mean, if that's correct, if all I have to do is get in the sauna and I can decrease my chance of death from all...
We had all diseases by 40%.
joe rogan
Yeah, cancer, heart attack, leukemia, amazing.
james damore
Here's a, what a suitable replacement.
joe rogan
Hot bath won't be as robust, but can increase blood flow, elevate heart rate, increase heat shock proteins.
So she's saying it just won't be as robust.
Honestly, she's never taken one of my baths.
dr roddy mcgee
So a simple thing to find out, or what you could do yourself, is...
Check your heart rate, blood pressure, temperature.
You know, just, like, just take those as, like, a baseline.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
After each of those, you know, sessions and see if there's difference.
joe rogan
How much does your body temperature elevate during those things and how much of it is a surface of your skin?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, I mean, you can't elevate your core temperature too much or you're going to have...
joe rogan
Right, that's what I'm saying.
dr roddy mcgee
...enzymatic breakdown.
Like, there's bad things that are going to happen.
joe rogan
Yeah, I wonder, like, what the line is, the point of diminishing returns where the sauna becomes...
Detrimental versus beneficial.
And I wonder how cryotherapy comes into play with that as well, because cold shock proteins also show some great benefit in reducing inflammation.
It's just an amazing time for all the different options that are available to people.
dr roddy mcgee
I think at the same time, one of the things that we have to be conscious of is being responsible about how we use this information and what we're telling patients.
I think there's a lot of misinformation and a lot of people taking advantage of that.
And so, you know, we want to try to avoid that.
We want to try to give people good information so that they can ask the right questions and they can evaluate places where they're going to see if they're comfortable with what they're being told and what's being offered.
So I think there's something like 200 plus regenerative medicine clinics that have popped up in the last couple of years.
Hmm.
joe rogan
That means at least 40 of them are bullshit.
By my math?
dr roddy mcgee
I mean, maybe...
joe rogan
Maybe 80?
dr roddy mcgee
Maybe more than that.
joe rogan
Maybe 90?
unidentified
Well...
dr roddy mcgee
I just think people have to be cautious and careful about what they're reading, what they're saying.
And some of these places have received direct letters from the FDA saying, hey, you can't say that.
unidentified
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
You can't be making claims.
joe rogan
So let's go over some stuff that's definitely beneficial, like platelet-rich plasma, PRP injections.
People have had real benefit from that, right?
dr roddy mcgee
Sure.
So that has some validated outcome studies.
There's a comparison study with PRP. Mm-hmm.
which is a common treatment for an attempt to give pain relief.
In the particular study that I'm thinking of, they had, you know, 73% of the patients that received PRP had relief of their pain compared to about 50% of patients with a steroid injection.
So that's a head-to-head study comparing treatment, and, you know, the advantage seemed to be to PRP.
joe rogan
Now, what is the difference between the results, I don't know if you even know this, between the results of PRP and Regenikine?
in.
dr roddy mcgee
I don't know much about that product, actually.
I mean, I know what it is.
I know that it was, you know, going on in Germany.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
I know a lot of people traveled to Europe.
joe rogan
Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, all those guys flew in.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, Alex Rodriguez, I think.
joe rogan
Yeah, Dana White did, too, the president of the UFC. He went in there for tinnitus, you know, and found through intramuscular injections there's a deep relief of tinnitus.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
So, I mean, that's great.
And again, there may be great applications for all of the different things that fall into this category of biologic treatment.
Time is going to tell us what things pan out clinically to be best.
I mean, you can look at all kinds of factors, and we can draw conclusions from that.
But ultimately, you know, the proof is going to be when we have You know, robust clinical studies that compare treatment and, you know, we have follow-up physical exams and we have follow-up imaging to see exactly what's happening.
So we know what we are hoping for.
We know what we want to see.
We want to see that, yeah, we have this cell that has the potential to differentiate into other tissue and actually causes healing.
But nobody has demonstrated that yet.
There are some studies.
I mean, there's 35 studies.
29 are animal.
There's six or seven that are human trial.
I just saw this review paper, and I didn't know if the review paper had been written before one of the more recent clinical trials was published.
So one was on knee arthritis, and the others were on mostly foot and ankle stuff.
The most recent is from USC and in combination with a doctor that's in Indiana.
And they looked at patients that had a knee arthroscopy and they resected part of the meniscus.
So we call that a meniscectomy.
And part of it was essentially cut out.
So there was a tear, they cut out the bad tissue, they left the remaining healthy tissue.
And they did an MRI and they measured on the MRI the volume of meniscal tissue.
Then they injected the patient with a bone marrow aspirate.
So in this case, it was the, you know, BMAC or bone marrow aspirate.
joe rogan
Which is stem cells extracted from bone marrow like the way Daniel Cormier had done?
unidentified
Correct.
joe rogan
Okay.
dr roddy mcgee
So they injected that into the knee.
And then I think I want to say it was four or eight months later.
I think it was eight months.
They re-imaged the knee and they found that there was a 15% increase in the meniscal volume.
So the patients had apparently grown meniscal tissue.
joe rogan
I had a meniscus scope on my left knee from an ACL injury that I had.
I had ACL surgery, but there was still some meniscus damage.
And then at the time of the ACL injury, they tried to stitch up the meniscus.
dr roddy mcgee
Oh, okay.
joe rogan
They just tried not to cut it out.
And it was a problem for me for several years.
And then finally it tore.
It became a bucket handle tear where it locks.
So it locked my knee out.
Brutally painful.
In the middle of a jiu-jitsu class, it was really bad.
So I had to get it scoped.
And then once I got it scoped, it was functional.
But it would provide me with...
Maybe every couple weeks, it would be painful.
There would be something going on.
There would be an ache.
It would be a problem.
You shot some stem cells in there a year ago.
I've had zero problems with it since.
Zero.
Nothing.
I don't even acknowledge that I have a knee that's weaker than the other knee anymore.
It doesn't even feel like that anymore.
My left knee feels exactly like my right knee now.
It's crazy.
I mean, for a decade plus, I had pain in that knee.
One injection, a year later, nothing.
And it was almost...
Within two months within two months after the injection, I felt like a significant difference I was like waiting for those days because those days when I pushed it hard particularly after kickboxing There's something about those like hard pad work like kicking the pads I was gonna say any particular things that you were doing that made it feel the worst that was the big one is Striking because striking is just jarring and there's just so much and I just think there's just there was Laxity in the knee is that a word?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Why does it sound wrong?
dr roddy mcgee
No.
joe rogan
I know it's a word, but it sounds wrong.
Laxity sounds wrong.
It sounds like a laxative.
It sounds like I'm making up a word.
I was laxity from my laxative.
But that kicking motion would always, and it would just hurt, and I would put ice on it.
I'd just go about my day.
I'd be like, well, it's fine.
It's not swelling up to me.
dr roddy mcgee
And now it's something you don't think about?
joe rogan
Dude, it's zero.
I ran a trail yesterday in the mountains.
Like, brutal, steep trail for two miles.
I have zero pain in it today.
dr roddy mcgee
So this is the kind of thing that I think gets a lot of us excited about what the potential is.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
You know, you've got...
A patient here that you had a meniscal tear, so you attempted a repair.
We know that about 15% to 22% of those fail the meniscal repairs.
It's a disappointing number.
We like things to be much higher than that.
But that's what the facts are.
That's what the larger scale studies have told us.
joe rogan
And to anybody that has a meniscal injury, that's a risk worth taking.
Because if you know what it feels like to have a bucket-handled tear and someone says, hey, you have an 80% chance of success, you're like, I'm in.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, I'll take it.
Well, also, this is what we know.
This is why we will take the risk.
So for a young person that has the tear, we want to preserve that meniscal tissue for as long of their life as we can.
So certainly you are willing to risk it and even you sometimes might attempt to repair something that you think even has a lower chance just because they're young and you want to preserve that.
Why you want to preserve it is we know that if you even resect a small amount of the meniscal tissue, like say up to 25%, it will change the contact pressure in the knee.
So they do these, you know, color pressure studies where it shows you the amount of force and its distribution.
And with a normal meniscus, it's evenly distributed into the, you know, the medial femoral condyles, the end of the femur, and then the tibial plateau is the top part of the shinbone.
So when those come together, with a normal meniscus in there, The pressure's even.
If you resect part of that, now you see this point loading.
So you see these hot spots where there's a much greater amount of pressure.
joe rogan
Sort of like when you go to a restaurant and you're sitting at a table and it's wobbly and you have to stick a napkin under one of the legs?
Is that a bad analogy?
dr roddy mcgee
Maybe.
joe rogan
Probably a bad analogy.
dr roddy mcgee
I'm not following you.
joe rogan
You know what I'm talking about?
dr roddy mcgee
I've done that.
joe rogan
When you're eating, it's dum-dum-dum.
Then you're like, ah, this fucking table sucks.
unidentified
Yeah, and then the guy comes and he kind of twists the one leg a little higher.
joe rogan
Or he puts a piece of wedge under there.
dr roddy mcgee
I know what you're saying.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
I don't know the...
joe rogan
It's not the best analogy.
dr roddy mcgee
If that makes sense for you, that's fine.
joe rogan
I tried.
I swung and I missed.
Let's continue.
dr roddy mcgee
That's all right.
But the point of the story is that we know if we cut part of that out, your cartilage is going to have some wear and tear over time.
Now, whether or not you develop symptoms from that is hard to predict.
joe rogan
Well, I'm pretty sure that's what was going on with my knee because it was uneven and the jarring action of kicking a heavy bag or kicking pads.
dr roddy mcgee
So I think what I was trying to get to and I was taking the long path to get there was that, you know, in the past what we might have said is, you know...
You had an ACL tear.
You had a meniscus tear.
You know, your knee's crappy.
Sorry.
Like, you're gonna have some pain.
And what are you trying to...
What are you kickboxing for at your age anyway?
joe rogan
I've heard that.
dr roddy mcgee
This would be the attitude, right?
Yeah.
And really what that means is I'm uncomfortable because I don't have an easy solution for you.
So I'm going to blame you.
joe rogan
Well, there's also people wanting you to adopt their lifestyle or them to think that your lifestyle is foolhardy.
There's definitely that.
dr roddy mcgee
They're trying to find an easy solution so that you don't come back into the office and complain about something that we don't have an easy solution for.
joe rogan
Also, I think they're trying to talk sense into you.
dr roddy mcgee
That might be true, too.
joe rogan
In their mind, you know, like, if you don't do martial arts and you see some knuckleheads out there...
dr roddy mcgee
You have lower risk of having to come to my office.
That's true.
joe rogan
It's also, you see someone who's doing this and hurting themselves, and you tell them, hey, look, you've got to stop doing that.
Because you think you're doing the right thing by telling them that.
But you're essentially telling someone all that stuff that makes you feel amazing, alleviates stress, builds confidence, it makes you...
dr roddy mcgee
It's part of your soul.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's a big part.
dr roddy mcgee
So how am I supposed to rip that away from you?
joe rogan
Well, for some people, it becomes a real, I mean, obviously with certain injuries.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
Some people, we have to have the hard discussion.
It's like, look, I know you want to keep doing this.
I know you think you're heading that direction, but this is over.
joe rogan
Well, when they do replacements now, because I know a guy who's got a knee replacement, and one of the things he was saying, actually, I know quite a few people.
One of them was on the podcast.
His name is Dan Pena, and he was saying that the problem is, with his knees, is they only bend this way now.
They don't move side to side.
There's no lateral movement in the knee.
There's no wiggle room.
He can't go side to side.
The knee just goes straight up and back, like this.
The artificial knee.
Does that make sense?
No, you've got a skeptical hippo face.
dr roddy mcgee
Well, it depends on a lot of factors.
Maybe for him.
There may be other patients that don't have quite as much stiffness in their knee.
joe rogan
But no one who gets a hip replacement is doing triathlons.
dr roddy mcgee
They shouldn't be.
joe rogan
Or a knee replacement, rather.
dr roddy mcgee
They shouldn't be.
joe rogan
Yeah, so it's limited use.
dr roddy mcgee
With 100% certainty, that implant will loosen and fall apart.
joe rogan
Huh.
Why can't they make a knee, a fake knee, that's as good as a real knee?
unidentified
Hmm.
dr roddy mcgee
That's a long question.
joe rogan
Are they lazy?
dr roddy mcgee
No, I wouldn't think so.
Certainly lots of motivation and economic reward.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
If they could fix a knee and turn a knee into a superior knee to the knee that you have now.
dr roddy mcgee
So, I mean, it's like an overall question, right?
Why can you not replace something better than you can repair it?
Well, wouldn't we want to be going more towards repair and renewal?
joe rogan
Right.
Regeneration would be the best.
dr roddy mcgee
We're hoping that we can, you know, figure something out for that.
But the fact is that the knee replacement, you have a metal component.
That you're either cementing to the bone or you're applying it to the bone and having bony ingrowth into the implant.
So there's an interface between that implant and the body.
And to come up with something that would never allow that to separate, I mean, that's, you know, how would you do that?
joe rogan
Yeah.
I know a guy who had bone cancer.
It's really kind of a terrible story, but he lived near a golf course, and the golf course used these horrible pesticides, and it leaked into the groundwater, and all the people in his neighborhood got cancer, like a huge epidemic of cancer in his neighborhood, and he got bone cancer, and they replaced one of his femurs with a metal rod, and, and they replaced one of his femurs with a metal And it causes them significant discomfort.
dr roddy mcgee
We did some of those in my training.
It's a pretty gnarly surgery.
joe rogan
What's that about?
Talk to me.
dr roddy mcgee
Total femur?
joe rogan
Yeah, I cut someone open like a fish and stick a new leg in there.
dr roddy mcgee
You literally do.
It's an incision about that long.
joe rogan
Whoa!
He's making his arms about...
Spread your arm about four feet?
Three feet?
dr roddy mcgee
It's the entire length of however long your thigh is.
joe rogan
Ai chihuahua.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
It's gnarly.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
They all get infected.
joe rogan
They do?
dr roddy mcgee
It seems like it.
joe rogan
Wow.
Now, post-op, like right away, or you mean in time?
dr roddy mcgee
Over time.
joe rogan
Just because your body's rejecting it?
Doesn't have to do with it?
unidentified
It's not really rejection.
dr roddy mcgee
It's just you've got this big hunk of metal, and bacteria forms this sort of slime layer that can't be...
Even with antibiotics, you know, blood can't get to the metal.
So you form this layer and then it's just, once it's contaminated, you can't control it.
joe rogan
Whoa.
So the metal on the leg, the fake leg, just gets slimy?
dr roddy mcgee
Not so much that it gets slimy.
It's just the stuff that's produced by the bacteria adheres to the metal.
joe rogan
Oh.
dr roddy mcgee
So...
And it's just so much metal in the body.
There's so much opportunity.
Do you know what I mean?
joe rogan
Yeah.
So what do you do when it gets infected?
Got to open them up again?
Clean it up?
dr roddy mcgee
You do.
You try.
But the end of the line is...
joe rogan
Amputation?
dr roddy mcgee
The limb has to go.
unidentified
Whoa!
joe rogan
Daddy.
Jamie almost threw up.
You got an image?
Pull it up.
dr roddy mcgee
Pull it up.
joe rogan
You're a doctor.
How dare you?
How dare you say don't pull it up?
This is what you do, man.
dr roddy mcgee
I'm feeling bad.
joe rogan
It's like me saying don't show anybody.
dr roddy mcgee
I didn't know we were going to get the total femur.
joe rogan
What?
Go large with that, sir.
unidentified
Why?
joe rogan
I want to see that.
Holy Jesus.
unidentified
You're making me sweat.
joe rogan
Whoa.
My God.
First of all, what am I looking at there?
dr roddy mcgee
So that's the femur.
You know, that's a metal femur.
jamie vernon
Just Google replace femur and look at the first picture.
dr roddy mcgee
The legs opened up there and you have to make measurements.
And so it's basically a total knee and a total hip.
And then all of the bone in between has been replaced with that metal.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
And then your foot's just attached to your regular shin below it.
unidentified
Correct.
joe rogan
And what is this normally used for?
Like, how often?
What is this?
dr roddy mcgee
So that would be in case of infection and, you know, there's the cases that we had were usually multiple fractures below a hip replacement and then and then below A longer stem, hip replacement.
Finally, you've got just no bone.
The other, you know, reason would be infected bone that you had to resect.
And then still another reason would be in the case of tumor where you have to, you're doing limb salvage.
joe rogan
Yeah, that was this gentleman's.
Now that one above, Jamie, where it's got like, they're spreading it apart far, yeah, right there.
What's going on there?
What's all that stuff on the outside?
That orange stuff.
dr roddy mcgee
Oh, so that's called ioban.
And it's a thin film that we cover over where we're making an incision in surgery.
It's to help prevent infection.
So we naturally have, you know, staph and other bacteria on the surface of the skin.
And you put this sticker cover on top of the skin and then Anything that's around the wound is contained.
joe rogan
It says play video.
I think you should listen to them.
Click on that.
Let's see what that is.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, let's see who this is.
joe rogan
Oh.
dr roddy mcgee
It's just a picture that says that.
joe rogan
Visit page.
Click play video.
There we go.
I'm scared.
Are you getting nervous?
Oh, daddy!
Whoa, boy!
Now, that seems really odd.
dr roddy mcgee
I like to do surgery through incisions that are about this big.
joe rogan
Yeah, little tiny incisions.
Now, that seems odd because that seems like a very old person.
Like, I'm looking at the lack of muscle tissue, either very old or very unathletic.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
And this is like...
dr roddy mcgee
That's a good evaluation.
joe rogan
That's incredibly traumatic then.
I mean, that's...
How does someone recover from that?
dr roddy mcgee
It's slow.
joe rogan
Now, is there a potential use of stem cells in the case of, like, is it possible to regenerate a bone?
I know they've built a woman an artificial bladder through stem cells.
dr roddy mcgee
Theoretically, bone is one of the tissues that is a part of that line of the mesenchymal stem cells.
joe rogan
Right, that's what I'm saying.
dr roddy mcgee
That comes from the mesoderm.
joe rogan
So you think that could be something down the line that they could be able to accomplish?
unidentified
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
They're, I mean, replacing that femur and its cartilage covering at the knee and the hip, I mean, I think that's, at this point, a fantasy.
joe rogan
Yeah, but isn't that what they said when, if someone came up to the person that had the telegraph and said, hey, do you think one day I'll be able to send dick pics from this thing?
They're like, well, right now, that's a fantasy.
Right?
Don't you think?
dr roddy mcgee
Probably.
joe rogan
Most likely, you know, they would look at you like you're a crazy person.
dr roddy mcgee
Well, when I was...
This is an embarrassing story to admit, but when I was about 13, I went next door to my neighbor's house and he was kind of a computer nerd at the time.
But, you know, computer nerds at the time were playing with like Commodore 64. Right.
And he's like, dude, look at this.
I can hook my computer up to the phone and I can type on the screen and my friend down the street will see what I wrote.
And I was like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, dude.
Can we, like, go play football?
Like, what are you talking about?
So, apparently I'm not a very forward-thinking guy, because, obviously, we're doing that quite a bit now.
joe rogan
I had a Showtime special in 2005, a Netflix special, actually, that eventually wound up on Showtime, but I had a joke in there about cell phones.
About people sending you a text message and the part of the joke was like, it takes you four presses to get an S. Right.
Like, why don't you just call me?
Because like it was before anybody had figured out how to make an actual keyboard.
And I'm like, why are you making me read?
Like, this is so stupid.
I thought it was just like a dumb trend that was going to go away.
And now if someone calls me, I go, what the fuck are you calling me for?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, it's very strange what's happened in just 12 years.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, it's a total shift in how we communicate with people, right?
joe rogan
A massive one.
dr roddy mcgee
I mean, how disruptive to your life is it to have to, like, send emails now?
I mean, to sit down and, like, type an email, like, email, respond back, so many emails you, like, people email me with, like, a bunch of questions.
It's a big chore.
It's like homework.
I've got to sit down.
It takes a lot of time.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
Whereas, you know, a text is, like, a quick response.
unidentified
Like, hey, what about this?
I don't know.
joe rogan
I just, I'm so used to email.
I send a lot of emails.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
I have so much email.
Well, I do all the booking for this show, too.
I mean, well, I have a guy, Matt Staggs, who contacts people, but I reach out to a lot of people as well.
So, like, a lot of the booking and the different things that I do, I contact people.
dr roddy mcgee
Sure.
joe rogan
And, you know, the best way to do it is through an email.
It's like, hey, you know, I would really love to talk to you about this or that.
I have a question about that.
dr roddy mcgee
But these are brief emails, I would bet.
joe rogan
Sometimes, yeah.
But I've gone...
I've had some...
Yeah, that's the problem is the volume.
The sheer volume I get is just unmanageable.
To the point where people think I'm ignoring them.
I'm like, man, I'm not ignoring you.
I didn't even see it.
It just got lost in the tsunami of emails that came in.
Like, if I go on vacation, I hardly communicate.
I barely do anything.
Maybe I'll put up a social media post and, you know, just to like...
Because it's kind of a part of the job, right?
But I don't pay attention to emails.
I just leave them alone.
And then I get home and I'll go, oh my god, there's 2,000 emails.
I'll have 2,000 emails in a few days.
I'm not exaggerating at all.
dr roddy mcgee
Do you go through all of those?
joe rogan
I do my best.
I look for my friends.
I look for people that are important and look for acquaintances that I like and work-related stuff.
But it's a mess.
I have several email accounts too, which helps people that are important to me get the big one.
You don't get the bad one.
Don't worry about it.
dr roddy mcgee
I don't think I have any of them.
joe rogan
If you do, I'll give you the real one.
I just want to let you know.
dr roddy mcgee
I won't tell anybody.
joe rogan
People don't like to be on the outside.
You tell them about that, and they're like, which one do I have, bro?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, right?
joe rogan
Why worry about it, man?
dr roddy mcgee
What list am I on?
joe rogan
Why worry about it, man?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, if you have to ask the question.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
It's not good.
joe rogan
I wonder when it's going to pass what we're doing.
I mean, when it's not going to be this.
It's not going to be typing.
Like, what's the next thing?
It's definitely not going to be videos where you force people to watch.
The beautiful thing about an email is I can kind of scan it through.
What's this guy saying?
Not interested.
Next.
dr roddy mcgee
Have you messed around with, like, dragon dictation?
joe rogan
Yes.
Yes.
It's amazing for notes when you're in a car or if I have an idea in my head and there's no way I can type it on my phone that quickly.
Have you ever seen how good it works?
dr roddy mcgee
No, it's very good.
joe rogan
Yeah, no.
Well, just what comes with your phone.
dr roddy mcgee
Like the most recent versions of it.
joe rogan
Yeah, like this right here.
Check this out.
Dr. Roddy McGee is an amazing human being.
He has fresh breath and his hair is wonderful.
Look at that.
Perfect.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
100%.
joe rogan
That's incredible.
dr roddy mcgee
That's pretty good.
joe rogan
I mean, it really is incredible.
And you could do that in your car if you have an idea so you're not some asshole that's texting.
Because sometimes, like, Neil Brennan had the best analogy for it.
You know who Neil Brennan is?
Stand-up comedian, co-creator of The Chappelle Show.
He had the best analogy.
He goes, my notebook is essentially like a net for catching ideas.
And you've got to catch those ideas as quick as you can.
I'm like, oh, that's a good way of looking at it.
So if I'm in a car and I have an idea, I'm like, oh my god, I've got to get this out before I forget.
So I start repeating it to myself, and then if I'm at a red light or something, I'll press that record button.
dr roddy mcgee
Very responsible of you.
joe rogan
I'm very responsible when it comes to texting and driving.
dr roddy mcgee
That's good.
joe rogan
I just, I think that is one of the most infuriating things.
It's fucking terrible.
It's like, you're going 60 plus whatever miles an hour, the amount of distance that you cover in a glance where you are not looking at the road and things can happen at any moment.
Just to me, it's super disturbing.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
Anyway, back to the grind.
What do you got there that you would like to cover?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, okay, so we talked a little bit about all of the elements of the care of the person, right?
So it has to be more than just giving you a shot and sending you on your way.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
If you truly have an injury and we're trying to recover you, then what also comes along with that is...
The appropriate rehab protocol.
And none of those are defined yet for what some of these things that we've done.
But we're trying to develop that and dial it in and hone it down.
For me right now, the easiest thing is to try to adapt it from a surgical rehab.
And I'm not a physical therapist, obviously, so I try to collaborate with those guys and girls that are smarter than me in that avenue.
But The principles are the same, right?
So you have an injury that you're trying to heal.
Now, in some cases, it's, you know, we've created the injury or we've done the thing that the patient has to recover from.
In the case of an injection, you have an injury, you've done the injection, and now we need the effect to happen, whatever it is that we're hoping that will be.
But then you can't ignore the fact that if somebody has a bad shoulder, well, we may decrease the pain, but if their motion is poor, if their strength is poor, if it's not functioning correctly, then how can we be achieving the best result if we're not also attending to that?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So it's a multi-step...
dr roddy mcgee
No doubt.
And then the more that we're learning about all these other factors, I mean...
Like, again, for you, I mean, you're paying attention to your sleep, you're paying attention to your nutrition, you're on a variety of supplements that are meant to help a lot of these processes.
And I think...
We're going to get better and better at it.
joe rogan
Diet has got to be pretty critical as well, right?
dr roddy mcgee
It's got to be hugely important.
joe rogan
Especially, like, staying away from inflammation-enhancing foods or inflammatory foods.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, no doubt.
So, yeah, I think it's got to be critically important, and we try to share that information with people.
There's, for athletes, like a website that you can pull up and we can share is the collagenprofessionalathlete.com.
Dietetics Association, I think it is.
joe rogan
Collagen Professional?
dr roddy mcgee
No, college and professional athlete.
joe rogan
I was like, what?
Collagen Professional Athletes?
I don't even know what that means.
dr roddy mcgee
We all have collagen.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
Collagen and...
Yeah, so these guys have some great information and good infographics that we utilize, you know, since I'm not a...
joe rogan
That looks good.
dr roddy mcgee
I'm not a dietician, so I have to rely, again, on people that have good information.
I think these guys have a good, reliable source, and they've got great infographics.
unidentified
If you go to-- hmm.
dr roddy mcgee
Educational resources?
There you go.
Yeah.
So this will pull up some different things.
joe rogan
Balancing exercise-induced information.
Now, here's a good question.
Sure.
It's pretty much universally agreed that rest, ice, compression, elevation, all those different things that people have said in the past, that there is benefit to particularly icing things.
Yeah, there's a lot of debate about that.
Right?
There's some debate now.
dr roddy mcgee
There's like a definite anti-ice community out there.
Yeah, what is that?
joe rogan
Do you think it's legit?
dr roddy mcgee
Well...
There's not a downside to it.
joe rogan
To ice?
dr roddy mcgee
I don't think so.
I mean, we've used it regularly, and so, I don't know.
There's definitely a group that, and I don't know all of their arguments against, but...
joe rogan
Misha Tate, the former UFC Bantamweight champion, she had a podcast with this guy who's the anti-ice guy.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, that's his whole thing.
dr roddy mcgee
Is he a flat-earth guy, too?
joe rogan
No, but he doesn't believe in dinosaurs.
He does not?
No, I made that up.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
It fit.
joe rogan
I don't know.
I believe he's a doctor, but he might be a fucking veterinary.
Works on cat infections or something.
I don't know.
dr roddy mcgee
I don't think there's a downside.
joe rogan
I'm kidding about that, too.
dr roddy mcgee
In my opinion, I've definitely had athletic injuries.
I was a pitcher previously.
We routinely iced our shoulder and elbow after pitching.
I did it as a matter of routine.
It felt good.
I felt better when I did it than when I didn't.
joe rogan
But here's the question.
It felt good at the time, but it is that feeling good in any way slowing the healing process.
dr roddy mcgee
Hard to know.
I mean...
joe rogan
That's where it gets weird, right?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
I don't know.
To be frank.
joe rogan
God damn it.
You're supposed to know.
You're the fucking super genius doctor guy.
If you don't know, we're doomed.
Get back to me.
dr roddy mcgee
I'll get you some good information on it.
joe rogan
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
What else you got here?
dr roddy mcgee
So, you know, I think one of the interesting things about this whole topic and the possibility of healing from utilizing this type of treatment is how It allows you to go through the process of healing without this fibrovascular response.
So the typical healing cascade has an inflammatory phase, proliferative phase, and the maturation phase.
So in the inflammatory phase, you have neutrophils and white blood cells and these enzymes that are present that are trying to start the process.
Then in the proliferative phase, you're having what's called angiogenesis, and that means the development of new blood vessels and vasculature to the area.
And your body's producing fibroblasts, and you're laying down tissue in this sort of haphazard manner.
So it's just kind of piling on in there.
Then the maturation phase is when you have remodeling.
So that scar tissue is changing over time and developing into tissue that's more like or is the native tissue.
So that occurs over a period of time.
And then a lot of times during that process, before you're fully matured in the healing, you're back to activities.
So, let's just take an example.
Like, when you sprain your ankle, and then you, you know, you start feeling better, and maybe you go back to basketball within a couple weeks.
At that point, if you've actually torn one of the ankle ligaments, you don't have native ligament tissue that's the same structural properties.
It's not as strong.
I mean, you might be developing the strength around it, but it's not like the native tissue.
Now, the hope is that we can demonstrate.
Now, we know that this is the science.
This is what it's supposed to do.
This is what it does in the developing fetus.
We see it in kids.
You know how, you know, when your daughter was real young, she scratched her face.
joe rogan
They healed Wolverine.
dr roddy mcgee
And it was, like, gone, like, the next day, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
So healing without scar is, you know, has to do with not forming this fibroblast disease.
We're fibrovascular response and fibrotic phase.
Now, the cool potential of this to me is if we can skip that and we can have more complete healing and quicker resolution to the native tissue, then you're going to have the same properties.
You're going to be stronger.
You're going to be better.
You know, technically and hopefully, you know, clinically this pans out that you would be more resistant and lower risk for repeat injury.
Because that's really our goal is in treating patients is get them back to their activity.
And decrease the chance that they have to miss more time.
joe rogan
And how do you know how much to inject into these?
dr roddy mcgee
Nobody knows.
joe rogan
Oh, Jesus.
dr roddy mcgee
Nobody knows that.
This is one of the big questions that will be discovered with, again, rigorous studies where we can look at what should the dosing be, what should the frequency of the treatment be, and what should the protocols before and after be.
It's not defined.
And anybody that's telling a patient that they have exactly what it should be, I mean, be wary of that.
Because that has not been discovered yet.
So we're trying to take, you know, we're taking the information from our experience and applying it that way.
It's not the best way to go about this.
And it's one of the things that PRP suffered from is that all of the things, everybody was using it for so many different things and just kind of hoping that it was the magic bullet that it was going to...
Treat all the things that we had difficulty treating.
And even all of the studies that were coming out, people were using different centrifuges and applying it for different reasons, different protocols.
It was just a mishmash of information.
It wasn't valuable.
joe rogan
How does platelet-rich plasma work?
dr roddy mcgee
So it has growth factors and cytokines, and the platelets release proteins and things, and those things help mediate that inflammatory response and help the healing process.
I mean, that's kind of the basics.
joe rogan
Do you think that they could work in a symbiotic fashion with, like, this kind of...
dr roddy mcgee
So some cellular treatment, like bone marrow fat or the placental tissue, and that line of treatment can help expand the cells.
So that gets us to an important point, which is expanding the cells has been done and is not currently legal in the United States.
So there was a place, and they do it in other countries, but here...
If you more than minimally manipulate the tissue, then that is not under the guidelines of the FDA for use of human cellular tissue products.
So they were taking, for example, bone marrow and plating it and growing more cells, bringing the patients back two weeks later and injecting them with this super production of cells, which probably is great.
But we don't know.
We don't know if that's safe.
And that has to be taken through the appropriate process.
joe rogan
So you can't necessarily recommend someone taking PRP while they're taking some sort of stem cell injections?
dr roddy mcgee
So here's the difference of that.
A manufacturer can't say...
That we have a product that is a combined PRP stem cell injection.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
And it does this.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
That's illegal.
joe rogan
But if you are a patient...
dr roddy mcgee
I can't put on my website.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
I have the magic potion.
It's PRP and...
Amniotic fluid and tissue.
We inject it, and it can heal anything.
joe rogan
I admire how responsible you are, how you keep cutting me off whenever I'm suggesting some ridiculous things.
But would there be a benefit for a patient, potential benefit, who is getting stem cell injections and also gets PRP at the same time?
Or is it just theoretical?
dr roddy mcgee
It's theoretical right now, yeah.
joe rogan
But potentially?
dr roddy mcgee
Definitely there's potential, and it's encouraging to...
That the possibility is there.
It appears to be safe.
We don't have adverse reactions to it.
And the point that I wanted to make is that a physician can prescribe something and use it off-label.
So the FDA doesn't regulate the practice of medicine.
I can do that in my office.
But I can't make claims about it.
And I can't put it on social media and on my website and say, I'm going to do this and I'm going to fix your shoulder.
Come here if you have a meniscus tear because we do this injection and it's going to make you better.
That's illegal.
joe rogan
I understand.
dr roddy mcgee
But if somebody comes to my office, I can elect to do that because both things are available.
We have permission to use them, but we're using it off-label.
joe rogan
I understand.
Now, when you say maximize cells, that's the term you used?
dr roddy mcgee
Maybe.
joe rogan
What is the term you used about PRP in conjunction?
dr roddy mcgee
We think that it can increase the proliferation of the mesenchymal stem cell.
joe rogan
Oh, and how much of a time period would it have to be between the injection and the PRP? That's undefined, again.
What would you assume?
dr roddy mcgee
The way that we're doing it is we would do the injection at the same time.
joe rogan
Oh, I see.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, putting it in there together.
We only have a narrow window from when we take those frozen cells and then we thaw them.
We have a short window when we can then inject them.
And then there's maybe between 7 and 21 days that those cells are viable in...
Your shoulder or your knee, wherever we inject it.
joe rogan
So if someone gets that injection and does PRP, they would have to essentially get that done within those 7 to 21 days to have some sort of a benefit of what you're saying?
dr roddy mcgee
Theoretically, yes.
That's how I would do it currently based on that information.
joe rogan
It's fascinating stuff.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
What else is out there?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, so we just, I thought it was important to talk about the, it's called Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, and this is the definition from the FDA on the use of human cell tissue and cellular tissue products.
So it has to match these criteria.
So you have to have minimal manipulation.
That means you can't add things to it.
You can't combine it with other stuff.
You can't, like I was saying, you can't put it in the lab and grow it and add things to it and then bring the patient back and treat them.
This isn't part of it, but you can't treat patients on a different day.
It has to be at the same time, whenever you're harvesting the cells or utilizing the Whatever it is you're using.
It has to be something called homologous use.
And what that means is whatever tissue you're taking has to have the intention of the purpose of that tissue for when you put it into somebody's body.
So, for example, if you have a fracture that's not healing, and I take a bone graft product, so cadaver bone, and we're going to use that to help heal your fracture that hasn't healed, that's homologous use.
We're taking bone, we're using it to become bone, or to be the scaffold for bone to heal and grow.
So, it can't be combined with something else.
And it can't be intended to have a systemic effect.
Now, all of these things that I'm explaining, these are rules for manufacturers and what the rules are for them to be able to market their product.
So, for example, you can't take amniotic fluid and say, this is a product meant for IV infusion, for treatment of...
Whatever.
Diabetes.
joe rogan
Right.
That is something that people do in other countries, right?
dr roddy mcgee
They're doing it in other countries.
You can't do that in...
You technically can't do that.
You can't manufacture a product and put that on the labeling.
That's what it's intended for.
joe rogan
But do they do that in America?
IV stem cells?
dr roddy mcgee
I've been told by patients that they've gone to places that have suggested to them that that was going to be the treatment.
joe rogan
Right.
And what is going on there?
dr roddy mcgee
I'm not aware of it.
joe rogan
How does that even work?
Do you know?
It's not your wheelhouse?
dr roddy mcgee
No, and nobody knows if it does.
joe rogan
So it's just experimental?
dr roddy mcgee
It is.
joe rogan
I mean, all of this...
Boss Rutten?
Do you know who Boss Rutten is?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Former UFC champion?
Do you ever treat him?
dr roddy mcgee
I have not met him.
joe rogan
Are you allowed to say that?
dr roddy mcgee
Boss...
I don't think I can talk about any patient unless they have said it or they're sitting in front of me talking about it.
Okay.
joe rogan
I give you permission.
dr roddy mcgee
That's a HIPAA violation.
joe rogan
I understand.
dr roddy mcgee
Health Information Protection Act.
joe rogan
For the record, I give you permission.
Boss Rootin went to, where did he say he go, to Peru or something like that?
Went to the jungle.
Some dude killed a chicken and then shot some stem cells into him.
dr roddy mcgee
Chicken blood, right?
joe rogan
He was saying it was fucking amazing.
You know, the way Boss talks, he's like, it's like the energy was coming out of my body, like, ahhh!
He said that he literally felt like some guy in a kung fu movie where energy was like shooting off his fingertips.
He said it was amazing.
dr roddy mcgee
Like the emperor?
joe rogan
He's not the only guy that said that.
You know Dan Bilzerian?
Do you know who Dan Bilzerian is?
dr roddy mcgee
Not personally.
joe rogan
The Instagram guy with all the boobs and the butts.
He told me the same thing.
He said that when he got it done, he said it's amazing.
He goes to Mexico to get it done.
Not recommended, but you can't talk about it.
Off air, he'll be a little chatterbox.
Just you wait.
dr roddy mcgee
Maybe.
Well, what I'm interested in, what I was thinking before you threw me off there, is he going with a specific intent of treating something, or is he just looking for the fountain of youth?
joe rogan
I think he fucks so much, he doesn't have any sperm in his body, and he's trying to...
I don't know.
That guy's an animal.
But I think he's got a series of injuries, I know that, because he's had Regenikine for his neck.
He put it up on Instagram, like with Instagram stories, he was videoing himself while he was getting injections in his neck, which I've had.
josh olin
In your neck?
joe rogan
Yes.
It cured my cervical disc bulge.
unidentified
What?
joe rogan
You know, with like a harness where they're pulling on your neck.
I had a bulging disc in my neck that was pushing on my nerves.
Yeah, completely resolved.
Like on an MRI, it doesn't exist anymore.
Where I was getting numb hands because the ulnar nerve was being pressed upon.
Yeah.
Yeah, it works.
unidentified
That's nuts.
joe rogan
Well, it's massive anti-inflammation properties.
I just don't think that it has the same healing potential.
It seems like it reduces inflammation in a giant way.
What's going on with...
By the way, I had Regenikine shot in my knee, too.
dr roddy mcgee
That's what you told me.
joe rogan
It didn't really have the same effect.
dr roddy mcgee
It worked a little bit.
So, patients like yourself that have had a number of injuries and a number of treatments, one of the things that's got me enthusiastic about the potential of all this...
Is when somebody tells me, look, I've had this, this, this, and this, and then I had this, what we're talking about, and that it was just completely different.
joe rogan
Game-changing.
I'm just better and different.
Look, my right shoulder is not 100%, but it might be 90%.
And it's strong as fuck.
I could do a lot of shit with it.
dr roddy mcgee
I've seen you do some insane stuff.
Things that I probably wouldn't recommend.
joe rogan
No pain.
I'm glad you can.
I take these 90 pound kettlebells and I do windmills with them.
Where you're pressing overhead.
You know what a windmill is.
You're dropping down like that so your shoulder's rotating.
dr roddy mcgee
I don't do that with 90 pounds, but I know what it is.
joe rogan
But the fact that I can do that with a shoulder that was on its way probably to getting surgery on is just amazing.
My bow...
dr roddy mcgee
Probably the most impressive thing was that push-up with the wheel thing.
What's that thing called?
joe rogan
Oh, the ab wheel?
dr roddy mcgee
No, it's like a little roller that you had your hand on.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, those things when you go forward.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, what's that called?
joe rogan
The company called Havoc creates it.
They're sliders, Havoc sliders.
Okay.
H-A-V-Y-K sliders.
There's a video of it on my Instagram, Jamie, from quite a while ago.
But it was post-injection.
It's from way back I want to say at least a year ago I was doing that but Yeah, there's my range of motions a hundred percent.
I mean at the most it's uncomfortable in certain things but for a big one for me was archery because You know, I really enjoy it.
I do it all the time, and it's very meditative to me.
I just, I love archery.
So, for me, like, the idea of not being able to pull my bow back, it was really disturbing.
I was like, God, I'm gonna have to get the surgery done.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, you've been pretty committed to it for a while now, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, and I'll shoot 100 plus arrows a day, and I'm pulling back 84 pounds.
It's an 84 pound compound bow, and I'm shooting it 100 times a day, and it's no pain.
I did it yesterday.
Oh, like for hours.
Me and my friend Cam Haynes, who you know, you met, who came to talk to you as well.
dr roddy mcgee
You kind of indirectly got me into it.
joe rogan
Into archery?
Through John?
John Dudley?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, I know.
You're shooting all the time now, right?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, so John got me this unbelievable...
You know, Hoyt carbon spider bow.
It's like, if you want to see any of my friends make the greatest faces you've ever seen, I pull this thing out and it's like some space age weapon.
joe rogan
It looks like a bow that Batman would have.
unidentified
Yeah.
Or Chewbacca.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Or Chewbacca, yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
Something like that.
joe rogan
Yeah, I would say Batman, but yeah.
But yeah, those bows, they're amazing.
dr roddy mcgee
It's incredible.
I've only been able to go a couple of times, but I'm definitely hooked.
joe rogan
It's the most amazing meditation.
I love it.
When you're focusing on that shot, you literally have no room for anything else.
It requires so much concentration.
You're concentrating on the front hand position, front shoulder position, where the string touches the tip of your nose, the corner of your mouth, and John is just an amazing coach.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, so, you know, totally unfair.
That's the bow, the first bow that I get to shoot with, and then John gives me the first lesson that I've ever pulled a bow back.
He's standing there right with me.
joe rogan
He's an Olympic coach, by the way.
He used to coach the Olympic team.
He's amazing.
Yeah, really good coach.
He's a great guy, too.
And he can take years off of people's learning.
I mean, he's absolutely taken years off my learning curve.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm going to sneeze.
I hate when you say you're going to sneeze and then you put a lot of pressure on yourself.
And you're like, man, I might not.
I just look like a weirdo for a few minutes.
Did you find that video?
No?
It's in there.
I swear to God.
dr roddy mcgee
So here's another kind of crazy thing about the placental-derived treatments.
Is that they actually have antimicrobial properties.
unidentified
Whoa.
dr roddy mcgee
So this is crazy.
I mean, we kind of know this, you know, one of the functions of the amniotic membrane is to protect the developing baby, right?
Mm-hmm.
And one of the things that does is protect it from infection.
unidentified
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
But what they were able to demonstrate was that when they've actually introduced bacteria, like literally injected bacteria onto these membranes, and then they come back and check, and it has destroyed the bacteria.
So ability to resist scar formation.
Move through the fibrotic phase of healing and then also the antimicrobial properties.
It's pretty amazing.
joe rogan
So that would be super beneficial post-surgery, right?
Definitely.
Because that's a giant issue, staph infections and the like.
dr roddy mcgee
It's one of the things that, you know, frightens us most about, you know, doing our procedures is, you know, can we prevent infection?
joe rogan
Yeah, it's a giant issue where people, I mean, I know because of the nature of martial arts, just everybody I know is at surgery, like pretty much.
And the big issue is post-surgery infections.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
Well, those guys are, they're getting abrasions and everything like that on the mat.
And then, so then they're colonized with, you know, MRSA or any number of whatever funk is in that gym.
joe rogan
I tell everybody, if you are a grappler, this is super important, I want you to look up Defense Soap.
Defense Soap is a soap company that was created by my friend Guy Sacco.
What is it?
It is all natural soap that promotes healthy bacteria, doesn't destroy the healthy bacteria.
But it's all tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil.
This shit is amazing.
I've gotten staph at least twice.
I used to get ringworm all the time.
Well, not all the time, but I got it a couple of times.
Until I was super diligent about washing myself immediately afterwards.
But once I started using two things.
Probiotics, which is huge.
Acidophilus, eating yogurt, and drinking kombucha.
And then the next one was defense soap.
Is there enough in the yogurt?
Probably not, but it's a little bit of something.
I just think it's good to have probiotics.
I like kimchi.
I try to take my probiotics in multiple forms.
This stuff that I was drinking when you got here, kombucha, I love this stuff.
I drink it all the time.
dr roddy mcgee
Is there a particular flavor that you like or do you mix them around?
joe rogan
Well, you've got to be careful because I'm a low sugar guy.
So like the grapes, there's some of them that are delicious, but they have a lot of sugar in them.
This multi-greens does not have a lot of sugar in them.
Let me see what it's got.
I think it's something like 10 grams per serving or something like that.
dr roddy mcgee
Really?
That sounds high.
I think I've seen them lower.
joe rogan
Oh, two.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, that sounded good.
joe rogan
Two grams.
So, yeah, that's what you want.
The grape's high.
Grape is...
But the...
dr roddy mcgee
Of course, it tastes wonderful, right?
joe rogan
It does taste yummy.
That's the problem.
This does not taste so good, but you know you're getting something good in it.
And this is the important...
dr roddy mcgee
Just fight your way through it.
joe rogan
The important stuff is that you get the strong kombucha.
This is the brand that I really like.
I don't work for them.
They're not a sponsor.
GT's Kombucha.
GTS. This stuff is awesome, but you have to be over 21 because it has more than one half of 1% alcohol by volume because the fermentation process is so strong.
dr roddy mcgee
I see.
joe rogan
So they make you show your ID. Interesting.
They actually pulled it from Whole Foods.
I don't know if you know this.
dr roddy mcgee
See, I thought that's where I've seen it.
joe rogan
Yeah, they have it back.
But they pulled it from Whole Foods until Whole Foods had to put some regulations in place to keep...
You would literally...
If you were eight years old, you could drink one and not get drunk.
I mean, it's not like you're going to get drunk off of it.
But just due to regulations, you have to have a letter of the law kind of thing.
Exactly.
What else you got?
Got a lot of papers there, buddy.
Got drawings and shit.
Charts and graphs.
dr roddy mcgee
Stuff to think about.
joe rogan
Probably a bunch of stuff you say, don't let Joe talk about this.
dr roddy mcgee
What other questions have you...
joe rogan
One big question I wanted to talk to you about was something that I had a discussion with Dr. Davidson about recently.
Jeff was telling me that the most recent procedure with stem cells is injecting them directly into the discs for people that have degenerative disc disease and that there's some really promising results.
dr roddy mcgee
I've heard anecdotally of a number of very positive outcomes with treatment like that.
joe rogan
That's amazing.
dr roddy mcgee
Again, you know...
joe rogan
Too early.
I love the fact that you're very conservative about this.
I really, really, really do appreciate that.
Although I'm giving you a hard time, I'm fucking with you.
dr roddy mcgee
I've really wrestled with it because, you know...
Again, our whole training is based on we need to do things that have an evidence base for our patients.
I mean, this is kind of the...
The foundation of what we do.
But we're in a unique situation.
So we have patients that...
One, this stuff is available.
And it's legal to do.
And it's there.
And people know about it now.
So they're seeking the information.
They come to us.
And even before we started talking about it, it started to be here and there.
And then all of a sudden, it's like two, three patients a day now.
Even more are saying, well, what about stem cells?
Can I have stem cell?
And, uh, like, okay, well, you know, then we have to back up and like have the whole discussion, like, okay, well, let's talk about what that is and what maybe it can do.
And, um, So, people are seeking the treatment.
It's available.
But we don't know.
We don't have a lot of information.
So, we just have to be forthcoming and say, look, this is experimental.
We've had encouraging early results.
I can tell you anecdotal stuff.
We've even seen images where somebody had, you know, full thickness rotator cuff tear.
Eight months later, what looked like a healed rotator cuff on an MRI. Now, did that happen on its own?
Well, we know that that happens at a lower percentage, but it is possible to heal.
It's just a lower percentage.
Did it happen because of the treatment?
You know, that hasn't been established.
So I have to really explain all that.
And the other category, too, that patients will come and they'll explain an injury...
And, and I've had to turn away a lot of people that were, they were fully ready to come in and have treatment and, and they were fine with paying out of pocket because of course it's not covered by insurance.
Because it's experimental, because there's, you know, no data yet.
And that's not true.
There's not no data, but there's not enough data to support treatment for, you know, certain conditions.
But, you know, I've had to tell people, I don't think this is appropriate even to try, even if you want this.
And usually the category is...
Excuse me.
If it's something mechanical.
So I think this makes intuitive sense to people.
So for example, had you come to me and you said, Hey, you know, I dislocated my shoulder seven times.
And can you just put an injection in there?
Well, the problem with that is that the in that case, in this example, the ligaments of the shoulder have been stretched and disrupted.
And in the case of a dislocation, there's oftentimes a labral tear that comes with that.
Now, I don't believe, and I could be proven wrong over time, but I just don't believe that an injection on its own would magically decrease the volume of the capsule, you know, tighten the static structures in the shoulder and resolve the pain for that patient.
joe rogan
Now, let me stop you.
Can I pause you right there while I still have this in my head?
dr roddy mcgee
Sure.
joe rogan
I believe there was something that came up a few years ago where they were doing something where they were heating up the inside of the capsule and shrinking it.
dr roddy mcgee
Thermal capsulography.
joe rogan
What is that?
dr roddy mcgee
It was very popular.
joe rogan
You said was.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
Now it's close to malpractice.
joe rogan
Oh, Jesus.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
So it's interesting the way these things go.
So there was a huge wave of interest in this.
And essentially what guys would do is they're looking inside the shoulder.
You have a radiofrequency wand and you're using that to heat the tissue and you can watch it literally shrink in front of you.
Then, Richard Hawkins is a very accomplished orthopedic surgeon, kind of iconic guy that's done tons of research.
He was also in Vail, Colorado, now in Carolina.
And he published a paper that showed a very high rate of failure from these procedures.
And so, as a result of that, it's fallen out of favor.
joe rogan
Huh.
dr roddy mcgee
But it was done very frequently on lots and lots of shoulders.
joe rogan
Now, high rate of failure...
It was like 40%.
Okay, but here's the question.
Is that because you're talking about already compromised joints, right?
Which is a very complicated joint.
dr roddy mcgee
Shoulders, very complicated joint.
There's certainly a number of reasons why that could have failed, but there was a lot of problems with...
Basically damage to the tissue from the radiofrequency.
joe rogan
Oh!
So it was weakening things.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
I see.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, so that...
joe rogan
What was the benefit of it?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, you could watch it and you were seeing the decrease in the volume of the capsule.
So you were...
Where structures had become loose, you were seeing it become tight at the time zero period.
joe rogan
What about doing that in conjunction with some sort of a stem cell therapy?
dr roddy mcgee
Um...
joe rogan
Does that make sense?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
I should be a doctor, right?
dr roddy mcgee
You're very close.
You're only...
joe rogan
10 years in school?
dr roddy mcgee
You're only 14 years away.
joe rogan
14?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, that's all.
joe rogan
14 for regular people.
Give me 20. So why did they think that it would work in the first place?
Like, what was the idea behind it?
dr roddy mcgee
There's early published papers that were saying that the outcomes were better if you used it.
unidentified
Wow.
dr roddy mcgee
So it's murky.
I mean, there's things that, over time, we discover that what we thought we were looking at, you know, we didn't fully understand.
joe rogan
And how long did it take before it became malpractice?
dr roddy mcgee
That's an exaggerated term.
joe rogan
Problematic.
dr roddy mcgee
I don't know the exact year that his paper was published, but it was before my residency training.
I graduated medical school in 2006, so it was before that that people weren't doing that anymore.
joe rogan
Okay, so I'll bring you back around.
So when someone has had, like, if you talked to some dude who played football or something, had multiple shoulder dislocations, like, what would you do to him?
You would encourage surgery?
dr roddy mcgee
So the, you know, the typical course for recurrent instability of the shoulder would be a stabilization procedure.
Now, a lot of that's based on the exam and what you see on imaging.
Some people can do well with a simple shoulder arthroscopy, and then you pass a couple stitches, you repair the labrum, you can tighten the capsule at the same time, and young patients progress really well through that.
When there is more complicated problems, such as there's bone loss on the front of the socket, so when you have a dislocation, the head goes forward, it It goes out the front.
That's the typical and anterior shoulder dislocation is the usual one.
And then as it tries to come back into place, the head bangs into the glenoid or the socket.
So you can, you'll tear the front of the labrum, you'll stretch the front of the capsule, but then you can also get a dent in the back of the humeral head.
unidentified
So...
joe rogan
What is the correct procedure?
I mean, I keep throwing you off track, but when someone does have a shoulder dislocation, what are you supposed to do?
Are you supposed to pull on it or just take them to the hospital?
dr roddy mcgee
Um...
There's probably no harm in doing that.
There's a great technique called the Zahiri technique.
joe rogan
Spell it.
dr roddy mcgee
Z-A-H-I-R-I. And it's just the name of the guy that wrote the paper.
But it's essentially, it would be a really easy thing for you to learn because it's kind of a leverage thing.
joe rogan
Like Jiu Jitsu?
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
So it's a way to leverage the arm so that you can get the muscles to relax.
It's easy on the person and you can actually do it awake and like at the field.
So I actually did it on a professional steer wrestler at the rodeo.
joe rogan
How hilarious is it that you can be a professional steer wrestler?
Well, I was amateur for a few years, but...
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, no, they're pretty serious about stuff.
joe rogan
Super serious.
dr roddy mcgee
You were talking about your bucket-handled meniscus.
The first rodeo cowboy that I took care of had a flipped bucket-handled meniscus tear.
And he came in the day that the National Finals Rodeo was starting.
And he was also a steer wrestler, by the way, and had been a previous, I think he was a champ, or he won a bunch, that's for sure.
So they basically, they taped his knee.
joe rogan
You gotta come closer.
dr roddy mcgee
They taped his knee in about 30 degrees of flexion, and he competed the whole nine days.
joe rogan
Whoa.
Just roped up knee.
dr roddy mcgee
Just taped it up, got on his horse, and was jumping off and throwing 600-pound steers on the ground.
unidentified
Jesus Christ.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
Those guys are crazy.
I watch that stuff on TV. I've never even been to one live because I'm terrified.
dr roddy mcgee
You need to come.
joe rogan
I don't.
We did an episode of Fear Factor where we made people ride bulls.
dr roddy mcgee
Made him ride it?
joe rogan
That's terrifying.
unidentified
Ride him!
dr roddy mcgee
You can die.
I mean, that's nice.
joe rogan
You can die no matter what.
You're dealing with a goddamn steer.
dr roddy mcgee
That's what I'm saying.
joe rogan
That's what I'm saying.
dr roddy mcgee
You can die getting on top of one of those.
joe rogan
Yeah, but a steer is not a bull, right?
Oh, it's been gilded, right?
dr roddy mcgee
No, no, no.
joe rogan
We had bulls.
dr roddy mcgee
No, no, no.
joe rogan
Steer wrestling's different, right?
dr roddy mcgee
Steer wrestling is the...
joe rogan
They grab them.
dr roddy mcgee
They take off.
joe rogan
Yeah, you rope them.
dr roddy mcgee
The steer and the guy and the horse take off at the same time.
You jump off, you grab it, you grab by the horns and turn its neck and throw it on the ground and then they wrap that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
See, a steer is a bull that doesn't have any balls.
dr roddy mcgee
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah, that bull's not the same animal.
dr roddy mcgee
But they're younger than the ones that...
joe rogan
They chop their balls out before they get a chance to mature.
That's why when they...
dr roddy mcgee
The bulls are terrifying.
So I've been right down next to the bucking chute, and it's, like, frightening.
I actually had a clod of dirt get...
One of them kicked it up, and it hit me in the head like a baseball.
I mean...
joe rogan
Yeah.
See, they're little babies.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they have no balls.
So this guy jumps off.
unidentified
What a dumb...
dr roddy mcgee
And you turn the head.
joe rogan
That is so whack.
What a stupid fucking thing to be excited about.
I did it.
I wrestled that thing that I was trying to get away.
Grabbed him by his natural handles and I took him down.
unidentified
Look how quick.
joe rogan
Look at their move.
It's like a Darce choke.
And the cow's like, what in the fuck, man?
Why is this even happening?
Look, the cow's like, what is going on?
dr roddy mcgee
I gotta get out of here.
joe rogan
Look how they always do it the same way, too.
It's similar to a choke hold.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, what a dumb fucking thing to be excited about.
They grab the neck and flip it on their back.
dr roddy mcgee
It's outside of your world.
joe rogan
It's outside of this world.
dr roddy mcgee
These are some of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life, honestly.
And they're some of the toughest athletes in the world.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
I would imagine those guys are tough as hell.
You have to be.
We had a dude on Fear Factor.
dr roddy mcgee
They compete through every injury.
There is no injury that they won't compete.
unidentified
You have to.
joe rogan
You're always broken up.
I mean, you have to.
We had a dude on Fear Factor that had nine...
dr roddy mcgee
And also, they don't make money if they're not competing.
So...
joe rogan
Right.
We had a dude on Fear Factor was a steer champion, or a rodeo champion, rather.
He had nine shoulder surgeries.
His shoulder was just, like, sliced all open.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I go, how often does it dislocate?
He goes, pfft, at any time.
Like, I could open up a car door, it'll pop out a socket.
I'm like, yikes.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, that's bad.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So, back around to where we're at.
What do you do?
How does the Zaheer technique, can you describe it?
Did I say it right?
Zaheerie?
dr roddy mcgee
Zaheerie, yeah.
joe rogan
Zaheerie technique?
dr roddy mcgee
So one of the guys that we trained with in my sports medicine program in Alabama showed us this, and it was like one of the first things that we reviewed at the beginning of the year.
So basically, you have the person lying flat on their back, and I would hold your wrist, Loop my arm under your arm and then grab onto mine for for leverage.
And then I literally just sort of lean back and I'm using the muscles in my back.
So I'm not pulling with my arms.
So a small person can do this on a very big athlete and you're fine because you're you're using all the strongest muscles in your body, right?
So you literally just Lean back and you hold traction in that position.
So you've got the arm is positioned like this.
Yeah, you got to describe to people that are listening and The arm is in front of the person while they're lying on their back.
And again, I have my right hand on your right wrist if it's a right shoulder dislocation.
joe rogan
Well, let's just see a video.
You got a video of it?
jamie vernon
It's really hard to find it, but I'm gonna hopefully guess that this is maybe it.
dr roddy mcgee
Hopefully.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
Let me explain to people at home.
What this is like is if you were trying to give someone an arm bar, you get a hook on the left side.
And so the hook is, if you're trying to arm bar someone on their right arm, and you were in side control, you would hook it with your left arm.
And then you would trap it in place.
A person does when they don't want to get arm barred.
Their defense is this.
They grab their hands together.
And so you loop your arm in that and pull it back like that.
So that would be real similar to what you're doing.
You're using the left arm.
You're connecting it like this.
And then you're actually just using traction.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
So the treater, in this case on the right side, he's just going to lean back and hold.
And you just wait.
And in about 10 seconds...
joe rogan
It pops in place.
dr roddy mcgee
The deltoid and the pec and the biceps relax and it just slides in.
joe rogan
Oh, that's interesting.
dr roddy mcgee
You can actually do that.
And, I mean, the kinder way to do this is, you know, with some anesthesia.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
But a lot of times you can do that and they're perfectly comfortable.
joe rogan
Huh.
dr roddy mcgee
And they're immediately better when the shoulder's back in.
joe rogan
Wow.
dr roddy mcgee
Well, they're not completely better, but the pain's relieved from the initial event.
joe rogan
Now, you told me when you looked at my MRI that you think that my shoulder was dislocated at some point in time.
dr roddy mcgee
I don't remember exactly your MRI, but if you had a tear of the front of the labrum, and you had any evidence of that little dent in the back of the humeral head, then that would be consistent with that injury.
joe rogan
I just do not remember ever having a dislocated shoulder, but I've been comored a bunch of times.
unidentified
I bet you've had it slip a little bit.
dr roddy mcgee
Just the nature of your sport.
joe rogan
You're shoulder locked.
There's been many Americanas in my past, and Kimuras, and all these different hardcore...
You were on the receiving end?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Before this injury, I never did...
dr roddy mcgee
Americana, you could definitely have at least a subluxation of the shoulder, for sure.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm sure.
I'm sure.
And you fight it off, too, because you don't want it to happen, so you're resisting, and...
Before this injury, I didn't do any shoulder exercises.
I just worked out.
But I didn't do any specific exercises just to strengthen my shoulders.
And I think that was a big mistake.
And I kind of emphasize that with people.
Doing external and internal rotation exercises.
I'm a big fan now of inverted kettlebell presses and Yeah, that's been one of my favorite lately.
dr roddy mcgee
It's definitely a challenge.
You don't need much weight.
joe rogan
Yeah, this little 40-pound Ironman kettlebell, I use this one.
It's amazing.
dr roddy mcgee
That's a lot of weight for that exercise.
That's pretty good.
joe rogan
Well, it's just they say you should be able to do 50% of your max weight.
Or is it 50% or 90%?
I forget what they say.
Forget me.
Don't listen to me.
dr roddy mcgee
Well, it...
It depends on...
joe rogan
I think I said 90, yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
Obviously, in the injured patient or the person that's recovering, they're going to be starting with much lower loads.
joe rogan
Much lower.
dr roddy mcgee
And all the focus is on the motion.
Your posture, engaging your core, keeping your ribs down, and having the full motion.
joe rogan
The strong first protocol, I think what they're trying to say is, in order to have really powerful shoulders, you should be able to do 90% of your max kettlebell press.
Like, say if you can max kettle press 90 pounds.
dr roddy mcgee
Now, that's with the...
With the handle and the bell down, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, with max.
That would be your max.
dr roddy mcgee
Like a one rep max?
joe rogan
Yes.
Or what you would pretty much...
Maybe you could do two or three if you really had to.
But you know you're talking about a lot of weight.
What you would normally max out of.
There's a protocol that this guy Pavel Tatsulin follows.
That's really kind of interesting.
You know, Pavel, right?
dr roddy mcgee
Well, he's the kettlebell guy, right?
joe rogan
He's the guy that brought him, they call him the godfather of kettlebells in America.
dr roddy mcgee
The guy that I train with talks about that all the time.
joe rogan
Yeah.
The idea behind it is, if you could do ten reps, you'd do five.
And you wait a long time, and then you do another five.
And you wait a long time, and then you do another five.
And you never work to failure.
And that working to failure is actually not healthy.
It's not smart, and you don't really get stronger that way.
dr roddy mcgee
My recommendation...
Is that for, and this is coming from, this isn't from the orthopedic surgery world, this is what I've read from strength and conditioning people.
The thing you want to avoid in doing something to failure is with load and a skill activity.
So, for example, like a clean or a snatch or something like that.
joe rogan
Things that involve coordination and where you have to time everything.
dr roddy mcgee
If it requires sound mechanics and you're doing it with load, it's bad to do that to failure because what happens as you fatigue is your mechanics are going to break down.
And that's where you're going to get hurt.
joe rogan
Well, what Pavel talks about is that strength is a skill and that all these different things, think of them as a skill and then don't do things to failure.
And if you're looking for, you know, endurance or something along those lines, you want to do light weights and you want to do multiple repetitions.
It's not what you're doing when you're trying to get stronger.
dr roddy mcgee
No.
joe rogan
Yeah.
But there's, you know, a lot of different arguments one way or another.
I mean, talk to powerlifters and they're like, that guy's a pussy.
You got to do it.
It's a failure.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I don't know.
Talk to the CrossFit people.
They want to do a hundred reps, you know?
unidentified
Yeah.
dr roddy mcgee
So, no.
There are activities that you can train to failure and there's no risk.
So, for example, like pull-ups.
I mean, when you fail, you just can't get up, right?
unidentified
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
Like, you're just going to come off the bar.
joe rogan
Right.
dr roddy mcgee
The battle ropes, you're just going to fatigue out.
Like, you're not going to hurt yourself doing that.
joe rogan
Right, but they even believe that when you're doing chin-ups, like if you're doing pull-ups or chin-ups, that when you're doing it, you shouldn't go to failure.
You should just stop, like, close to it or halfway there, and then take a long time off and then do another five reps.
Like, say if your max is ten reps, get to five, stop.
Take a break.
Do another five.
Stop.
Take another five, ten minutes.
Do another five.
Keep going.
And just you're working on form and your muscles are performing these actions in a very clean, smooth delivery and that this is the best way to recover or to build strength and that you just do it more often.
Don't do it to failure once a week and then be a wreck for like three or four days afterwards.
Because you know that feeling when you lift weights and you lift weights for a week, or you lift weights and you lift weights to failure rather, and you're sore for so long.
You can't get anything done.
This idea is you do more frequent workouts and you don't go to failure.
And that don't go over five reps.
dr roddy mcgee
I think one of the biggest...
Mistakes that we see and reasons that people show up in my office is because of overload and no time for recovery from the training that you're doing.
So you don't see people periodizing and incorporating the times when they're just allowing rest.
I mean, you can't be working at max capacity all the time.
joe rogan
Right, exactly.
It's a big thing with fighters.
Huge.
Keeping them from working hard is so hard to do.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, so I try to emphasize with, and we have to really talk about this with our ACL rehab, because that's a group that they're so eager to get back.
If they're a competitive athlete, you've got to remind them that, look, we have steps to go through.
And I always say you've got to work smart, not hard.
We have a plan, and there's a reason why this week may not be a whole lot of work.
Your body needs rest and recovery in order to put stress on it again so that we can continue to make your progress.
Otherwise, at some point, you're either going to plateau, you're not going to be making changes, you're going to get frustrated, or you're just going to get hurt.
joe rogan
Right.
All right, we've got to bring this home.
So anything else?
We need to cover on this?
dr roddy mcgee
I don't think so.
I think we got to talk about it quite a bit.
joe rogan
Yeah, we really did.
Thank you very much for doing this.
I really appreciate it.
We've always had these really cool conversations when I visit you in your office, and I'm really glad we got a chance to do this.
Now, if people want to get a hold of you and they want to seek treatment, please give them the necessary information.
dr roddy mcgee
Oh, sure.
So, our website is www.totalsportsmedicine.com.
joe rogan
I like how people still say www.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah, you can probably still get there, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, you can just, totalsportsmedicine.com.
dr roddy mcgee
Yeah.
And then, we have information on there in terms of how to contact us.
And, you know, we'd be happy to get additional information to patients if they have questions.
joe rogan
Awesome.
Well, again, thanks for everything you've done for me.
It's been a lifesaver, and I've had massive benefit.
dr roddy mcgee
Thank you very much for allowing me to come down.
joe rogan
My pleasure, brother.
Thank you.
Dr. Roddy McGee, ladies and gentlemen, and that's it for this week.
We'll see you next week.
Export Selection