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Specialty For Biohacking

NeuroD

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NeuroD Newbie

NeuroD

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Edit: I'm leaving this my posts here, but please skip ahead to my post #29.

 

Do you think there's a specialty that is more geared/prepared to deal with biohacking? By biohacking I mean the sort of stuff that Tim Ferris, Dave Asprey, and Ray Kurzweil practice.

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NeuroD Newbie

NeuroD

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I guess another way to word it would be, is there a specialty that would be more geared for nutrition, supplement, life style, and exercise optimization?

 

 

FM if not solely for the versatility.

Thx commons, thats what I assumed if there was something else that was more relevant.

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JohnGrisham Newbie

JohnGrisham

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I guess another way to word it would be, is there a specialty that would be more geared for nutrition, supplement, life style, and exercise optimization?

 

 

Thx commons, thats what I assumed if there was something else that was more relevant.

Yeah that sounds right up FM alley. Very few of the other specialties, in practice, would allow you the flexibility to do much of that stuff day-to-day. Anything in a hospital will have plenty of top down stuff imposed on you etc. With FM you can pretty much craft your own niche.

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rmorelan Community Regular

rmorelan

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Yeah that sounds right up FM alley. Very few of the other specialties, in practice, would allow you the flexibility to do much of that stuff day-to-day. Anything in a hospital will have plenty of top down stuff imposed on you etc. With FM you can pretty much craft your own niche.

 

and some people do get extremely interesting subareas out of it for sure. The only other area that is even close would probably be internal medicine, or in the right age range of course pediatrics (not surprisingly they can also act in some places as primary care i.e. the US).

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NeuroD Newbie

NeuroD

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Physiatry is something you can also consider!

Funny you say that because Physiatry happens to be what I'm gunning for right now (although I'm sure experiences in med will tempt me). I've always wanted it, before becoming interested in biohacking. Now I'm curious what makes physiatry a good option for someone with my interest in biohacking?

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ralk Newbie

ralk

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If you're looking for optimization of lifestyle factors for the average person, probably FM. If you're looking for optimization of lifestyle factors for high-performers, Physiatry or FM sports medicine would be good options.

 

If you're looking for true biohacking like the people you mentioned, I'm not sure it matters what you do, because I wouldn't call that medicine, at least not evidence-based medicine. There are ways to be more efficient in maintaining good health or promoting fitness, but there are no shortcuts like a lot of these biohackers seem to be promising.

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NeuroD Newbie

NeuroD

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If you're looking for optimization of lifestyle factors for the average person, probably FM. If you're looking for optimization of lifestyle factors for high-performers, Physiatry or FM sports medicine would be good options.

 

If you're looking for true biohacking like the people you mentioned, I'm not sure it matters what you do, because I wouldn't call that medicine, at least not evidence-based medicine. There are ways to be more efficient in maintaining good health or promoting fitness, but there are no shortcuts like a lot of these biohackers seem to be promising.

Thats so interesting. Like I said, Physiatry (with a sports focus) has always been my #1. I am interested in high performers (I think getting figuring things out with them results in trickle-down advancements for the average person).

 

I agree, much of what they're doing now is not fully evidenced based (although they cite many studies), but I think the growth of the field signals the demand and the potential. One thing I want to be a part of is channeling all that into research and getting some clinical-trial style answers.

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ralk Newbie

ralk

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Thats so interesting. Like I said, Physiatry (with a sports focus) has always been my #1. I am interested in high performers (I think getting figuring things out with them results in trickle-down advancements for the average person).

 

I agree, much of what they're doing now is not fully evidenced based (although they cite many studies), but I think the growth of the field signals the demand and the potential. One thing I want to be a part of is channeling all that into research and getting some clinical-trial style answers.

Lifestyle research is tough, so good on ya for taking an interest. Whatever path you take, I think the bigger challenge will be developing opportunities to actually do the research, as neither FM or PM&R are overly research-focused and sports medicine is becoming a bit overcrowded.

 

I completely agree that biohacking (the concept) has a fair degree of interest, as lifestyle tips and tricks are a major industry. Just be cautious about biohacking (the specific approaches garnering attention), because it reads like a litany of other fads. There are some evidence-backed elements in there, for sure, though much of that is simply proper diet, exercise, and sleep hygiene that are already a decent part of mainstream medicine. I swear, I talk about sleep hygiene with a patient every couple weeks, even as a clerk rotating through a bunch of specialties. It's just not as flashy when a doctor talks about healthy lifestyle (and they typically don't mention butter-laden coffee) :P

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mononoke Newbie

mononoke

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Thats so interesting. Like I said, Physiatry (with a sports focus) has always been my #1. I am interested in high performers (I think getting figuring things out with them results in trickle-down advancements for the average person).

 

I agree, much of what they're doing now is not fully evidenced based (although they cite many studies), but I think the growth of the field signals the demand and the potential. One thing I want to be a part of is channeling all that into research and getting some clinical-trial style answers.

This was what I was thinking of when I recommended physiatry. It seemed to me that you were  very exercise focused, and though FM might allow for an exercise-medicine practice, you'd have to take time to build that up while working with lots of geriatrics populations, womens health, kids etc along the way. You seemed to be more geared towards working with young athletes more so than the other populations so physiatry sounded like a better fit

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ralk Newbie

ralk

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Hang on a sec. Physiatry entails a lot of rehab medicine which to a significant degree includes post-stroke post-cord injury and similar populations.

Of course - just like with FM, physiatry involves a fair bit of work not related to lifestyle factors. However, it is a path to sports medicine and as sports medicine becomes increasingly competitive in terms of landing a job (particularly one with a research component), I would argue it's the more reliable path.

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NeuroD Newbie

NeuroD

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Of course - just like with FM, physiatry involves a fair bit of work not related to lifestyle factors. However, it is a path to sports medicine and as sports medicine becomes increasingly competitive in terms of landing a job (particularly one with a research component), I would argue it's the more reliable path.

What do you mean? Are you saying lifestyle/performance optimization might become a more reliable path than sports med for physiatrists?

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ploughboy Newbie

ploughboy

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Do you think there's a specialty that is more geared/prepared to deal with biohacking? By biohacking I mean the sort of stuff that Tim Ferris, Dave Asprey, and Ray Kurzweil practice.

 

Like everything else in medicine, it depends...

 

Is there an area of human endeavour, or an organ system that really fascinates you above all others?  Then pick your speciality based on that.  On the other hand, at this point in your career, "everything is interesting and I want to keep my options open" is a totally legit answer.

 

If you aren't hyper-focused on one area, then the generalist specialities mentioned already (FM, IM, PM&R) are likely your best bet.

 

Might be worthwhile to take 4-6 hours to look up MDs who are doing the things you're interested in, and try and figure out how they got there.

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Hanmari Newbie

Hanmari

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I personally have some transhumanist leanings and believe that all medicine will eventually point towards not simply the remediation of losses but the improvement of the base human condition. As far as that goes, almost any field of medicine is bound to be involved in it, as all organs need to be worked on (or replaced) in what is essentially a never-ending endeavour.

 

tl;dr, as ploughboy says, pick an organ system that you interests you and run with it. What function of the human body would you most like to see taken beyond what is humanly possible?

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