Healing Those Who Heal Themselves with Dr. Tyna Moore: Making Bank S3E16

In today’s day and age, it’s easy to feel like everything is out of our control. Between the volatile political climate, undeniable environmental climate change, and the rapid rate of growth in tech everything is changing so quickly it’s hard to know what to rely on and for how long. What is true when the truth changes day-to-day?

In this constant state of flux, it can be especially hard to make decisions regarding our health. The good news is if you’re trying to live a health-conscious lifestyle, there is arguably no better time to be alive than now. From Bulletproof Coffee to juice detoxes, cryotherapy to healing crystals, and seemingly everyone in the world having a fitness blog, or a fitness instagram, or just telling you all about their fitness routine and dietary habits, the information is out there, it’s just a matter of what you decide to take.

One thing is certain — our bodies are our own, whether we take responsibility of them or not is up to us.

Doctor Tyna Moore, Medical Director of Core Wellness Clinic, practices regenerative therapy in Portland, Oregon. She is highly sought after for non-surgical, naturopathic orthopaedic treatment, believing in using your own cells and your own immune system to mount inflammatory healing response. One of the major realizations she’s come to in her practice is — if you aren’t healing yourself, she can’t heal you…at least not like she could.

“If you’re not eating well and moving well and sleeping well, and doing all of the things to really prime your stem cells and get your growth factors going, these treatments aren’t very effective. It’s not like you roll in, get something done to you and then you’re on your way. People don’t get great results that way, and so, really just priming the person, making them strong, getting them healthy, that’s where my focus is.”

It’s about overall health, which shouldn’t be a major revelation to us. In modern American culture, everything has become so immediate, so instant that it’s hard for us to reconcile our health and wellness as a daily life-long pursuit. We traipse around like Varuca Salt in Willy Wonka demanding results, “I want it NOW!” It’s a dangerous expectation to have in regards to our bodies.

It’s understandable in the sense that, physical therapy is HARD. It’s painful and time-consuming. Taking care of your body on whole requires thought and planning. You can’t just eat whatever is most convenient. You have to carve out time for exercise even if you’re comfortable with the way your body looks. Exercise has morphed into an appearance driven activity, but it has to be much more than that. They say, “a body in motion stays in motion.” Do you know what else it does? It heals itself, and that sounds a heck of a lot better than surgery.

In regards to her regenerative injection treatments, Doctor Moore says “It’s not just about what we inject. Everybody gets hung up on the solution that’s in the syringe — it’s not just about what’s in the syringe. A lot of it is technique and A LOT of it is the person’s overall health.”

When she talks about selecting clients to work with, she says the ideal patient strength trains, they’re well hydrated, they eat enough protein, they sleep well — essentially they take care of the things that are in their control to create an optimal environment for healing. She’s closed her practice to new patients, working from referrals only. She’s stopped taking vegan patients, recognizing that it might be controversial, but also knowing that in her experience, they don’t heal.

“I personally don’t think it’s entirely ethical to be treating people with really expensive treatments that aren’t going to take. Not to say that the variety of people out there can’t use it, you just, the expectations need to be different — like if you’re going to throw down the big bucks, finding somebody who’s eating well, sleeping well, drinking water well, doing all those things you’re supposed to do so you don’t crash and burn, in the gym.”

Initially, it can seem a bit off-putting, maybe even unfair. But for Dr. Moore, her goal is healing, and if she can’t do that for you, it’s not right to waste your time and money.

We have to take responsibility for our own health. Whether we are relatively healthy and want to stay that way, or recovering from injury, or desperately in need of a health overhaul, we are lucky enough to live in a country where our bodies are our own, and we have the resources we need to keep them in great condition.

Doctor Moore is a wealth of knowledge. If you want to hear more about her practice make sure to tune in to her interview on this week’s podcast.

If you are interested in taking your health into your own hands, listen in Josh’s full interview with Doctor Moore for more practical tips and tidbits on health and injury.