This is where I organize the concepts I read about into notes. There’s a toggle switch at the top of each page: the lay version explains things in plain language, while the pro version expands on English terminology, textbook citations, dosages, and details. Most of these notes branch out from blog posts, and you can click back and forth between them.
Notes
Collapsing After the Finish Line: Most Post-Exercise Fainting is Harmless
The most crucial question when someone faints after exercise (finish-line collapse) isn't whether they're dehydrated, but when they collapsed. Collapsing during the race should be treated as cardiac arrest; collapsing after crossing the finish line is overwhelmingly benign postural hypotension, which resolves after lying down with legs elevated for 20 to 30 minutes. This post explains why the two are so different, which three conditions must be ruled out on-site, and why routine IV fluids are actually unnecessary.
Heat stroke isn't just being overheated: cool first, transport second
When a kid collapses on the field in summer, most people's instinct is to rush them to the hospital. But the key to surviving exertional heat stroke is bringing their temperature down right there on the sidelines—every minute delayed adds to organ damage. This post explains how to tell heat stroke from just being uncomfortably hot, why tympanic and forehead thermometers are completely useless, and why Taiwan's heat warning lights can't be used to manage training volume.
That Painful Bump Below the Knee: Osgood-Schlatter Is Not Growing Pains
When a teen's knee has a painful bump below it, it's often endured as growing pains. This post explains how Osgood-Schlatter is diagnosed, whether they need to stop sports, the quantitative red lines for training volume, and how a Danish national tracking found 70% still have residual discomfort in adulthood—it doesn't "heal on its own" as much as people assume.
Sarcopenia: AWGS 2025 Made the Diagnosis Simpler
AWGS 2025 simplified the diagnosis of sarcopenia to just low muscle mass and low muscle strength. Physical performance is now an outcome measure for tracking, and the "severe sarcopenia" grading was cancelled. This post summarizes the differences between the old and new cutoffs, why you should start testing at age fifty, and why exercise plus protein is currently the only effective prescription.
Milwaukee Shoulder: The Shoulder With Recurrent Massive Effusions
Milwaukee shoulder syndrome — when older folks repeatedly have 30 to 40 milliliters of fluid aspirated from their shoulder, it's mostly not just simple osteoarthritis. It's often a destructive arthropathy caused by rotator cuff tears and crystal deposition. This post covers the keys to diagnosis, how to send the synovial fluid for testing, and whether seniors with poor kidney function can get steroid injections.
The Five Stages of Behavior Change: Why "Telling People to Exercise" Rarely Works
The Transtheoretical Model divides behavior change into five stages, and the patient education required at each stage is entirely different. Throwing exercise routines at someone who hasn't even thought about changing is bound to fail. This post covers the five stages, the intervention strategies for each, and the three underlying mechanisms.
Motivational Interviewing: How to Talk to People Who Don't Want to Change
The core of motivational interviewing isn't persuasion, but drawing out the person's own reasons for wanting to change. This post uses six steps of an interview to string together the right attitude, four tasks, listening skills, and signals of change, plus a verbatim transcript of a demonstration.
Late-Life Depression: The Disease Easily Mistaken for "Normal Aging"
Late-life depression often presents as physical discomfort, lack of energy, and memory decline, making it easy to miss as normal aging or dementia. This post summarizes its atypical presentation, differentiation from dementia, specific screening tools, and the evidence for exercise as a treatment—which works just as well as medication.
Impaired Insight in Dementia: When the Patient Says "I'm Fine"
Older adults with dementia often say "I'm fine, no problem," while their families are already exhausted from caring for them. This is often not stubbornness, but a neurological impairment of insight called anosognosia. This post summarizes its difference from psychological denial, its mechanisms, evaluation, and why we must always ask an extra family member during history taking.
Gerotranscendence: The Body Declines, But the Mind Can Grow Richer
Gerotranscendence is a gerontological theory proposing that healthy aging isn't just about maintaining physical function, but also involves a mindset shift: decreased fear of death and a greater focus on a few meaningful relationships. This post summarizes its three dimensions, the strength of the evidence, and its clinical boundaries.