Michael Day, MD

Michael Day, MD I treat patients interested in longevity, high performance in sports or life and those dealing with musculoskeletal conditions.

06/10/2026

After swimming this morning, I spoke with an older swimmer who had taken a long break from exercise. He told me it was one of his biggest regrets.

His advice: don’t ever fully stop.

Training will change. Injury, work, stress, and age all require adjustment. But we can almost always find some way to keep moving.

Swim instead of run. Walk instead of lift. Ten minutes instead of an hour.

The goal is not to train the same way forever. It is to keep the rhythm alive.

06/09/2026

Injury can make the body feel like it has betrayed us.

But Marcus Aurelius offers a useful reframe: the body is ours only in the sense that it is in our care. The mind is what is most truly ours.

That matters when we are hurt, sick, or limited.

We can train well, recover well, eat well, and make thoughtful choices. But we still cannot fully control pain, illness, aging, or injury.

The body is not something we command completely. It is something we steward.

Sometimes the work is not forcing the body to obey. It is caring for it without resentment.

Grip strength may seem like a small thing, but it’s one of the most interesting markers we have for long-term health and...
06/05/2026

Grip strength may seem like a small thing, but it’s one of the most interesting markers we have for long-term health and physical capacity.

Research has linked lower grip strength with frailty, loss of independence, falls, cardiovascular risk, and increased mortality.

In orthopaedics, grip strength can also be a marker of functional recovery after injury or surgery, which makes it clinically useful beyond general health research.

Part of the reason may be that grip strength reflects broader neuromuscular and metabolic health.

These qualities are trainable: carries, pulling movements, dead hangs, resistance training.

As people age, strength matters less for aesthetics and more for maintaining function.

Longevity is not just about lifespan. It’s about preserving the ability to keep doing ordinary things independently for as long as possible.

Health advice often becomes clearer in hindsight.Ask someone ten or twenty years ahead of you what they would do differe...
06/04/2026

Health advice often becomes clearer in hindsight.

Ask someone ten or twenty years ahead of you what they would do differently, and the answers are usually simple:

Keep moving. Protect your sleep. Build strength. Stay connected. Address pain early. Drink less. Get the screening test. Don’t let stress become your default.

The hard part is not knowing these things, it's taking them seriously before urgency forces the issue.

A useful question: what would your future self tell you now? And what would change if you listened early?

The body adapts to what you repeatedly do.If you move, you maintain capacity. If you don’t, you lose it.Most people don’...
05/28/2026

The body adapts to what you repeatedly do.

If you move, you maintain capacity. If you don’t, you lose it.

Most people don’t notice the change day to day. But over years, the difference becomes obvious.

Longevity isn’t just about living longer. It’s about what you’re capable of when you get there.

The wellness industry sells addition. New supplements, new programs, more tracking. And most people stay stuck because t...
05/27/2026

The wellness industry sells addition. New supplements, new programs, more tracking. And most people stay stuck because they keep adding things to a system that's already working against them.

In practice, the highest-leverage move is almost always removal. Fix what's broken before you optimize what isn't.

Dementia is one of the most feared diagnoses, and many people believe there’s nothing they can do to prevent it.That’s n...
05/26/2026

Dementia is one of the most feared diagnoses, and many people believe there’s nothing they can do to prevent it.

That’s not always accurate.

One of the most effective tools is something many people already have: A book.

Research suggests that reading and writing can lower dementia risk by almost 40%.

The mechanism is something called cognitive reserve. Over time, your brain builds stronger, denser neural connections. When damage occurs later, it has more capacity to compensate.

The most effective strategies for brain health aren’t always complex. They’re often simple, repeatable, and already part of daily life.

The healthiest people in their 50s and 60s aren't doing more. They're making fewer costly mistakes.The physiology still ...
05/21/2026

The healthiest people in their 50s and 60s aren't doing more. They're making fewer costly mistakes.

The physiology still responds at any age. Strength still builds. Aerobic capacity still improves. Sleep still drives recovery.

What changes is the margin for error. Poor sleep, inconsistent training, and aggressive programming carry more weight than they used to. Same decisions, higher cost.

Long-term health is built by protecting the baseline consistently enough that everything else can work.

05/20/2026

You probably train your arms, legs, and core. But when was the last time you trained your feet?

Dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, and ankle stability are foundational movement patterns that affect everything up the chain (knees, hips, lower back). Most people ignore them completely until there's an injury, and by that point, you're managing a problem that was preventable.

Foot strength is one of the most underleveraged areas in training and rehab.

If you're dealing with recurring ankle, knee, or hip issues and nobody has assessed what's happening below the ankle, that's worth paying attention to.

The program is simple: twice a day, 20 reps of dorsiflexion and plantarflexion. That's it. Easy to build into a routine, and the consistency adds up.

I just tried the trainer for the first time. My honest take: could you replicate this with a band anchored to something? Yes. But the best tool is the one you use. If it makes you do it consistently, that's worth something.

There’s a lot of emphasis in training culture on always finishing what you start.🗣️ "Don’t quit, push through, stick to ...
05/19/2026

There’s a lot of emphasis in training culture on always finishing what you start.

🗣️ "Don’t quit, push through, stick to the plan."

That mindset has value, but it’s not the only form of resilience.

Recently, I went out for a run that was planned to be longer and faster. It became clear fairly early that the body wasn’t there that day.

Instead of forcing it, I adjusted to a slower pace, shorter distance, less focus on the watch. I still trained, just differently.

There are times when resilience looks like pushing through. There are also times when resilience looks like adjusting so you can keep going. The challenge is knowing the difference.

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