Daniel Hoopes MD Orthopedic Surgeon

Daniel Hoopes MD Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Hoopes focuses on surgical and non-operative treatments of lower extremity injuries, specifically those involving the knee, foot, and ankle.

He is an expert at surgery, but can often find non-operative treatments for injuries when others have not.

09/11/2026

Why do we treat testosterone like contraband?

I am not talking about abusing anabolic steroids.

I am talking about normal patients filling a legitimate prescription from a licensed clinician.

Men.

And women.

Somehow testosterone has been placed in this strange cultural category where even appropriate hormone replacement can make people feel like they are doing something wrong.

That is especially frustrating for women.

Women make testosterone.

Women have androgen receptors.

Women need muscle, bone, drive, libido, energy, and recovery too.

And yet in the United States, we do not even have a standard FDA-approved testosterone product specifically dosed for women.

That is insane to me.

Meanwhile, we hand out all kinds of other medications without nearly the same stigma.

SSRIs.

ADHD medications.

Bone-density medications.

Pain medications.

Sleep medications.

Some of those are absolutely appropriate in the right patient.

But they are not side-effect free.

So why is testosterone treated like the scary one?

Part of this probably goes back to the hormone fear that exploded after the Women’s Health Initiative. The cultural message became simple:

Be afraid of hormones.

But physiology is not that simple.

Testosterone isn't magic.

It's not risk-free.

It should be measured, dosed carefully, monitored, and kept in a physiologic range.

But it also should not be demonized.

For women, testosterone may matter for libido, mood, motivation, muscle, bone, and overall vitality.

For men with true deficiency, testosterone can be life-changing.

The answer is not reckless prescribing.

The answer is not fear.

The answer is serious hormone evaluation.

Symptoms.

Labs.

Context.

Risk discussion.

Careful dosing.

Follow-up.

Monitoring.

And maybe most importantly, stop making patients feel ashamed for needing a hormone their own body is supposed to make.

Stigma is not medical wisdom.

Educational only. Not personal medical advice.

09/06/2026

What if the deepest religion is presence?
Not a new church.
Not a new denomination.
Not pretending all religions are the same.
Just this question:
What if one measure of truth in any religion is the degree to which it can bring a human being fully into the present moment?
Christianity says, “Be still.”
Buddhism teaches us to wake up to the breath, the body, and the mind.
Islam speaks of remembering God while standing, sitting, and lying down.
Yoga teaches the quieting of the mind.
Daoism teaches us to stop forcing and come back to the Way.
Many Indigenous traditions invite us to quiet down enough to listen to nature, beauty, land, and life itself.
Different doctrines.
Different rituals.
Different histories.
Different languages.
But maybe one shared doorway:
Presence.
The only place life is actually happening.
The past does not exist except in memory.
The future does not exist except in imagination.
The only place we actually have access to God, beauty, love, nature, our body, our breath, and each other is right now.
Maybe religion goes wrong when it stops being a doorway into presence and becomes a toll booth standing in front of it.
And maybe we get so focused on defending our lane that we forget there are five more lanes on the highway still leading toward the same sacred place.
Presence does not erase religious difference.
But it may reveal something beneath it.
A deeper invitation.
Wake up.
Be here.
Listen.
Remember.
Become aware enough to notice how blessed we are to have this body, this breath, this world, this moment, and this life.

09/03/2026

See the whole video on Noor Al-Humaidhi MD 's main page. It's pinned on her reels grid.

08/28/2026

More information is not the same thing as change.
That may be the thing we are all missing.
You can listen to the podcast.
Read the book.
Watch the video.
Save the post.
Nod along and think, “That makes sense.”
But then nothing actually changes.
Why?
Because words are not always enough.
Words can point you toward something.
Words can explain.
Words can organize.
Words can diagnose the problem.
But real change often happens in a different mode of being.
I call it "no words mode."
Or "pure presence mode."
It is the place where you stop thinking about the thing and actually feel it.
Not as an idea.
Not as a concept.
Not as content.
As something true in your body.
That is the part that does not translate well to media.
Podcasts are words.
Videos are words.
Social media is hooks, captions, edits, speed, and attention.
But the kind of change most of us are looking for requires a visceral connection to the thing inside of us that actually needs to change.
That is why people can consume endless self-help content and still feel stuck.
The next frontier is not more information.
It is embodiment.
Presence.
Integration.
Learning how to move from understanding something intellectually to actually feeling it deeply enough that your system reorganizes around it.
If you can change how someone feels, everything else starts to follow.
That is where real transformation begins.

08/26/2026

What do you check when the athlete is already capable of doing almost anything?
James Lawrence, Iron Cowboy came to FocusMD for a deeper look under the hood.
James has already proven that his mind and body can do things most people would never even attempt. So the question is not, “Is he tough?”
We already know the answer.
The better question is:
What is happening physiologically after years of extreme endurance work?
At FocusMD, we are looking at the full system.
Labs.
Hormones.
Metabolic markers.
Inflammation.
Recovery.
Resting metabolic rate.
Active metabolic testing with PNOĒ.
Body composition.
Cardiovascular performance.
Nutrient status.
And then we build an individualized plan around what we actually find.
That may include supplements, medications, hormone optimization when appropriate, recovery modalities, hyperbaric oxygen, red light, PEMF, and deeper conversations about things like therapeutic plasma exchange.
The goal is not to throw random “biohacks” at an elite athlete.
The goal is to measure first.
Then intervene intentionally.
Because even someone as capable as James Lawrence still has physiology.
And if you are going to ask the body to perform at an extraordinary level, you should probably know what that body is carrying, what it is missing, and what it needs next.
This is what performance medicine should look like.
Measure.
Interpret.
Intervene.
Reassess.
Educational only. Not personal medical advice.

08/24/2026

This is the postural equivalent of vocal fry.
It looks relaxed.
It looks casual.
It looks like the body is saying, “I am so chill I do not even need to actively hold myself up.”
But mechanically, this position can become a problem.
Start at the bottom.
The feet are turned out.
The knees are locked into hyperextension.
The hips and pelvis compensate.
The lumbar spine increases its curve.
The thoracic spine rounds forward.
The neck extends.
The head starts living out in front of the shoulders.
Now the body is no longer stacked.
It is hanging.
Instead of using muscles and tendons to dynamically stabilize the joints, the body starts resting at the end range of motion and hanging on the capsules, ligaments, and passive restraints.
Over time, that can reinforce the pattern.
The fix is not to become stiff.
It is not military posture.
It is not walking around like a robot.
It is learning to stack the joints again.
Feet more straight ahead.
Knees unlocked.
Pelvis better positioned.
Spine balanced.
Head resting over the shoulders instead of reaching forward.
The goal is active stability.
Not tension.
Not rigidity.
Just enough muscular control to stop outsourcing your posture to your ligaments.
Relaxed is good.
Collapsed is different.

Educational only. Not personal medical advice.

08/23/2026

After an injury, how soon can I get back to my sport?

08/21/2026

Why is it that people never actually change? What's the secret to actually becoming a new person?

08/18/2026

You don't always need a tire shop for a screw in your tire.

Sometimes you do.

But if it is a simple nail or screw puncture in the tread, and not in the sidewall or shoulder of the tire, a basic tire plug kit can get you back on the road.

This is one of the things I keep in my truck emergency kit.

Along with jumper cables, I like having:

A tire plug kit
Pliers
A way to inflate the tire afterward

The basic process is pretty simple.

Find the leak.

Pull out the screw or nail.

Spray the area and look for bubbles.

Use the rasp tool to clean and roughen the puncture tract.

Thread the sticky repair strip, sometimes called a “bacon strip,” through the inserter.

Push it about two-thirds of the way in.

Pull the inserter straight back out without twisting.

Trim the extra plug flush with the tread.

Then check it again for leaks and make sure your tire pressure is good.

A few important caveats:

Do not plug a sidewall puncture.

Do not plug a large tear.

Do not ignore a tire that was driven on while flat.

And if you are not sure, take it to a tire shop.

But for a straightforward screw in the tread, this is a simple skill worth knowing.

It can save you time, money, and a lot of hassle.

08/17/2026

The day after Leadville is when you find out what kind of fun it really was.
100 miles.
Mostly above 10,000 feet.
Up to 12,600 feet.
Almost 10,000 feet of climbing.
Around 7,000 calories burned.
On a tandem mountain bike.
So how do you feel the next day?
You sleep terribly.
Your gut is a disaster.
Your body feels like it got hit by a train.
You do not want any more race fuel, gels, drink mix, or “performance carbs.”
You want actual junk food.
And then the question becomes:
Was that fun?
That depends on what kind of fun we are talking about.
Type 1 fun is fun while you are doing it and fun afterward. Perfect ski day. Perfect powder. Everyone is laughing the whole time.
Type 2 fun is not always fun in the moment, but it becomes fun when you look back on it. It takes effort. It costs something. But afterward, you are already thinking about doing it again.
That is Leadville.
Type 3 fun is not fun in the moment and not really fun afterward, but at least it makes a good story.
Type 4 fun is not fun during, not fun after, and does not even make a good story. That is the category to avoid.
The sweet spot is Type 1 and Type 2.
Type 1 is great.
But Type 2 might be the one that changes you.
It is hard enough to demand something from you.
Hard enough to make you question why you signed up.
Hard enough to hurt.
But meaningful enough that you come back.
That is probably where a lot of growth lives.

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