Overdoses from synthetic opioids have sharply increased since the start of the pandemic. Crossover Physician Lead, Dr. Akbar Zikria, joins Dan to discuss effective and safe lifestyle medicine and pain management alternatives.

While Akbar and his care team approach pain management from multiple angles–health coaching, mental health, and physical medicine—he also focuses on key lifestyle components for recovery and long term health—whole food, mindfulness, sleep, and movement. Personally, this approach has helped him recover faster as an athlete than he used to 15-20 years ago. He applies this experience and success to patients who see him for the pain they are in. Akbar shares how he can get to the root cause of the pain (injury, sports, stress, environment) and design a holistic treatment plan.