Nick Pappas, MD

11/20/2025

A little workplace humor for you…

☝️ First rule of residency is don't sit in nurses’ chairs, and the second rule is don't steal their pens!

👉 Be sure to follow this account for more helpful life information!

Here's what can happen when you sit in a nurses’ chair, especially if they're using that workstation for charting.This is meant to be a PSA for all new docto...

11/20/2025

Now I play doctor 😷

🚨 Also, I would never call myself “one heck of an athlete.” Obviously, this is just a social media trend.

⚾️ I was good enough to play Division 1 college baseball at Princeton University as a pitcher, but medical school was always my long-term goal. Orthopedic surgery was an added bonus 🦴.

😷 I'm glad I ended up where I did for my career.

👉 What was your sport and what do you do now? Let me know in the comments.

11/19/2025

Talk about taking matters into your own hands!

👉 Obviously this video is just meant to be a joke, but the reality is currently about 20% of all health insurance claims in the US get denied completely. In addition, for many of the claims submitted, coverage will only be partial. As a result, you may have to pay a significant portion of, for example, your anesthesia fee.

👉 As a physician who owns and operates his own practice, I’m seeing real frustration in my patients with the current US healthcare system. Insurance premiums continue to go up while coverage goes down. This is a ticking time bomb, and the whole system may implode in the near future unless we can get some sort of regulation for this process.

🚨 How can we solve this issue? Let me know in the comments.

11/19/2025

Comment NEWSLETTER and I'll send you a link to my free weekly newsletter which has similar health information 📰.

💪 Resistance training is the key to preserving lean muscle mass, which has been tied to longevity in multiple studies. Muscle helps regulate your glucose levels and metabolism overall.

🚨 We continue to lose muscle mass as we age, so it’s important for us to do our best to preserve it. Aside from a diet rich in protein, resistance training is a must. My favorite exercise is squats because it works out some of the largest muscles in your body: your legs. Deadlifts also work your muscles well overall, but I feel like the risk of injury is slightly higher depending on your technique.

😷 If you enjoy this type of information and have read this far into the caption, be sure to follow my evidence-based health education company

11/18/2025

This post is really just for Mark Zuckerberg so if you know him, feel free to forward this to him. I'm not holding my breath for any kind of response though.

👉 Do you think we should ONLY be allowing those professionals with degrees in their respective fields (e.g. lawyer or doctor) to give information about those fields online? What about having credentials verified officially by the individual social media platforms?

🚨 Let me know your answers in the comments.

11/17/2025

THC You Later? 👋

📰 In a surprise move, the US recently banned most THC-containing products when the latest spending bill was signed into law.

🧑‍⚖️ The legislation imposes new limits on THC content:

✅ Mg Limit per Container: prohibits products that contain more than 0.4 mg of total THC per container, a threshold that most current h**p products exceed.

👩‍⚖️ This is in addition to existing law which states that products must contain less than 0.3% total THC by dry weight.

🚨 Effective Date: ban goes into effect on November 12, 2026.

👉 This ban should not really affect state-licensed ma*****na dispensaries.

☝️ What do you think about this ban? Let me know in the comments.

🧐 Also, if you’re looking for a topical CBD balm that is backed by research and contains no THC, comment TOPICAL and I will send you a link to the mixture which I helped develop with

11/16/2025

I’m gonna stick with humans for now

11/16/2025

THC You Later? 👋

📰 In a surprise move, the US recently banned most THC-containing products when the latest spending bill was signed into law.

🧑‍⚖️ The legislation imposes new limits on THC content:

✅ Mg Limit per Container: prohibits products that contain more than 0.4 mg of total THC per container, a threshold that most current h**p products exceed.

👩‍⚖️ This is in addition to existing law which states that products must contain less than 0.3% total THC by dry weight.

🚨 Effective Date: ban goes into effect on November 12, 2026.

👉 This ban should not really affect state-licensed ma*****na dispensaries.

🧐 If you’re looking for a topical CBD balm that is backed by research and contains no THC, comment TOPICAL and I will send you a link to the mixture which I helped develop with

11/15/2025

Comment NEWSLETTER for more similar health information, and I'll send you a link to my free weekly newsletter 📰

📝 Numerous studies support the ability of red light therapy to improve wound healing and reduce scar tissue after surgery, in addition to benefits such as improved muscle recovery, reduction of fine lines and wrinkles, and hair growth. There was one study in Chinese women basketball players (PMID: 23182016) that showed it might support sleep, but more studies are needed to clarify whether it truly is effective in that arena. Personally, I do think it helps me sleep better. I typically use red light therapy 20 minutes before bedtime.

😷 I discuss red light therapy with my patients often for certain musculoskeletal issues. There are several studies which show it also helps with muscle recovery. So far the results I have seen on my own patients, especially with wound healing, have been very good.

✅ Although the data is early and more long-term studies are needed, the results of red light therapy as a whole are promising with little downside. However, always check with your doctor before starting it.

🚨 Red light therapy is used around 15 minutes per day with results seen as early as 3-4 weeks.

🧐 Key articles on red light therapy:

Leal-Junior EC et al. Effect of phototherapy (low-level laser therapy and light-emitting diode therapy) on exercise performance and markers of exercise recovery: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Lasers Med Sci. 2015 Feb;30(2):925-39. doi: 10.1007/s10103-013-1465-4. Epub 2013 Nov 19. PMID: 24249354.

Kurtti A, et al. Light emitting diode-red light for reduction of post-surgical scarring: Results from a dose-ranging, split-face, randomized controlled trial. J Biophotonics. 2021 Jul;14(7): e202100073. doi: 10.1002/jbio.202100073. Epub 2021 May 4. PMID: 33788987.

11/15/2025

A little warm water can often do the trick. As a hand surgeon, I do see this condition often. I've only had to operate on it a few times in my career, usually when people start to get ulcers of the tips of the fingers from poor blood flow.

☝️ Fun fact: this is actually one of the first videos I ever posted social media several years ago, but I still think it's a good demonstration of Raynaud’s phenomenon. I'm glad I have a better microphone now too 😂. Always kind of fun to see where you started.

11/15/2025

🚨 TURN ON THE RED LIGHT…

A lot of my patients have had good success with red light therapy.

🧐 There are studies showing that it can reduce scar tissue after surgery, support wound healing, and promote muscle recovery.

🛌 There is even one study suggesting it may help with sleep.

💪 Anecdotally, many of my patients have said it has helped reduce their joint and muscle pain, but more research is needed in that area.

👉 Here's a video describing how it works:

Nick Pappas MD, board-certified orthopedic surgeon, discusses the benefits of red light therapy in a 2-minute video. ...

11/14/2025

Hair splinters may be more common than you think… just ask your barber or pet groomer about them.

👉 For more similar medical information, comment NEWSLETTER and I’ll send you a link to my free weekly newsletter.

🚨 Going back to the hair splinters, these tiny hairs are often sharp and can easily get trapped under your skin. If you’re a barber or a pet groomer, I would certainly consider wearing gloves to limit the likelihood of these occurring, as they can be quite painful.

🙋‍♀️ Have you ever had a hair splinter? If so, let me know about your experience in the comments.