The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast

The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast runs on a simple bargain: sit through a joke, then get the medicine. Its numbered catalog is large, and the recent episodes read like a primary care syllabus with a sense of humor. Dr. Matthew Frank Watto handles the welcome, introducing Dr. Paul Nelson-Williams as 'America's primary care physician.' Paul's reply, 'Yeah, probably,' sets the tone. The jokes arrive early. One cold open asks why the adrenal gland broke up with the pituitary, another builds to a punchline about a girlfriend's diary, and a third starts from a dinner-table exchange about an empty glass. Paul plays the reluctant audience, scared to ask one moment and trying to work out the answer the next. Then a single subject takes over. The recent titles show the range: '#519 Mild Autonomous Cortisol Secretion', '#520: Healthspan Medicine, A Practical Approach' and '#521 Tales of the Pelvis'. Watto notes the show has done a bunch of adrenal episodes, yet he calls the cortisol conversation with Dr. Irina Bankos new territory for him. His takeaway is that more dexamethasone suppression tests should be happening. The healthspan conversation is refreshingly unfussy about measurement. One point of body fat does not matter and a wide gap does. The real question is whether fat went down and muscle went up on the same machine six months later. Cheaper scales are now within reach of patients and clinics, and consistency beats false precision. 'You can only manage what you measure' is the line that sums it up. The pelvic floor material is just as hands-on. It covers how to tell when someone is clenching their glutes or shoulders instead of the pelvic floor, and why some people have no idea how to work those muscles at all. It also covers how breathing, down training and adductor, straddle and piriformis stretches fit into a plan that progresses as the muscles respond. Around the teaching sits a visible team. The closing credits name a writer and producer, such as Dr. Elise Burke on the pelvis episode, along with the people who run social media, the Patreon and a Discord, and the theme music's composer. The Patreon adds bonus episodes with high-yield recaps, listener questions and picks of the week. A tongue-in-cheek disclaimer caps it off: the content is for education and information only, listeners should do their own homework, and they should say so when the doctors are wrong.