Episode Details

Garrett Salpeter’s work began with a personal injury and a question that stayed with him: why did recovery often feel so limited?

As a hockey player and engineering student, he became interested in the nervous system, direct current stimulation, and the ways the body responds after injury. That path eventually led him to found NeuFit, where his work focuses on helping people improve movement, recovery, activation, and function by working directly with the nervous system.

His work has extended beyond sports performance into neurological conditions, including early research on how NeuFit treatments affect sleep quality in people with Parkinson's.

Garrett joins Eric to talk about neuroplasticity, recovery, performance, and direct current stimulation. They also discuss autonomic function, the nervous system's role in movement, and what it means to create enough input to maintain or rebuild capacity over time.

Key Takeaways

➡️ The nervous system sits at the center of movement.
Garrett explains how recovery, activation, coordination, and performance all depend on the signals moving between the brain and body.

➡️ Neuroplasticity depends on repeated input.
Creating change requires enough stimulation, repetition, and consistency for the nervous system to recognize which pathways are worth maintaining or rebuilding.

➡️ Recovery and performance are closely connected.
Good rehab and good performance training often share the same goals: restore movement patterns, address weak links, load tissues well, and build capacity over time.

➡️ Sleep and autonomic function matter for Parkinson’s.
Garrett and Eric discuss sleep disruption, recovery, parasympathetic function, and early research exploring NeuFit treatments and sleep quality in people with Parkinson’s.

Key Moments

00:00 Garrett’s background in hockey, injury, and recovery
04:21 Early patient work and major turning points
05:20 Spinal cord injury, neuroplasticity, and learning to walk again
08:18 The impact of helping one person
09:24 Fascia, direct current, and the nervous system
16:42 The brain-body connection goes both ways
18:40 Eric on morning symptoms, mindset, and Parkinson’s
20:34 MS, neuropathy, and neurological case work
23:01 Diabetic peripheral neuropathy and nerve function
25:46 Early Parkinson’s sleep quality research
26:43 Sleep, recovery, autophagy, and brain cleanup
28:10 Parkinson’s research, Phoenix, and Linda Denny
29:41 Neuroplasticity and how the nervous system adapts
31:36 Habits, repetition, and building new pathways
33:49 Creating enough input for the nervous system
36:28 Recovery, activation, and performance
37:24 Vagus nerve, parasympathetic function, and autonomic reset
41:11 What gives Garrett hope
44:13 Recovery and performance as overlapping worlds

Connect with Garrett

LinkedIn: Garret Salpeter
Instagram: @neufitrfp
YouTube: @Neufit
Website: www.neu.fit.com

About the Host

Eric Von Frohlich is a fitness entrepreneur, coach, and athlete living with Parkinson's who founded EVF Performance and Row House before his diagnosis in 2020. On the podcast he talks with athletes, experts, and people refusing to let a diagnosis be the end of the story.

Parkinson's: An Athlete's Journey

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