Dr. Joe Gasior

Role: Founder

Qualifications: Chiropractic Physician, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Tennis Performance Trainer

Sweat Stats: ~1000mg/L and ~1L/h

Why I started Athletic Sweat Testing:
In my early 20s, I was an aspiring young tennis player. I played amateur prize money tournaments around the Midwest, trained in the gym 3-4 times per week, and coached tennis to make ends meet. Win or lose, all of my tennis tournaments ended the same way: neck pain and headaches that started the evening after a match and lasted into the next day.

I spent years trying different solutions. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) helped but I knew they weren’t a long-term solution. Chiropractic adjustments and massage provided temporary relief. Cardio cool downs and physical therapy exercises helped somewhat with the neck pain, but didn’t affect the headaches.

While in grad school, I got into bouldering (indoor rock climbing). It was fun; but whenever I went too hard it was the same story as after a tennis match — neck pain and headaches. In August of 2022, I was playing my 30th tennis match of the year against a good friend. A headache came on midway through the second set, which had never happened before. The match was a close loss, but ended in a bad way. My mood shifted, and I broke my racket on the court — something I hadn’t done in about ten years.

Following that match, I decided to take a hiatus from tennis and review the research on tennis recovery. One common theme was customized sports drinks being imperative for the prevention of hyponatremia (low sodium levels). I got back on the court a few weeks later — supplementing with extra sodium in my water before, during, and after bouts. No headaches, no neck pain, but now I had some gastrointestinal distress. It turned out I was adding too much sodium for my gut. Since tennis players lose from 400 to 2000+ mg/L of sodium during events, there’s a lot of room for error without testing.

After performing market research, I realized no one was providing an In Vivo sweat testing service. Some use a medicated patch that induces localized sweating while you sit in a chair. But the research shows sweat rate and sodium loss are dependent on environment and exercise intensity. This is why we decided to develop an In Vivo sweat testing service with options for teams to get everyone tested in one day, as well as individual athletes who train and compete year-round in various disciplines.