I was in my third year of college (age 22) when I began experiencing chronic neck, upper back and lower back pain as well as jaw pain from sleep grinding and TMJ. 

I had a lot of residual stress from school, mental health issues and life circumstances. I always loved to move my body and as many young men do, I became very invested in traditional weightlifting (squats, deadlifts, bench press) as way to relieve stress and build my self-esteem. I identified strongly with weightlifting although it more often than not left me feeling discomfort, exhausted and comparing myself to my peers.

Initially, I refused to listen to the signals my body was sending me; the pain, my inability to withstand minor stressors, fatigue, depression/anxiety. The pain that came when I was 22 felt like my body’s last attempt at signaling to me that I needed to make some changes. With just one semester left, I had to stop school and work because standing or walking for even a few minutes was unbearably painful.

I spent 2 years seeing multiple doctors and trying multiple rehabilitation modalities with no success or explanation for the chronic pain. I felt defeated and more depressed than ever with no solution in sight. In 2024 I was introduced to Ryan Parr through a family friend who got great relief from her chronic pain after starting Functional Patterns. Within the first 4 months of training with Ryan I felt a huge difference in my pain but also my mental state. Along with getting back to everyday activity, I was making strides in therapy, I was focusing better and utilizing the tools I’d learned in therapy in ways I had never been able to before. 

Within 6 months of training Functional Patterns I was able to finish my undergraduate degree and go back to work, I had seemingly gotten my life back.