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In October of 2022 at 32 years old, Pedro suffered a rare ischemic stroke in the basilar artery. When he woke after a few days in a coma he didn’t have any control over the left side of his body. He spent the next month bed ridden in the hospital. That was followed by a month in a rehab facility where he was a fall risk and couldn’t get out of bed by himself. By the time he came to see me in January of 2023 he was able to walk short distances, but his left leg would often drag and his ability to shift his weight side to side was limited and choppy. He could not run or jog. After a couple months (March 2023), we were able to get Pedro running a bit, though it was still quite choppy. As of December 2023, he is able to run much faster and more fluidly. His weight transitions from leg to leg much more smoothly and landing on his left leg is far less jarring. His left side is much more integrated and better sequesnced with the rest of his body. His left leg no longer drags.
In his words:
“(When I first started with Nick) I had significant dragging of my foot and prominent scapular winging. Through the practice I’ve been able to step with more confidence and reliability. My shoulder has gotten stronger and much more stable with no pain when I move my arm above my head. Functional Pattern Movement has bettered my life significantly. This practice has given me confidence to be a present and participating father. While in the hospital I would worry about not being able to chase after my one-year-old daughter or help around the house to give my wonderful wife a hand. At this time, I’m coming up on the completion of a year and I couldn’t be happier with my progress. Thank you!”
“I started working with Nick in Lexington, MA in August of 2021. I had started the 10 week online course a couple of weeks prior to working with Nick. We have worked together for at least an hour, once a week, from August 2021 until now, October 2022. I was 29 years old when we started and I am now 31 years old.
Before FP, from the age of 23 to 29, I experienced numbness and weakness down my entire right leg into my right foot, along with low back pain and discomfort on a daily basis. These symptoms came about right before I was getting ready for hernia surgery at 23 years old, and gradually worsened after the surgery. Prior to my hernia, I was an avid, traditional weightlifter and played basketball often without pain or discomfort at any time.
During the process of trying to figure out what was wrong with my body, I stumbled upon a diagnosis from my PCP from my early teens that stated I had mild scoliosis and “probable” Scheuermann’s Disease. PT exercises were recommended which I admit I did not do because I wasn’t in pain or discomfort at the time.
Fast forward to 23 years old post-hernia surgery and still experiencing numbness/weakness from my right leg to right foot and low back pain and discomfort on a daily basis.
I went to my primary care doctor for help with these symptoms and he referred me to specialists in the area. After a couple years of seeing specialists in the area with no lasting relief, I was referred to neurologists and neurosurgeons in Boston, MA.
Here are the types of tests that were done by doctors over the course of 6 years in attempt to figure out where my symptoms were coming from:
All tests revealed nothing significant. All doctors believed the issue was coming from my lumbar spine, saying that it wasn’t bad enough for surgery but there was some natural degeneration that could be affecting the nerves that run down my right leg.
Doctors recommended physical therapy or epidural injection. Over the course of 6 years I tried each of the following to ease my symptoms:
Most of these treatments provided some temporary relief, but nothing ever stuck for more than a week. Years of physical pain and discomfort, with seemingly no answers or solutions to my issues, sent me into a downward spiral mentally. Around 26 years old my doctor put me on anxiety medication which I had never taken in my life, and I began attending talk therapy on a monthly basis. I had begun to accept that my body just was what it was and I would have to learn how to live in pain and deal with it.
In July of 2021 I traveled to the west coast and did a bunch of hiking. When I returned to Massachusetts my body was in shambles. It was the worst it had felt in years with excruciating low back pain and discomfort, along with extreme numbness and weakness in my right leg. I started to look for solutions online once again. Shortly after, I was served an advertisement by Functional Patterns. I also looked into other programs like MoveU.
FP stood out to me above all other options because of the results that were posted and shared on the website. After watching a handful of testimonials and recognizing a lot of similarities between myself and the folks in the videos, I started to feel like FP really could be for me. I bought the 10 week course and immediately started looking for an FP practitioner in my area. Luckily, I found Nick less than 20min away.
Nick helped me to understand and execute what I was learning about in the 10 week course while also working towards addressing issues that were specific to my body. I felt relief after the first session with Nick, and that’s all I needed to get myself back there the following week. We haven’t missed a week since. The first 6 months didn’t come without setbacks or what I would call, growing pains. There were stretches of extreme relief but there were also moments when relieved symptoms would pop back up. As I learned over time, that was just part of the process for my body to sort all of these dysfunctions out. After 6 months of working with Nick I would say I truly, fully bought in. The setbacks stopped and the progress continued. I could see the changes in the mirror and I could feel them throughout my body.
I have regained so much strength in my right leg, the numbness or lack of feeling in my right leg/foot is almost non-existent, and the low back pain and discomfort is completely gone. I feel like I can move better, run faster, and jump higher than I could in my early 20s. Most importantly, all of the mental struggles I dealt with because of my physical pain have gone away. I have regained my confidence and productivity as a person both inside and outside of work. In turn, I am a better employee, friend, and family member. FP and Nick have changed my life for the better tenfold over the past year and change. The craziest part to me is that I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of utilizing FP to address my discomfort/dysfunctions. I look forward to continuing my FP journey for the rest of my life.