We were lucky to catch up with Chad Zaabadick recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Chad thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I grew up playing numerous contact sports and over the course of time I had may collisions and injuries. My mindset was to be tough and continue pushing forward in life just like you do with training. When I was 17, I had my first experience with chronic pain in my spine with a ruptured disc. By the time I was in my mid 20’s that spread into a dozen different areas of pain in my body. I slowly became less functional to the point where I could not socialize with friends, work, date, exercise, or even do simple tasks throughout the day well. I could sit or stand for a matter of minutes before I needed to change positions. Sometimes I would wake up with night terrors and every day became a battle. Days turned into weeks and then months. After a while your mind starts to wander, and I began to be uncertain if I could ever be well again from the failed treatment I was doing. I ended up applying for long-term disability because I did not think I could operate in society again. After some deep reflection and soul searching, I realized that the Lord must have more in store for me. It wasn’t until I lost my health and all my quality of life that I realized that I could not afford to not overcome this obstacle. That is when I decided to dedicate my life to try an overcome chronic pain at all costs.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hello! My name is Chad Zaabadick and I am a Physical Therapist by trade. I had to go on a long quest throughout my 20’s to get my body well from the years of chronic pain that I was in. With all of the therapy I was exposed to and after I was well enough, I decided to continue my studies to become a Physical Therapist so that I could give back and help patients overcome their pain. After spending 10’s of thousands of dollars on different therapies I began to learn what it takes to be well and finally came across the root of my problems. I had spent a decade of life in chronic pain, but the last 15 years I have been out of chronic pain and have a very functional body. I have a unique approach to treating the body due to my clinical experience and trainings. My primary focus on therapy is with visceral and neural manipulation through the Barral Institute which provides world-class manual therapy techniques working 3D through the body from the founder Jean-Pierre Barral DO. There are many systems of anatomy that effect our joint function and health. If you want a more functional body, you have to be willing to address all aspects of the joints involved which is a rare approach. The gigantic or impossible problems that I once faced are now relatively simple to address for patients. If you still continue to struggle with the function of the body there are still a lot of potential gains to be made if done with the right approach.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn what I believed about my health with my body. What I was doing for therapy was not getting me the results I was looking for. Therefore, if you want a different result, you must change the way you think and what path you are going down. Changing your ways is not typically an easy thing to do. There were many genuine healthcare providers trying their best to help me out, but the wrong concepts were being established for what was needed. I had a responsibility to take with my own health and needed to know how things operate myself so I had to dedicate my life to learn and figure it out rather than trying to have everyone fix me. The style of treatment that I do now is not the most understood or popular, but it addresses many of the root issues patients have with chronic pain. We are missing essential components with how treatments operate which is why have the current results we do.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I decided to make up my mind to overcome at all costs when I found rock bottom in life. At my worse I could only sit or stand for a matter of minutes due having a dozen areas of chronic pain and numerous concussions. I eventually had to quit work and file for disability since I never thought I would be able to function in society. For treatment I have been to roughly 20 Physical Therapists, several chiropractors and massage therapists, 2 kinesiotherapsists, MD’s, DO’s, acupuncturists, tried decompression therapy, spring shoes, fasting, diet changes, pain meds, tens units, essential oils, stretching, water therapies, prayer, oxygen therapy, cold laser, ultrasound, etc. I have done treatment in multiple different states and even flown halfway across the world to Italy for treatment. I have spent 10’s of thousands to dollars in therapy but failure was not going to be an option because I could not afford it. I always thought that talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words. So after 9 years of never giving up and staying on course I was able to solve enough of the puzzle to be well and overcome chronic pain and I completed the Ironman triathlon 140.6 without pain or set-backs! Currently, another 10 years has passed since then and I still remain pain free and don’t think chronic pain will ever reside in my body since I have a great understanding of how I got like that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drzab.com
• Instagram: drzab_dpt