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Testimonials Prior To Dripdok When The Founder Was Working In Chronic Pain Management:
I grew up in a tiny town in Indiana, home to just 200 people. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, and simple values like hard work and family were woven into daily life. I was fortunate to be raised by two loving parents who are still happily married, and I have two younger sisters who’ve grown into incredible women—a lawyer practicing in Indiana and a psychologist teaching in Angola, Indiana.
My father was a hardworking businessman, often away from home, while my mother’s full-time job was managing three rowdy kids. Looking back, it’s no surprise that my path combined the entrepreneurial spirit of my father and the caring, people-focused mindset of my mother.
At Purdue University, I majored in molecular genetics and minored in quantitative chemistry—despite my lifelong struggle with math. While I loved the science, I couldn’t see myself spending life in a lab. So, I decided to take a different path and became a doctor. My doctorate in physical medicine, which combined physical therapy and chiropractic care, gave me the tools to help people heal. A fellowship in chronic pain management followed, and for nearly 14 years, that was my focus.
What struck me during that time was how disconnected many healthcare professionals were from current research on pain. Too many relied on outdated ideas, and patients often paid the price. I made it my mission to bridge that gap—to help people truly understand their pain so they could heal properly.
Along the way, my curiosity led me to study innovation and artificial intelligence at Harvard and MIT. I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of technology and healthcare, and that curiosity drove me to create Labme.ai in 2017. It was one of the first direct-to-consumer blood testing companies, and by 2019, we had released the world’s first diagnostic-quality CBC (Complete Blood Count) available to consumers. The company was acquired in 2023, marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.
The Accidents That Shaped Me
Life has a way of humbling us, and for me, it came in the form of two motorcycle accidents. On Christmas Eve 2015, a car pulled out in front of me in Jakarta. It was raining, and I was thrown headfirst into a pole. My helmet shattered, and my C1 vertebra fractured in three places. The care I received in Jakarta was, to put it mildly, inadequate—I was left waiting for hours, given only paracetamol for pain, and the fracture wasn’t even detected. Thankfully, I was evacuated to Singapore, where my healing journey truly began.
That journey taught me more than I could have imagined. Within a year, I was back to breaking personal lifting records, wakeboarding, and even skydiving. But just as life seemed to return to normal, the second accident happened. This time, without a helmet, I collided with a taxi and flipped over my motorcycle. The injuries were severe—an 8-inch laceration on my skull, fractures to my C5/6, ribs, collarbone, ankle, and wrist. Yet, I somehow managed to drive myself home before collapsing.
Testimonials
These experiences were not about proving strength—they were lessons in vulnerability, perseverance, and understanding. Pain, I realized, is not just physical. It’s a complex interplay of biology, psychology, and resilience. Recovery isn’t just about healing injuries; it’s about understanding yourself and your limits.
Pain Is Not What You Think
For many, pain is misunderstood—often treated as a purely mechanical issue. I used to think the same until I dug deeper into research on chronic pain. Pain isn’t just about “misalignments” or “tight muscles.” It’s influenced by everything from your emotional state to subtle biochemical changes. Understanding this is crucial, not just for recovery but for reclaiming control over your life.
I’ve spent over 17 years testing and refining these concepts—not just on myself, but with thousands of patients. This isn’t about magic hands or quick fixes; it’s about empowering people to take charge of their recovery. Recovery, I believe, is 100% mindset.
Lessons in Resilience
In 2021, I faced yet another challenge—“Saturday night palsy,” a condition where prolonged pressure on a nerve causes temporary paralysis. After sleeping in one position for 15 hours while ill in Bali, I woke up to find my left arm completely unusable. Doctors told me it would take 6-8 months to regain function. With persistence and a deep understanding of pain and healing, I was back in the gym within a month and fully recovered in less than two.
These experiences aren’t about bravado; they’re about empathy and learning. I’ve been there. I’ve felt the fear, frustration, and uncertainty of recovery. That’s why I’m so passionate about helping others navigate their journeys.
I don’t remember this moment and couldn’t read at this stage.
Building DripDok
Informed by my experiences and research, I founded DripDok—a personalized approach to longevity and recovery. It’s not a cure or a replacement for medical care. It’s a toolkit, a way to think differently about your body and its potential. Over nearly two decades, I’ve worked in some of the most challenging environments—from rural villages in Cambodia to the limestone cliffs of Thailand—and these experiences have shaped DripDok’s philosophy.
Our goal is simple: to continuously learn, research, and optimize. Recovery is not one-size-fits-all. It requires input, feedback, and communication. Without that, there is no progress.
A Final Thought
The most important thing I’ve learned is that recovery is about understanding—understanding your pain, your body, and your mindset. You are in control. Providers are there to guide you, not to “fix” you. The tools I share are meant to empower, not replace. Recovery is a journey, and it’s one that can transform your life—not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.
Whether you’re a patient or a provider, I hope these words encourage you to challenge old beliefs, embrace new perspectives, and take control of your health.
Testimonials
5 Years Later. No Pain Unless Fatigued & Stressed (Not Common But Normal)
To understand injuries and pain problems and to recover from them more effectively, both patients and professionals need to stop trying to think of the body as a machine that breaks down and start thinking more in terms of squishy, messy physiology, especially neurology and biochemistry, and even messier psychology and lifestyle factors. Curve balls like medication side effects and subtle pathologies are major drivers of pain. Exhaustion, emotional distress, smoking, and being really out-of-shape are all more important risk factors for pain than any typical “misalignment” has ever been. And then there’s the way chronic pain seems to be a disease in its own right, and the bizarre phenomenon of sensitization, basically turning up the “volume” on all pain. Pain itself is much weirder and more useful to understand — its volatility, its inherent unpredictability — than the many mechanical glitches that supposedly cause it.