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Listen to Jared Vagy, PT, DPT, read this Defining Moment article on APTA's podcast.


I can still vividly remember hanging by my fingertips from the molding of the doorframe at my grandma's house to strengthen my fingers for climbing. I was in my early 20s, and I had been climbing for a few years already. I was so immersed in the sport that I trained for it in some way each day. Yes, I was completing my doctorate in physical therapy at the University of Southern California, but my identity was that I was a climber, and climbing was my life.

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