Cincinnati Children's FIRST program helps kids with chronic pain enter treatment program in wheelchairs, leave on their feet

Less than a year ago, 17-year-old Alyssa Strohsack could barely move without excruciating pain. “My pain had gotten so bad that I couldn’t tolerate weight-bearing … couldn’t wear shoes, no socks,” she said. Strohsack said mundane tasks like brushing her hair became painful. Strohsack, it turned out, was suffering from a pain condition. She, like many other young people, was experiencing pain year-round. That’s where the Functional Independence Restoration Program, or FIRST, at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center comes in.