Endlessly curious is how Clayton Powers would describe himself—and he’ll tell you he never cared much for school. 

Growing up in Midland, Texas, what you could do on the football field under the Friday night lights is what caught most people’s attention. But in 7th grade, one subject got his attention. He vividly remembers sitting in anatomy class thinking, “Hey, this isn’t so bad. I actually like this.”  

Clayton made his way through business school, but anatomy always lingered in the back of his mind. He once considered becoming a doctor but craved deeper patient connection than what quick 30-minute visits allowed. When he discovered physical therapy, he found the perfect balance—an opportunity to study the body in all its complexity while staying deeply connected to the people he helped. It gave him the chance to think critically and build meaningful relationships with his patients.

Like most physical therapists, he began his career treating orthopedic conditions, like lower back and neck pain. But what caught his interest was an area largely unexplored in the world of physical therapy—post-infection chronic illnesses and autonomic disorders. Some of these patients experienced heavy brain fog and extreme energy crashes that left them bedridden for days. 

The symptoms could be completely debilitating—making it difficult to stand, work, drive, or even brush their teeth. Clayton quickly realized that traditional treatment methods—like exercise—were not working for them. The problem was that modern medicine didn’t have many solutions. 

“Patients with dizziness would go through the health care system and see a lot of different doctors and would be frustrated because nobody could give them answers,” Clayton explains. “They just felt like they weren't listened to or understood.”

Clayton listened to them and believed what they were telling him. He then dedicated his free time to studying conditions like Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), which causes extreme fatigue, muscle weakness, and brain fog. And then COVID-19 hit. 

While most of us recovered quickly from the virus, some survivors were affected long-term, potentially forever, with new symptoms of dizziness and unrelenting fatigue. For many, it was the beginning of a long, confusing journey marked both by illness and the pain of being misunderstood.

“When you don’t have any answers, you start thinking, ‘Is this all in my head?’,” says Jill, one of Clayton’s patients who struggled for months with lingering COVID-19 symptoms. The virus hit her so hard that she once slept for 40 hours straight. It wasn’t the acute illness that impacted her most, it was what came afterward—extreme fatigue, dizziness, and unrelenting brain fog. She underwent all kinds of tests and saw several specialists before meeting Clayton. 

“That was the first time in five months that I had a medical provider be able to say, ‘Here's how we can help you,’” Jill says. “It was really pivotal. I consider it very life-changing in my recovery.” 

Clayton works tirelessly, and often on his own time, to help patients better understand their symptoms and to find solutions. Instead of prescribing exercise, which sometimes made things worse, Clayton shifted his focus to personalized treatment plans. His approach emphasized pacing energy use, calming the nervous system, and improving blood flow. “He’s the only one in our health system that does what he does,” says Jason Miller, DPT, a therapy supervisor at South Jordan Health Center. “He’s constantly researching and innovating.”

Clayton isn’t just curious—he’s driven by a mission to use the knowledge he’s learned to ease suffering on the broadest scale possible. He quickly realized that one-on-one clinic visits couldn’t meet the overwhelming need, so he became licensed in other states to provide teletherapy to patients beyond Utah. But even that wasn’t enough.

To reach a wider audience, he partnered with the Bateman Horne Center, a Salt Lake City research and clinical care facility for patients with chronic complex diseases. Together, they created informational YouTube videos that explain the impacts of long COVID, how to best treat symptoms, and set realistic expectations for long-term management. 

These videos don’t just educate providers—they validate patients’ experiences. Some viewers have been so moved that they’ve reached out from across the United States and even other countries, eager to seek his care. “Clayton always goes above and beyond,” says Tahlia Ruschioni, deputy executive director of the Bateman Horne Center. “He reminds us that the patient comes first.”

Outside of physical therapy, Clayton loves spending time with his wife, Emily, and their four children. As a family, they enjoy skiing, spending time outdoors, and gardening—an activity Clayton believes instills the values of hard work and dedication. But to Clayton, the most important life lesson is to proudly serve others. Every night, as the family sits down for dinner, he asks each one of his sons, “How did you help someone today?”

Service is the core value of Clayton’s life. It’s a love he first discovered as a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a commitment he’s carried throughout his life. To serve others with compassion is the most important lesson he hopes to pass on to his children. “It just brings so much more happiness than if you're focused on yourself,” he says. 

And when he thinks back to that 7th-grade boy sitting in anatomy class, he’s glad he followed his curiosity and nurtured his natural strengths. “It's so fulfilling to know I am doing a job that's making a difference.”