I just found a bunch of flash cards on my little bro’s desk while I was snooping around in his room at our parents’ house. He’s living there while he finishes off his physiotherapy degree, much to my glee – it’s my chance to find out what the little dude actually gets up to. The cards were filled in with details of various musculoskeletal and orthopaedic complaints. By the way, who knew there were quite so many acute lumbar issues on offer?
Anyway, while I was at it, I also uncovered a pamphlet for a graduate course in trigger point dry needling. Needless to say, that created some questions – I’ve never heard of such a thing in my life. More to the point, though, what’s the kid doing looking at stuff like that before he’s even graduated? That’s way too much motivation, in my opinion.
I did have a brief look into this dry needling business. From what I understand, it’s a technique that’s used by lots of manual therapists – physios, osteopaths, chiropractors and so on. It’s basically a treatment for muscular pain and dysfunction that involves… well, sticking in needles. Fair enough.
When I was my brother’s age, I had not the slightest concern for my professional development – all I was doing was partying every night and working as a session drummer in Sydney. Dry needling training courses would have been the last thing on my mind, even if I had been in the allied health world. It wasn’t until a good five years later that I decided to go into academia.
It’s quite likely that I set an example for little bro that he’s ended up being all too keen to avoid, me being almost twelve years his senior. Still, I think he’s just naturally quite driven, whereas my tendency is to be more of a slacker. Or maybe I set a good example; who knows? I am a legit professor, after all. I forget that sometimes, since I still feel like a 20 year-old punk inside.