I bought a pair of Thumbsavers a couple of months ago, when I knew I was going to go straight into private practice. Like everyone doing manual labour, I am afraid of overuse and degenerative conditions related to massive amounts of force applied. So I bought them, they arrived, but I never really learnt how to use them properly so that my clients wouldn’t notice I was using them.

After a week of working, I decided to work on my willing sister, willing to be the guinea pig for me to test out some maneouvres for them. They were fantastic! She couldn’t tell the difference, and I was able to push much harder with significantly less effort from my intrinsic hand muscles. But the thought running through my mind was that there was now more force going through other joints – that could have unknown long term effects too.

I asked my boss for some tips regarding manual therapy, as he has been in the private practice industry for 20 years and uses predominantly manual therapy. In Cantonese, he said I have to use literally more ‘inner strength’. In the Western world, I suppose we could describe that as ‘bodyweight’.

So I thought about this an I have changed the way I work a little bit. My hands are less tired and sore but I have a feeling my wrists in general are going to take a fair bit of wear and tear in the years to come. The focal pain in my first CMC is now less noticable, but there is still a bit there when I palpate it. I hope it doesn’t turn into a dull, chronic thing that I just don’t notice because my hands have now just been ‘conditioned’.

At this, I will continue to think about what techniques I am using, and see if I can modify the way I am working to reduce this further. I am going to learn dry needling at the end of March, so hopefully that can give me more, effective passive treatment options (rather than just interferential and ultrasound). I don’t really do spinal moblisations, as I find soft tissue work addresses the cause of stiffness better than mobilisation, apart from for assessment and gentle mobes in older patients who clearly have degenerative joint disease.

The dreaded thumb pain in action.

One of the things I ask them is, “Looking backward, what is something significant, that is very prominent in your mind, that you would do differently in your life?”

I ask this question because many people around my age fool themselves into thinking they are living life “without regrets”, and that everything they are doing and experiencing are lessons in shaping who they are. For some people this is possibly the best method of learning for them – through experience, trial and error. But I think it is necessary to recognise that this must be a slow way of doing things – making the same mistakes people have made in the past, and only repeating them yourself.

In recent times, probably the past three to four months, I am starting to learn more about myself, and what is natural for me to do in certain situations and circumstances. I am reflecting and looking backward and discovering the reasons for why I have made it to who I am today, and am starting to see some patterns. I have come to the realisation that for me, living life “without regrets” involves knowing myself, what action I would take that would be natural for me, executing it, and believing that because I have been true to myself, no matter what outcome I would have “no regrets”.

So an example of this. I asked this exact question to one of my patients who I have developed a relationship with, only after just two weeks of working.

If there was anything she would have done differently, it would have been the friends she chose. A rule she lives by is a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, “If someone betrays you once it is their fault, if someone betrays you twice it is your fault.” In this, she invariably meant that she had given people too many second chances in life, and had been hurt as a result. She believes that if she had cut these people out sooner, her life would have not only been a lot happier, but she would essentially have had more time to progress further in a positive direction.

So I had to ask the question, “How do you know if someone is the right person or the wrong person? If you have been betrayed that many times in the past, surely there has to be a pattern to the people you eventually clash with?” In my considerations of late regarding personality and intentions, I thought that these two factors must play a significant role in determining who will eventually consume you in a negative manner.

I have been pondering a theory about reducing the number of friends I have in my life. I told myself that I’d allow my expanded network of friends to increase over the next few years, but once I stabilised with the working life, that I’d reduce that dramatically. I think this process has already begun though.

In the past couple of days I’ve just decided to stop talking to everyone, and allowing them to initiate conversations with me. This is very unlike me as I have always been a big believer in trying to pick someone from a distance and going after them, for any potential, be it friendship, relationship, networking, anything. I think that people have taken advantage of that, as I know I initiate a lot and trust easily, and can reveal a lot about myself in a short space of time. This works in the short term, but I have found that things don’t last beyond a few years doing things this way.

I reasoned to myself lately that this must be because I see the potential in something very quickly, and since I’m not fond of wasting time, I therefore just cut to the chase. Unfortunately, as there are many people who enjoy chasing and playing the game by a certain set of social boundaries and rules, this does not work. People lose interest quickly – probably because they only have a superficial understanding of the world around them, and as I reveal a lot of my thought rapidly, they think they know me and probably want to take what they’ve learnt and move on.

Another concept I have heard of recently is Robin Dunbar’s Five Friendships. In essence, you can only have intimate relationships with five people at any one time, fifteen good friends, fifty friends, and one hundred and fifty acquaintances. This means that you cannot have more than this number of friends at any one time. Therefore, to make a new friend, you must remove someone.

I think during our unstable, younger years, we measure how good a friend we are by the number of friends we have. As we stablise and mature, we reduce the number of friends we have as quality becomes more important than quantity. In this way, if we are to make a new intimate friend, we must drop someone who has taken up 20% of our life, and replace them with someone else. This is dramatic.

Earlier than I thought, I’m just going to dry up my life. I’m fed up with immature people who I have put time into, who end up either misunderstanding me, or taking from me to selfishly benefit themself. I need to trust my first initial intuitions, I am hardly ever wrong about people in the long term, and giving second chances to people is messing with life.

In Buddhism, I know you are told to live for the present as life is impermanent – so make the most of now as things will never twice be the same. I feel like I’m living for the future now, but in many ways, I think it will make my present better.

It has been reported in media, that major opponents of these acts believe that while the intentions of these acts may appear reasonable, they deplore what the acts might actually achieve – dramatically slowing and ultimately destroying online businesses in these harsh economic times.

From my point of view, imagine the lack of entertainment we would have if online piracy did not exist. Our lives would be bereft of so much enrichment. All the songs I would never hear, all the movies I would never watch (even though I hardly watch any). What impact would this have on society? I imagine we would most likely be back in the 60′s, where people would play tiggy and have tea parties.

It is companies like Apple who try and save the entertainment industry, and sell their content as though it’s a grocery. A necessity. Yet this is not enough; Hollywood is still losing money.

While I am a great fan of intellectual property, and believe that everything should be done to protect it, this is the future – sharing entertainment to spark further innovation. Sure, people are losing money – but maybe they shouldn’t be earning more money if they are anchored in their systems and models and unwilling to progress with the ever changing nature of reality. They just have to find ways to sell it better.

As part of my university placements, I attended a twice weekly hydrotherapy session for patients with mostly musculoskeletal problems. During this, I asked lots of questions, and by the end of the four weeks of it, I felt that I had a reasonable grasp of what to do in hydrotherapy.

I spent the night before writing out some simple exercises that I could run through. The content that I found was particularly underwhelming; but given that it was the day before, and I couldn’t put on my creative brain with something that I’d never really thought too much about, I settled with running through some basic exercises in the group part of the class.

After a busy morning, the moment came! It was my turn to lead a group of older Australians in their twice weekly session of water exercise!

I told them midway through the class that I had spent most of last year attending hardcore aerobics classes, and that I was planning on introducing some of the moves into the pool. And I was hoping that by the end of the year, we’d have a water aerobics class for the oldies!

It’s so much fun!

Today I had seven private paying clients in a row, all fantastic people who I really enjoy talking to. I was lost in conversation with my second client of the morning. We were talking about her escapades around the expanses of Victoria, and how she organises trips for her social group. Holiday planning is her life, and well, I guess your mind can drift when discussing this topic. I forgot to check m watch and before I knew it, the twenty minutes was up and I had a few more things to do to make it seem like the session ended naturally. I panicked inside momentarily, then I thought it would be okay because it would only be 5 minutes overtime.

With my next client, she was telling me about her former job as a photo developer. And some of the interesting stories she had of developing people’s films. She was so interesting that I again forgot to check the time, then realised there was only 5 minutes to go! And then I realised that I’d probably be running 10 minutes behind in a second.

I was really having a lot of fun though, so I guess that was the main thing. In the back of my mind, I was still remembering that a lot of these clients are private paying, and therefore also expect clinical results despite how interesting the conversation might be.

And I think they are! My first real private paying client has just started to book in long consultations with me, because she has been so impressed with the progress she’s made after turning up for her first visit in a wheelchair, that she now wants me to work on her other joints!

And my other private paying clients are happy with their progress too. It’s feeding my ego just a little as today, one said, “It was soo painful yesterday, but today, my arm is completely free and I can move it pain-free!” I couldn’t help myself to saying, “Okay that’s great, cya later now!” Yes and then I was modestly serious for the rest of the treatment.

I’m indeed very interested in the psychology of my interactions and relationships with patients. I was analysing a heavy introvert, most likely an INFJ, and she was talking to me about her hobbies and interests, as I asked what she had planned for the year. She told me she was very much a “jack of all trades, and not really very good at one particular thing”. In my past I have thought this and told some people this exact line, and it rung true very much for me. But uncanny as I felt, I had to say, “Yeah, being a jack of all trades is quite handy, but unfortunately, in society, it leaves you being the middle man in most things, as you can understand two sides to something. However, technology is reducing the need for middle men, and well, therefore… that’s why you’re in IT/systems I guess…” This drew wry laughter from my client. In later reflection I found it amusing that she was nearly double my age, yet I felt as though we’d been on the same page from the beginning.

I’m slowly becoming less daunted by treating people who are obviously older than I. I’m starting to feel the respect I command just being a healthcare professional in a one-on-one treatment room, and how a patient clings on to every word you say. It’s humbling and I suppose this makes me respect who I am more.

I’m enjoying work I think. I’m getting my head around the various bits of paperwork slowly; it is such a hassle. Today a receptionist had a go at me because she was telling me something and I didn’t know what a PMP was, and she stopped and said, “Are you serious?” To which I replied, “Well yes, they don’t teach us much about paperwork at uni, and certainly hardly at all about WorkCover.” It is small battles like these which I know I will lose for now – I already said to my clinic manager last week that paperwork was in fact the thing I was most afraid of – but I’m quietly sure that I’ll be winning many down the track. But the main thing for now is that I like what I’m doing in the room with clients.

I look forward to going to work

Information regarding the history, system, theories, and controversy can be found on the official website. In this I intend to discuss my own understanding of the four preferences, and some of the observations I have made.

In discussing this, a key belief you must have is that one’s personality does not change. This has been proven in studies not just using the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator), but with other personality measurements. It has been obvserved that after the age of 14-15, someone can do a valid personality quiz repeatedly throughout their life, and the test will return a very similar result, indicating its reliability.

Another consideration is the situation a person is in. Work, home, relationships, or social settings can influence which mode a person is using. However, if a person is being unnatural their actions will be inconsistent and skilled observers will be able to pick this.

Lastly, there is no such thing as a ‘bad personality’. Each person is unique, and it is important to recognise that each of these categories has its strengths as it does weaknesses. I believe that a person’s maturity is indicated not just by how well they know their weaknesses, but how they decide to remediate or compensate for these, and to what degree they are effective at doing so.

Extraversion and Introversion
This preference refers to where you gain energy from, and where you lose it. An Extravert gains energy from a world of interacting with others, doing things concerned with human relationships (that could include reading about people, watching soaps on television, or obsessing over their friends and relationships with people). Conversely, an Introvert would gain energy from indulging in a world of their own personal thoughts, usually about matters unrelated to people and humans.

An analogy I like to use is an Extravert and an Introvert going to a party. The Extravert will talk to everyone there, and keep talking to everyone and seemingly not get tired. They would be able to go home, sleep, and get up the next day to do it all over again (if there was another party). The Introvert will also talk to everyone there, keep talking to people and it may be possible that they don’t get too tired. But the next day, they will be unlikely to do it again, and they will need to spend time doing their own things (such as indulging in their own personal thoughts) to recover the lost energy.

This is a commonly misunderstood category and I have told many Extraverts that they are Introverts, and vice versa. There are people known as ‘Ambiverts’, who are able to spend time in each world and be energised by them. For example, highly attractive people are often considered extraverts because they gain a lot of attention from other people and spend time doing things in this world of people. While this is true for some, an introvert in this situation will always block out time for themself during the day to clear their thoughts and regain energy.

Sensing and Intuition
This is how you gather information. On a very basic level, a Sensing individual perceives the world in fine detail using their five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing; while an Intuitive person almost relies on a ‘sixth sense’ to take in information.

This is often a difficult area to explain as a Sensing person will find it very difficult to understand the way an Intuitive person is obtaining information.

Analogies can be used to help describe this. An Intuitive person sees the bigger picture a lot quicker than a Sensing person. For example, Sensing people would see a tree. They would take note of the texture of the bark, its colour, the curves of its trunk, the thickness of its leaves. Then they would see another tree next to it, and another tree, so on and so forth. Then they would realise that putting thousands of trees together, will make a forest. An Intuitive person would see a forest and simply assume it was made of trees – then only look closer to see the specific details of the trees that made up the forest if it was relevant.

Thus, Sensing people function very well when given a set of steps to follow. They are able to execute them accurately, and will rarely miss a step. Without these steps, they can be confused and will endeavour to seek the next step or end up stuck, and seek help seemingly prematurely. Conversely, Intuitive people will see the big picture and may skip steps in order to achieve it. They often only take note of the key steps, and will only add more steps when they more accurately represent the end result.

It is common for Sensing individuals to be offended quickly by others as they perceive the world tangibly, and therefore take things on face value in the first instance.

While all other Myers-Briggs dichotomies are distributed evenly (50-50), Sensing and Intuition are separated 70-30. There are more than double the number of Sensing people in the world than Intuitive.

Thinking and Feeling
This refers to how one makes decisions. Put simply, a Thinker prefers to look at the facts, evaluate the pros and cons to a situation, and then act in accordance to this logical analysis. In contrast, a Feeler essentially goes by gut feeling toward a scenario. They may be seen to make illogical decisions.

Thinkers are often very precise and are able to select the most important fact to support an argument. Feelers are usually verbose when speaking, and will not feel as though they have adequately supported an argument without providing an anecdote or citing evidence by describing some parts of the details of the study. In this, Feelers are far better at story telling.

Socially, Thinkers will more naturally be friends with other thinkers, likewise with Feelers. Thinkers do not understand stories, whereas Feelers do not understand abrupt one-liners. Having said this, Feelers will take a one-liner and turn it into a flourishing story and make it applicable to the masses; while a Thinker will summarise a story concisely into a few dot points.

Often, this category can be interpreted incorrectly. People who are experienced in a situation may appear to be thinkers as they have previously had the time to work through their feelings individually to formulate seemingly wise justifications.

Judging and Perceiving
This is how one organises their life. Judging people prefer a structured, planned life; while Perceiving people are content with living spontaneously by the moment.

A way I use to distinguish this is often by asking about one’s reaction to a cancelled appointment. A Judging individual will be perturbed by this, and seek a rescheduling of this as soon as possible. They will feel uneasy until this is done. On the other hand, a Perceiving person will be at ease with a cancelled appointment, and be happy to leave it open to a spontaneous rescheduling.

Judgers people are often very accurately on time to their appointments, whereas Perceivers consider an appointment time more flexible than the set time. Having said this, it is difficult to discern one’s life organisation by their ability to meet time deadlines – there can be other areas of their personality which cause them to treat set time as more flexible.

In addition, Judgers will often build days which are full of appointments with strict timelines that must be met for things to happen. A Perceiver is more flexible when organising their day – they may start the day with a list of tasks, and work their way through them in an order they are most comfortable with.

This preference pair is often mistaken as people being ‘judgmental’ as opposed to ‘acceptive’. Having an open, compared to a closed mind, is related to other areas of one’s personality (often their ability to Sense or be Intuitive).

These are the four dichotomies of the Myers-Briggs preferences. The application of this theory can be an intriguing exercise as you will be able to quickly see the people who you naturally attract, and those who you need to compromise and work harder to leave with a positive impression.

There are online Quizzes, such as this one, if you are interested in the difference between an honest appraisal of yourself, as opposed to a true-false driven preference selector.

In future discussions of personality profiling, I will attempt to discuss how to combine letters together to rapidly make reasonable explanations predictions about one’s behaviour; an insight into relationships, natural partners and enemies; and while not my forte as I am only just entering the full time workfoce, career advice and how personality is important in finding a niche market.

Until then, be honest to yourself and remember that every personality is wonderful, and it is those who are different to our own who we learn the most from

Checking my list in the morning, seven patients were booked in for me. A decent number to start with.

It started slowly. I was starting to think, “Fantastic! My first patient ever booked in with me won’t show up.” Alas, he showed up ten minutes late. I brought him in, and it was all a bit surreal. My first patient! And he was private paying too.

As the morning quickly wore on, and I came in and out of the the treatment room, I noticed my list filling up but I didn’t think much of it. All I saw was that there were a couple of new patients who had probably called up in the morning and booked in.

I don’t know how to describe it but it all felt a bit surreal. I felt as though I was finally doing Physiotherapy the way I wanted to, and not just doing things to satisfy a supervisor rather than the patient. I had a patient come sitting in a wheelchair due to acute knee pain, and by the end of the treatment, she managed to walk short distances with significantly less pain. Little things like this that gave me confidence for the rest of the day.

It was also warming when my boss told me he wanted me to go through all my patients with him to help me, and of course look after the reputation of his clinic.

And of course, my first day included a respiratory patient who was wheelchair bound due to a stroke two years ago. Go figure, I thought to myself as I rummaged around for a stethoscope.

I finished the day working with a regular client of the practice in the gym doing some gut-busting post-holiday-season-gluttony exercise, which was really a lot of fun!

By the end of the day I’d seen thirteen people. Somehow, six more clients had been booked in. What a first day, I thought. I think my boss was more surprised than I was that I made it through them all, without really falling to pieces. Now I have a lot of letters to write, a lot of new material to reflect on, but wow – it’s really happening!!

Paperwork has been the theme of the past few weeks – from waiting for registration, to hurrying to apply to Medicare, insurance, contracts, business numbers, taxes. All this has seemed somewhat daunting because it’s so much unchartered territory for me at just the initial stages of my career. I must admit though, I am extremely grateful and fortunate that I have support around me to assist me in this journey – what everyone craves for when entering the workforce appears to be with me in abundance.

I have two patients booked in for me tomorrow! I’m really glad I get to get my hands stuck into it on the first day, so it feels as though I’m contributing from Day 1. It’s a start, nonetheless.

At the moment my biggest concern is paperwork. Remembering to fill in the right forms for the right kind of patients, writing letters in an appropriate manner to the right people, ensuring any WorkCover patients I have don’t run out of visits. All the things that seemed so trivial in the past as a student are now definitely what I am most worried about. This is followed closely by the actual clinical work – but here I know that university has provided me with the basic skills to eventually refine this.

I wanted to avoid saying that I’m anxious about starting, but I’d be lying if I didn’t. So here’s to the real world!

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