I’ve always been one of those ‘scientifically minded people.’ You know the ones that constantly contradict you? I used to argue this rigid scientific view about everything, from the pseudo science that is natural medicine to the nonexistence of aliens. It came as no surprise when I ended up studying science, but somewhere along the line I got slightly sidetracked and became interested in trigger point dry needling courses.
The old me would have scoffed at this decision but my change happened in stages. Firstly, I justified it to myself by saying that actually, trigger point dry needling is nothing like other complementary medicines such as acupuncture. It uses the same filament needles but targets trigger points to treat muscles rather than targeting mythical ‘energy meridians’ to treat pretty much any ailment. Eventually, I ended up changing my perspective entirely since beginning my dry needling course. Melbourne is a pretty progressive city and I guess now I’m starting to fit in.
These days I’d argue that although western science shows us that trigger point dry needling actually works, that has only been a very recent development. Maybe western scientific rationalism hasn’t caught up with the knowledge and medicines of other cultures. Or maybe western science is like a lens through which we can see certain phenomena, and we need a different lens to see others, like the lenses of eastern medicine. Sure, I used to diss things like complementary medicine, aromatherapy and all of that ‘new agey crap’, but I’m starting to take a more open minded approach. People just have this bias, I guess, where they assume the western scientific way is the best way when it isn’t necessarily. Well, I still can’t make any conclusive statements about stuff like Chinese medicine and ayurveda, but since going to study dry needling, I can say for a fact that it actually works!