February 11, 2024 • 9 mins
The first official episode of our new blog!
"Origins"
Ever wondered how our Principal Osteopath got into Osteopathy? Here's her origin story.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Hi, thanks for finding my podcast again.
I'm Kerri Pearce, Principal Osteopath and
Self Directed Healing Practitioner at
Lilydale Osteopathy and Natural
Health Care. This is season one, episode
one of Living in Alignment. Now, it's
always a bit of a challenge to know where
to start with a new project like this, so
I thought, why not at the beginning? It's
not an uncommon thing that I get asked
(00:30):
"how did you get into Osteopathy?" And I
thought it was a bit of a cute story, so
why not start there? Like most
kids, I was always asked, "what do you
want to do when you grow up?" And for me,
the answer was; I wanted to be a doctor. I
think I had a fascination with bodies,
how they would get damaged and heal. I
always was bandaging my friends and
(00:51):
family. Maybe I wanted to be a nurse,
maybe I wanted to be a doctor. I loved
bodies. I loved the stories they held,
and I wanted to be a part of that story.
But as I got a bit older I realised just
how clever you had to be and how
dedicated you needed to be to go down
that path. And I don't think I was cut
out for it. So I put that idea on
the back-burner and started to think
(01:12):
about other ideas. Now, I was always very
touchy feely. Even as a toddler I would
get into bed with mum and dad and I'd
give dad head massages. And there was
myself and a couple of girlfriends in
primary school that would sit at the feet
of the teacher during story time and
we would massage each other's feet and
massage the teacher's feet. Don't think
she complained. I could
(01:35):
find what I now know are trigger points
without even knowing what I was doing. I
think I always had a bit of the touch.
But I ultimately really had no idea.
Now, I went to three different high
schools. I started at Parkwood Secondary
College and was an excellent student, bit
of a teachers pet, part of the student
(01:55):
representative programme. And I was on
the committee to help bring in the middle
school elective system which our much
larger neighbour high school, Norwood
Secondary College, had implemented many
years prior and was running quite
effectively now. The bid was successful,
but I was granted only three out of 15
electives and decided that wasn't good
(02:16):
enough and so I ended up going to
Norwood. Now that was fine
for the first six months until
I had a run in with my year 10 English
teacher. Norwood had a
very clever grading system for their
students. Like most schools, you would
finish your semester with an
exam and a letter grade. You would go
(02:36):
home with an ABC or D letter grade.
Again, I was always an academic
student, generally passed things with As,
maybe not so much in music and art -
But, Science, Maths,
English - I always did pretty well, but
Norwood also added a l̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ a number
(02:57):
grade to this system, which was the
amount of effort that you were shown to
put in. So as a parent, the best you
could ask for was a 'C1' from your student.
So a 'C' would indicate that you were
getting the expected amount
of grades from your class, - but you were
trying really hard. You were you were a
number one student. So I was an A1
(03:19):
student. You know, that teachers
pet, working hard - A1
student. However,
end of year er end of semester, Year 10
English exam; like most year 10s, we had
to do a Shakespeare play. I think in our
case it was Macbeth; and when it came to
that end of year exam, and I am not
(03:39):
exaggerating here, the students were
singing and dancing on the tables during
the exam.
The class control was nonexistent.
Now, at the end of that exam, I waited
till most of the students had gone and
asked the teacher if I could
resit that exam in a quieter environment.
(04:00):
It obviously wasn't conducive to good
exam conditions. I imagine that
he wasn't very happy about me confronting
him, although I did do my best to do it -
not in front of anybody, so that he
wasn't embarrassed. I was sensitive to
that, but nonetheless he
took issue and basically said no.
Somehow or other, that got through the
(04:21):
school. The principal said that I was
allowed to do it. He nonetheless still
failed me with a nine out of 20 for that
assignment, and at the end of that second
semester he gave me a 'D3'.
I'd never had anything less than an 'A' for
English. And all my subjects at Norwood
I had garnered a '1' for effort and
English was certainly no different.
(04:43):
So I didn't stick around at Norwood for very
long and I ended up doing my VCE at
Mullauna Secondary College before it
amalgamated into a single campus and so
that was great. Being part of that
senior campus was a fantastic environment
where they treated us like adults. I did
an IT subject there, did really
well. I completed all the work
for the first semester in six weeks -
(05:04):
twice! - because the good old floppy
disk that I submitted my original
portfolio on had been corrupted,
so I needed to do it all over again. So
maybe I had a career in IT. I got into
computers very early, so it was an
interest that I had and a skill that I
had demonstrated that I had a
talent in throughout year 11.
(05:26):
But it was not to be.
The benefit of all that moving around was
I managed to avoid doing Work Experience.
Now, work experience is an opportunity for
students in usually years 9, 10 or
11 where they go and spend a couple of
weeks in a workplace. Now some students
use that opportunity to build a
reputation and a connection with a
(05:47):
company where they might get some part
time work such as Coles or Kmart. Others
will take it a bit more seriously and go
and work in a lab or in
a programming company or somewhere
where they might actually have an
interest in pursuing that career - but I
still had no idea. So that actually
suited me. I wasn't the sort of student
(06:08):
who wanted to waste that opportunity, so
the fact that I never had to do it
actually worked out for me.
It wasn't until I got to the end of year
11 where I really had to start thinking
seriously about what I was going to do
when I finished school, because I
discovered that there were some
university degrees that had prerequisites
(06:29):
for year 12 subjects. And at this point I
realised I was probably going to end up
in some form of manual healthcare, which
meant doing Chemistry and [Maths] Methods.
That's OK - I did Chemistry and Methods -
and I did OK.
Not quite straight As this point, but I
did OK. Now I didn't get
first or second round offers into
(06:49):
anything that I really wanted to do. And
so, feeling a bit defeated, I sat down
with the VTAC guide, desperate for
anything that might attract my attention
and perhaps give me some credits that I
could apply before transferring for
the following year. Now, Latrobe
University in Bundoora had just begun a
brand new degree called Medical Science.
(07:12):
I rang the university direct, and asked
if they had any positions left in that -
any places left in that degree, and they
simply asked, "Did you get over
81?" I had. "Did you do
Chemistry?" I did. And so I
had a place in Medical Science. I
actually really liked that campus at
Latrobe and it was a great way to spend
(07:33):
that first year of university and I was a
little bit sad to leave, but I got
accepted into Osteopathy the following
year without any hesitation.
Now, Osteopathy at RMIT, back when I
started in 1998, was a lot like being
back in high school. You were given a
timetable with a bunch of different
(07:53):
subjects. The class was small, there was
only 25 students, and we all sort of
stuck together through that period.
The two degrees ran alongside each
other. The first 12 months was
about 80% Clinical Science and 20%
Osteopathy, but by the fifth
year it was 20%
(08:15):
Clinical Science and 80% Osteopathy.
Now that Clinical Science degree was
everything from anatomy, biochemistry,
biology, physiology, radiology,
neurology, cardology- cardiology,
audiology, ophthalmology,
pathology, all the -ologies; and
when having a conversation with one of my
friends who was doing medicine at the
(08:36):
time, he was actually quite surprised at
the level and depth
of study that we went into.
The medicine students did a lot more in
terms of infectious, diseases
and pharmacology than we did, but we did
a lot more in terms of musculoskeletal
anatomy and radiology in particular.
(08:58):
In hindsight, if I'd actually put my head
down and studied, I probably could have
gotten into medicine. But with
that same hindsight, I don't think I
would have wanted to. I wouldn't get to
do the hands on part that I love so much
and spend the one on one time that I do
with my patients and make the amazing
connections that I have.
(09:19):
I really do get the best of both worlds,
cause really, if you take medicine and
massage and mush it together, you get
Osteopathy.
I hope you had a little bit of a laugh
and I'll catch you in episode 2.
Hi, thanks for finding my podcast again.
I'm Kerri Pearce, Principal Osteopath and
Self Directed Healing Practitioner at
Lilydale Osteopathy and Natural
Health Care. This is season one, episode
one of Living in Alignment. Now, it's
always a bit of a challenge to know where
to start with a new project like this, so
I thought, why not at the beginning? It's
not an uncommon thing that I get asked
(00:30):
"how did you get into Osteopathy?" And I
thought it was a bit of a cute story, so
why not start there? Like most
kids, I was always asked, "what do you
want to do when you grow up?" And for me,
the answer was; I wanted to be a doctor. I
think I had a fascination with bodies,
how they would get damaged and heal. I
always was bandaging my friends and
(00:51):
family. Maybe I wanted to be a nurse,
maybe I wanted to be a doctor. I loved
bodies. I loved the stories they held,
and I wanted to be a part of that story.
But as I got a bit older I realised just
how clever you had to be and how
dedicated you needed to be to go down
that path. And I don't think I was cut
out for it. So I put that idea on
the back-burner and started to think
(01:12):
about other ideas. Now, I was always very
touchy feely. Even as a toddler I would
get into bed with mum and dad and I'd
give dad head massages. And there was
myself and a couple of girlfriends in
primary school that would sit at the feet
of the teacher during story time and
we would massage each other's feet and
massage the teacher's feet. Don't think
she complained. I could
(01:35):
find what I now know are trigger points
without even knowing what I was doing. I
think I always had a bit of the touch.
But I ultimately really had no idea.
Now, I went to three different high
schools. I started at Parkwood Secondary
College and was an excellent student, bit
of a teachers pet, part of the student
(01:55):
representative programme. And I was on
the committee to help bring in the middle
school elective system which our much
larger neighbour high school, Norwood
Secondary College, had implemented many
years prior and was running quite
effectively now. The bid was successful,
but I was granted only three out of 15
electives and decided that wasn't good
(02:16):
enough and so I ended up going to
Norwood. Now that was fine
for the first six months until
I had a run in with my year 10 English
teacher. Norwood had a
very clever grading system for their
students. Like most schools, you would
finish your semester with an
exam and a letter grade. You would go
(02:36):
home with an ABC or D letter grade.
Again, I was always an academic
student, generally passed things with As,
maybe not so much in music and art -
But, Science, Maths,
English - I always did pretty well, but
Norwood also added a l̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ a number
(02:57):
grade to this system, which was the
amount of effort that you were shown to
put in. So as a parent, the best you
could ask for was a 'C1' from your student.
So a 'C' would indicate that you were
getting the expected amount
of grades from your class, - but you were
trying really hard. You were you were a
number one student. So I was an A1
(03:19):
student. You know, that teachers
pet, working hard - A1
student. However,
end of year er end of semester, Year 10
English exam; like most year 10s, we had
to do a Shakespeare play. I think in our
case it was Macbeth; and when it came to
that end of year exam, and I am not
(03:39):
exaggerating here, the students were
singing and dancing on the tables during
the exam.
The class control was nonexistent.
Now, at the end of that exam, I waited
till most of the students had gone and
asked the teacher if I could
resit that exam in a quieter environment.
(04:00):
It obviously wasn't conducive to good
exam conditions. I imagine that
he wasn't very happy about me confronting
him, although I did do my best to do it -
not in front of anybody, so that he
wasn't embarrassed. I was sensitive to
that, but nonetheless he
took issue and basically said no.
Somehow or other, that got through the
(04:21):
school. The principal said that I was
allowed to do it. He nonetheless still
failed me with a nine out of 20 for that
assignment, and at the end of that second
semester he gave me a 'D3'.
I'd never had anything less than an 'A' for
English. And all my subjects at Norwood
I had garnered a '1' for effort and
English was certainly no different.
(04:43):
So I didn't stick around at Norwood for very
long and I ended up doing my VCE at
Mullauna Secondary College before it
amalgamated into a single campus and so
that was great. Being part of that
senior campus was a fantastic environment
where they treated us like adults. I did
an IT subject there, did really
well. I completed all the work
for the first semester in six weeks -
(05:04):
twice! - because the good old floppy
disk that I submitted my original
portfolio on had been corrupted,
so I needed to do it all over again. So
maybe I had a career in IT. I got into
computers very early, so it was an
interest that I had and a skill that I
had demonstrated that I had a
talent in throughout year 11.
(05:26):
But it was not to be.
The benefit of all that moving around was
I managed to avoid doing Work Experience.
Now, work experience is an opportunity for
students in usually years 9, 10 or
11 where they go and spend a couple of
weeks in a workplace. Now some students
use that opportunity to build a
reputation and a connection with a
(05:47):
company where they might get some part
time work such as Coles or Kmart. Others
will take it a bit more seriously and go
and work in a lab or in
a programming company or somewhere
where they might actually have an
interest in pursuing that career - but I
still had no idea. So that actually
suited me. I wasn't the sort of student
(06:08):
who wanted to waste that opportunity, so
the fact that I never had to do it
actually worked out for me.
It wasn't until I got to the end of year
11 where I really had to start thinking
seriously about what I was going to do
when I finished school, because I
discovered that there were some
university degrees that had prerequisites
(06:29):
for year 12 subjects. And at this point I
realised I was probably going to end up
in some form of manual healthcare, which
meant doing Chemistry and [Maths] Methods.
That's OK - I did Chemistry and Methods -
and I did OK.
Not quite straight As this point, but I
did OK. Now I didn't get
first or second round offers into
(06:49):
anything that I really wanted to do. And
so, feeling a bit defeated, I sat down
with the VTAC guide, desperate for
anything that might attract my attention
and perhaps give me some credits that I
could apply before transferring for
the following year. Now, Latrobe
University in Bundoora had just begun a
brand new degree called Medical Science.
(07:12):
I rang the university direct, and asked
if they had any positions left in that -
any places left in that degree, and they
simply asked, "Did you get over
81?" I had. "Did you do
Chemistry?" I did. And so I
had a place in Medical Science. I
actually really liked that campus at
Latrobe and it was a great way to spend
(07:33):
that first year of university and I was a
little bit sad to leave, but I got
accepted into Osteopathy the following
year without any hesitation.
Now, Osteopathy at RMIT, back when I
started in 1998, was a lot like being
back in high school. You were given a
timetable with a bunch of different
(07:53):
subjects. The class was small, there was
only 25 students, and we all sort of
stuck together through that period.
The two degrees ran alongside each
other. The first 12 months was
about 80% Clinical Science and 20%
Osteopathy, but by the fifth
year it was 20%
(08:15):
Clinical Science and 80% Osteopathy.
Now that Clinical Science degree was
everything from anatomy, biochemistry,
biology, physiology, radiology,
neurology, cardology- cardiology,
audiology, ophthalmology,
pathology, all the -ologies; and
when having a conversation with one of my
friends who was doing medicine at the
(08:36):
time, he was actually quite surprised at
the level and depth
of study that we went into.
The medicine students did a lot more in
terms of infectious, diseases
and pharmacology than we did, but we did
a lot more in terms of musculoskeletal
anatomy and radiology in particular.
(08:58):
In hindsight, if I'd actually put my head
down and studied, I probably could have
gotten into medicine. But with
that same hindsight, I don't think I
would have wanted to. I wouldn't get to
do the hands on part that I love so much
and spend the one on one time that I do
with my patients and make the amazing
connections that I have.
(09:19):
I really do get the best of both worlds,
cause really, if you take medicine and
massage and mush it together, you get
Osteopathy.
I hope you had a little bit of a laugh
and I'll catch you in episode 2.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.