Everyone’s journey toward the physical therapy profession reveals very interesting stories. Some go straight to physical therapy school right after finishing their undergraduate degree because they’re so convinced that they were destined to be a PT since they were young (more power to them, but I have some thoughts about this process – but that might be a topic for later). Some decide to pursue a physical therapy degree after spending time in another profession. I think my journey into physical therapy is somewhere in between these two types of people. 

Growing up in an Asian household, I was “highly encouraged” to pursue extracurricular activities. It started with piano when I was 5 years old, then moved to track and field and basketball in middle school. Think of it what you will, but my interest in playing piano diminished after being forced to attend weekly piano lessons where I always felt scrutinized for not playing the right dynamic or with the right technique. In high school, that disinterest grew to a deep love as I discovered the drumset and jazz band. I also learned that I was pretty good at running when I joined the cross country team. This athletic endurance translated really well into cycling while I was in college. While I went through my undergraduate years not exactly sure what I wanted to do for work, I did what my parents encouraged me to do and apply for medical school. Turns out that when you combine my stellar list of extra-curricular activities and my slightly-better-than-mediocre GPA, you still don’t come up with a recipe for medical school success.

After several failed attempts at applying for medical school and half-hearted attempts at looking for a lab-tech job (a given for any biochemistry major if they did not apply for med school), I decided to put my efforts into competitive road cycling. I climbed pretty quickly in the road cycling ranks, but I wasn’t so keen on pursuing cycling as my profession. It was a few years into racing that I decided to apply for a therapy aide position at a hand therapy clinic. I’m pretty sure what prompted me to do this was seeing what other professions I can get into with my degree – physical therapy fit the bill, but I honestly had no idea what it was all about. Funny enough, this hand therapy clinic was mainly run by occupational therapists, but I didn’t know the difference at the time. What I did know was that I really enjoyed incorporating exercise into rehabilitating people from pain and after surgery. It was also in this job that I discovered how useful OTs/PTs can be with musicians. You mean to tell me that there’s a job out there in which you can work closely with musicians without actually auditioning for a coveted spot? Sign me up.

I think it’s somewhat of a miracle that I even was accepted into physical therapy school. It must have been a combination of my thousands of hours of work as an aide, my eclectic background (hey, my extra-curriculars actually may have helped me here), and my decent communication skills. Nonetheless, it was my developing passion for learning about human movement combined with the growth mindset I developed as an athlete and musician that helped me succeed in school. It was here where I also learned about the possibility of not just treating musicians, but all performing artists (dancers, acrobats, etc.). I then became an active member of the Performing Arts Special Interest Group, a close-knit group of PTs who are dedicated to treating performing artists. Straight out of PT school, I was fortunate enough to go through a residency in which my mentors helped shape and fine-tune my practice to be what it is today.

Today, I work with a general orthopaedic population. Every now and then, I get a patient who is a musician, and when I do, I get overly excited to work with them. However, one day I will have my own practice in which I work with both traditional athletes and performing artists (non-traditional athletes). It is my firm belief that performing artists need more and better access to medical care and I want to help provide both. 

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