One of the coolest people I met when I studied dry needling in Christchurch was my mate Lonnie. He was a physio already and was desperate to help his teenage daughter Sara manage her chronic pain.
Lonnie didn’t talk about what happened to Sara much, but I knew that she’d had an accident and a recovery journey that found amazing success in managing her pain with trigger point needling. He told me that when it got really bad, he’d had Sara treated by a dry needling specialist, and following an amazing success, spent every night between Christmas day and New Year’s day looking up Dry Needling Courses. New Zealand as it turned out, was the place to be for studying. We met on the first day of class, an introductory session.
What struck me about Lonnie was his interest in everyone’s individual journey of studying a dry needling course in Christchurch. it seemed like he felt he’d been led there by some kind of external force that was related to his daughter’s accident. He was incredibly determined and committed to his decision to help his daughter this shone through his impressive athletic ability- and it even outshone his own story- he’d been a top footballer and got knocked out in a bad tackle, obliterating his anterior cruciate ligament. So he had to let go of footy. But he couldn’t do that completely- in fact, Lonnie decided he’d become a physio. He’d been a practitioner for a few years when Sara had her accident. This was a great start for furthering his career in trigger point needling.
My own story isn’t as interesting, but I’ve never been happier to learn about something than I am to learn about dry needling. I had seen someone in Christchurch who, using dry needling therapy unlocked my jaw ( I have TMJ) in seconds. I’d been studying occupational therapy before this and decided to further my studies. I’m so glad I did- trigger point needling is truly something special.