How I Answer A Seemingly Simple Biomechanics Question off The Top of My Head at 4:50AM

I once attended a specialty movement workshop where the moderator told all in attendance that if they didn’t know all 632 pairs of articulating muscles in the body they had no business being in this profession.

He looked accusingly at me, as if something about my “look” appears I’d be one of the more likely culprits. Afterward, a colleague of mine said, “you have one of the best poker faces I’ve ever seen.” I said, “no poker face at all; I actually have memorized the replete human anatomy and physiology.” Though I ultimately finished my undergrad with degrees in history, religious studies, classics and linguistics, I had purposely taken premed sciences (just to challenge myself) and obtained THE highest score in lecture halls with hundreds of students.

In 2012, just for fun, I studied the entirety of the USMLE1 medical lecture series. Lately, I’ve been going back over chemistry and the molecular structure of amino acids. That’s just how I’m wired. I suspect it’s why 13 of my 40ish one-on-one clients are MDs, while as many others still are nurses and therapists.

Researchers have uncovered a lot of mechanisms about which we need not speculate. It doesn’t mean there is no more debate or discussion to be had. But it does mean that oversimplification can be an enemy.