Palpatory Literacy - Part B

aidan642
Aug 2
2 min read

Updated: Aug 12

My Story and the Stages of Mastery

When I began at AECC in 1995, I sat in TR1 with Dr. Geoff Clark in my first technique class. I remember feeling the spine of the person in front of me and realising — I couldn’t feel where one vertebra ended and the next began. I couldn’t locate the interspinous space. And at that moment, I thought to myself: How can I ever be a chiropractor if I can’t even find individual bones?

It’s a feeling that students of anything will know — the early doubt, the shaky hands, the sensory confusion. But the skill of palpation is just that: a skill. And like all skills, it can be developed.

Over the years — through hundreds of backs, necks, feet, hands, and more — I began to feel what I previously could not. First, anatomy. Then motion. Then dysfunction.

This journey is what I call palpatory literacy.

Like any form of literacy, it begins with frustration and confusion. You don’t know what the letters mean. You can’t string anything together. But slowly, with repetition and intent, you learn to read. Eventually, you learn to write. Then you begin to compose.

The Stages of Palpation Mastery:

1. You don’t know that you don’t know.

2. You realise you don’t know.

3. You begin to know.

4. You become technically competent, with conscious thought.

5. You become technically competent, without conscious thought.

At the highest level, palpation becomes subcortical. You no longer think about it. It becomes a reflexive part of your being, like riding a bike, playing a tune, or reading a familiar language.

You don’t need to know everything at the beginning. Yet, you must understand that you don’t know and then get your hands on as many people as possible. Feel, reflect, refine. That is the path.

Palpation is not a checklist. It’s not a script. It is a conversation between your hands and their nervous system.

Aidan - Enchiridion Chiropractic Training