Hello all,

I'm currently studying 1st year of physiotherapy in SA.

For me, choosing physiotherapy was really a decision made in few hours (with a bit of my parents' insist), but at the moment I thoroughly enjoy what I'm learning and doing at uni. Well, actually I find learning these things quite pleasurable even.

However, from the moment I enrolled in physiotherapy, I had that tingling voice in my mind that's been questioning whether it was a right decision.

Moreover, my doubt gets bigger and bigger as I read things on the internet about how physiotherapists are oversupplied because young people think of it as a 'glamour job', how it’s not a profession where you can last long, and actually the prospect is not as good as people think.

Also, studying physiotherapy does feel quite alienating because everyone in my course is super athletic and all that. I never have been that good at sports and never got involved in it that much (I did try with lots of failures. I instead got involved with more docile hobbies such as reading or playing musical instruments). It really makes me feel like I don't share many attributes that general physiotherapists have.

But then again, when I think of the alternative pathways I could have chosen, I don’t see any pathways I’d have liked more than physiotherapy. For example, I aspired to be a doctor, but I found that I am utterly scared of needles, almost to the stage of phobia. I considered other health professions like podiatrist too, but it lacks that satisfaction I get from seeing patients with various injuries thinking ‘ah, one day I’ll be able to treat them!’ For engineering or law which I did apply as a ‘backup choice’ in high school, well… I don’t even like the sound of them from the beginning.

So here am I, wondering about whether choosing to study physiotherapy was a right choice. My main questions are;
1. Prospect - Is physiotherapy really oversupplied in Australia at the moment and is not a long-lasting and well-earning profession as I want?
2. Desirable attribute - Do I really need to be an ultimate footy-driven buff man like all my friends are? I am aware of many different fields that doesn’t involve being sporty, but I’m thinking that it’d be pretty hard to establish a professional relationship with other physios when I don’t share much in common with them.
3. Alternative pathways - If physio is not my kind of career, then what shall I choose to be instead?

It would be greatly appreciated if someone can shed a light on my clouded mind.

Thank you.

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