Musculoskeletal Disorders - PTA 2400 reflection
This Spring semester we took a class called Musculoskeletal disorders. In this class we learned about several common injuries and disorders that we as Physical Therapist Assistants, will see while working. This class tested me greatly but, it is one that I think I have enjoyed the most throughout our program. Once we learned about the disorders we would discuss aspects from all of our previous classes to decide on the course of treatment.
This is what challenged me the most. I have always experienced a great deal of self-doubt and I feel like others are critiquing every aspect of what I am presenting. That leads into one of the first days of class. We were in lab and we were required to think of different interventions to get someone walking. The intervention I picked wouldn’t have been beneficial to the patient. I felt completely lost and overwhelmed. Most of all I felt extremely discouraged and for a couple of days after felt as if I wasn’t cut out for the profession of a PTA. I took it on myself to then do a great deal of studying for this course. I wanted to make sure that I developed a bank of exercises that I could fall back on to make sure I had at least two or three different exercises to strengthen specific isolated muscles and then make those exercises functional.
I cannot say that I was as successful at completing this bank of exercises, however we had a great instructor who did a great job in our class about having us understand that the whole body is all part of the “working machine”. If one area is not working, all of our muscles and bones are connected some way to the rest of the body and that we need to see the system instead of zoning in on one area. I tried to take this knowledge and to apply it to progressing our case studies that we would work on. As I would take time out from school to go and spend time at the gym and exercise, I would try to incorporate different aspects of what we would learn in class to my exercises so that I could experience what different interventions we will be giving our patients would feel like. I would try to pay attention to the muscles that were contracting, what type of contraction was happening and how working on that area of my body would benefit the areas around it.
The musculoskeletal disorders class helped me see the body in a different way than I have looked at it before. It is no longer bones with muscles attached moving in two or three planes It is a complex machine. One that needs to be working in a correct order to produce the desired results. When one area of our body stops working the whole system is affected. Yes, its complex and durable, but it is also fragile and vulnerable. I realized that we need to focus on the whole body even if the patient has a complaint in one specific area. I loved this class and I’m excited to use what I learned in our upcoming clinical rotations.
One of the other things I wanted to mention about this semester that I thought was the highlight of my time in this program so far. I along with another classmate and our program director were able to travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania just before spring break. The purpose of this trip was to put on a presentation for the Pro-Bono Network. This network is a large group of Doctorate of Physical Therapy programs throughout the country who provide PT for underserved populations as a way to help the community and to gain experience working in a clinic and with patients prior to working in clinical rotations. Our school was the only Community College and we were the only two individuals who were PTAs. We were able to spend time talking to students of Physical Therapy and discuss what our role in the field is. We were able to present our clinic and what we gain from having the clinic. We were also able to sell the point of why we are important and integral to the Physical Therapist. We were able to compare our schooling and noticed that we here at Salt Lake Community College have a great program, run by great individuals. I can see how our program is looked so highly upon from many facilities around the state. What we have is incredible and that became even more apparent to me the more time we spent at the conference. I have always felt inadequate in the program for the fact that I, myself have never worked in the field prior or even gone to PT as a patient. I volunteered and submitted an idea for the conference when we found out about it because I felt that it was a way to come out of my comfort zone and take on more responsibility. I learned so much and developed an even greater appreciation for our instructors in the program and for the administration that allowed us to participate in such an event. Physical Therapy really is a great field of work and we are still finding ways to improve our patients and communities for the better.
This is what challenged me the most. I have always experienced a great deal of self-doubt and I feel like others are critiquing every aspect of what I am presenting. That leads into one of the first days of class. We were in lab and we were required to think of different interventions to get someone walking. The intervention I picked wouldn’t have been beneficial to the patient. I felt completely lost and overwhelmed. Most of all I felt extremely discouraged and for a couple of days after felt as if I wasn’t cut out for the profession of a PTA. I took it on myself to then do a great deal of studying for this course. I wanted to make sure that I developed a bank of exercises that I could fall back on to make sure I had at least two or three different exercises to strengthen specific isolated muscles and then make those exercises functional.
I cannot say that I was as successful at completing this bank of exercises, however we had a great instructor who did a great job in our class about having us understand that the whole body is all part of the “working machine”. If one area is not working, all of our muscles and bones are connected some way to the rest of the body and that we need to see the system instead of zoning in on one area. I tried to take this knowledge and to apply it to progressing our case studies that we would work on. As I would take time out from school to go and spend time at the gym and exercise, I would try to incorporate different aspects of what we would learn in class to my exercises so that I could experience what different interventions we will be giving our patients would feel like. I would try to pay attention to the muscles that were contracting, what type of contraction was happening and how working on that area of my body would benefit the areas around it.
The musculoskeletal disorders class helped me see the body in a different way than I have looked at it before. It is no longer bones with muscles attached moving in two or three planes It is a complex machine. One that needs to be working in a correct order to produce the desired results. When one area of our body stops working the whole system is affected. Yes, its complex and durable, but it is also fragile and vulnerable. I realized that we need to focus on the whole body even if the patient has a complaint in one specific area. I loved this class and I’m excited to use what I learned in our upcoming clinical rotations.
One of the other things I wanted to mention about this semester that I thought was the highlight of my time in this program so far. I along with another classmate and our program director were able to travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania just before spring break. The purpose of this trip was to put on a presentation for the Pro-Bono Network. This network is a large group of Doctorate of Physical Therapy programs throughout the country who provide PT for underserved populations as a way to help the community and to gain experience working in a clinic and with patients prior to working in clinical rotations. Our school was the only Community College and we were the only two individuals who were PTAs. We were able to spend time talking to students of Physical Therapy and discuss what our role in the field is. We were able to present our clinic and what we gain from having the clinic. We were also able to sell the point of why we are important and integral to the Physical Therapist. We were able to compare our schooling and noticed that we here at Salt Lake Community College have a great program, run by great individuals. I can see how our program is looked so highly upon from many facilities around the state. What we have is incredible and that became even more apparent to me the more time we spent at the conference. I have always felt inadequate in the program for the fact that I, myself have never worked in the field prior or even gone to PT as a patient. I volunteered and submitted an idea for the conference when we found out about it because I felt that it was a way to come out of my comfort zone and take on more responsibility. I learned so much and developed an even greater appreciation for our instructors in the program and for the administration that allowed us to participate in such an event. Physical Therapy really is a great field of work and we are still finding ways to improve our patients and communities for the better.