Survey Tiiiiime

Hey guys! As promised, I have more pictures of your favorite dog, Bruin :-). I know you guys have been waiting for these all week so hopefully they can add that spark to what I hope is an already great day ('cause it always works for me, just saying). So without further ado, here you go…… CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING PICTURES DISPLAY EXCEEDING LEVELS OF CUTENESS

Now that that’s out of our system, let’s get down to the juicy stuff: what exactly happened this week. Well, for starters, we got ANOTHER new student that’ll be working with us. And as you can probably predict with this information, we had ANOTHER student leave us as well. It’s kinda been the trend for the past couple weeks. I’m sorry if there’s any confusion about this; I promise there will be more consistency as we delve deeper into the project. But anyways, the new student who’ll be joining us is….. *drum roll*…. Wendy! No, not the Wendy from the iconic fast food chain. Instead, this Wendy is on her final clinical rotation and will be with us at Synergy for the next 11 weeks. But wait, Ameya… what exactly IS a clinical rotation? Well, now that you ask, a clinical rotation is an opportunity for students to apply their knowledge from the classroom to real life medical situations while also helping them gauge what residencies are right for them. Remember Joe, Lori, Jordan, and Nicole from prior weeks’ blog posts? Well, they were all on the tail end of their own clinical rotations. And now, we have someone else who is also on the tail end of hers. Even though I just introduced her to you guys last week, Kirsten’s clinical rotation is actually only two weeks as she now heads back home to continue PT school. It was really nice working with her and understanding yet another perspective on how therapists approach and carry out their work. But, as I mentioned earlier, we also have a new shipmate on board in Wendy. And the thing about Wendy is that she always seems to prioritize the patients and their needs, allowing them to feel the utmost comfort in what is already a very welcoming atmosphere. In all, good luck to Kirsten and welcome aboard Wendy!

I also need to tell you guys about a very interesting hand exercise Vincent had me try out this week. It’s called the “rice bucket exercise.” I know that may not be very self-explanatory, but let me explain. In this exercise, patients are seated in a chair and before them is a giant bucket filled all the way to the top with dry grains of rice. The objective of the patients is to perform a series of wrist maneuvers in order to stimulate the wrist and forearm muscles while they dig as far as they possibly can into the rice bucket. The maneuvers include wrist abduction, adduction, and rotation (both clockwise and counterclockwise). The legend has it that out of everyone who has performed this exercise, only three have made it to the bottom of the bucket. Now, when I tried it, I thought I touched something that felt like the bottom, but I could just be tooting my own horn. Let's just say I made it for good measure ;-). Anyways, below is the setup for the rice bucket exercise. Trust me, it’s way harder than it looks!

And finally, last week I mentioned I would talk with Vincent about expanding my research and actually implementing it within the clinic. From there, I decided to include some surveys which would analyze patient compliance and connect it with any improvement (recovery-wise). The ultimate goal is to establish some sort of correlation between compliance and improvement. Now, I have to say, it was a really interesting experience as it allowed me to get even closer with some of the patients as I appreciated some of their honesty. One patient even jokingly said to me, “I have to tell you something that may skew your data… I’m not a very compliant patient.” And after that, we just laughed it off and I proceeded with the next questions. For some of the patients who displayed non-compliance, I found it interesting that when asked how important they felt the recommended treatment regimens they are given to exercise at home are (in terms of affecting their recovery, of course), they would often respond with an answer of “10” (on a 0-10 scale where 0 refers to complete insignificance and 10 refers to absolute significance). However, when later asked if they could honestly grade their compliance, they would sometimes respond with a “5” or a “6” (also on a 0-10 scale where 0 means they don’t do them at all and 10 means they do them no matter what). Therefore, this shows how despite the fact that many patients may value the treatment exercises they are asked to perform at home, there are still some who don’t exactly illustrate the same passion when it comes to actually doing them. And this can be said for a variety of reasons such as, the degree of difficulty of the exercise or possibly some personal matters that may occupy their time rather than stretching or doing something else to stay compliant. If you want to check out the survey and basically what I asked each of the patients, please click here. There’ll be more information/analysis on the surveys as we dive a little deeper into the project, I just wanted to give you all a small taste of what’s to come (I know, I know it’s a lot of information, but please bear with me; it’ll become much more clear in the coming weeks).

And as always, thank you to all who have made it this far. I’m sorry for the rather long post this time; a lot of important things happened this week and I just wanted to keep you all in the loop :-). Also, next week will be my spring break so unfortunately there won’t be a blog post from me for that time :-(. I’ll definitely miss you guys and I hope this break can make you all hungry for my next post which will resume the week after. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the break!

Another Eventful Week

Wooooohoooooo!!! Guess what day it is? That’s right, it’s a Friday and I’m spending my Friday night eating ice cream and writing my week 3 blog post for you guys (I know right, I’m a wild one). It really seemed like you guys enjoyed Bruin more than anything else I wrote about in last week’s post as almost every comment I read mentioned him. I’ll try and bring more Bruin pictures for you guys (that way you have more of an incentive to tune in every week :-P).

As the weeks have gone by, things have progressively been getting juicier and juicier (for lack of a better word). We’ve analyzed patients of many different ages with many different injuries. In doing so, we questioned them on their experiences with physical therapy and even worked to stretch them out/exercise them. See, many of the patients at this clinic understand the aggressive approach it takes, and while they may struggle and fatigue, the long term implications are what makes it worth it. One particular patient described this form of therapy as painful, but necessary. To put this in perspective, I'll hearken back to the senior quote I made: “Obstacles and struggles are just fuel to the fire that makes you stronger.” Trust me, I did not plan this, but turns out it ended up working out pretty well. Anyways, the main point is that everyone needs a little push to get to the other side; and here at Synergy, everyone is aware of that and embraces it (otherwise they’d be at some other clinic right?) But without further ado, let’s get into this week...

As I mentioned in last week’s post, today is the last day for Joe and Lori :(. From here, they will go on to continue their journey in becoming a registered PT and PTA respectively. And just as an FYI, PT’s are mainly concerned with diagnosing patients and prescribing rehabilitation programs while PTA’s prioritize preparing patients to be diagnosed and aiding patients in executing their rehabilitation programs. But anyways, a big thank you to Joe and Lori! I remember telling Joe I want a beard like his because the problem with mine is that it doesn’t connect and his does perfectly. So, if you have any suggestions to fix that, PLEASE comment down below, it’s really been bothering me lately.

In addition to the departure of Joe and Lori, there was also the arrival of a new student, Kirsten. She is currently on a quest to become a PTA and simply trying to familiarize herself within the clinic’s setting and working to hone the requisite skills of a PTA. Though Kirsten will only be here for two weeks, I am really excited to work with her as her outgoing personality seems to comfort every patient and allow them to build trust in her, something I’m working to develop during my time here. As far as my work in clinic this week, it was more of the same routine. I began filling out subjective sheets, which are essentially documents individualized for each patient, holding information on what therapeutic exercises/activates were performed during the visit and notes on how the patient was feeling coming into the visit. These records allow us to analyze any progress the patients are making and which exercises work and which ones don’t. From there, we may adjust the treatment regimens to what caters to the long term benefits of the patients. I also will be discussing with Dr. Vincent about some more in-depth analysis for my research and will work to bring in new concepts such as surveys into next week’s post for you all. But other than that, I think that’ll do it for this post. As always, thank you for tuning this week and I hope to see you next week for more exciting experiences and discoveries!

A Hands On Experience

Aaahh, looks like it’s that time of the week again! As soon as I finished my required hours for this week, my hands have been rapidly churning to type up my experiences for you guys, so I hope you enjoy and find what I do as something interesting and appealing to you :). So just sit back, relax, maybe grab some popcorn, and enjoy!

First off, if you tuned in last week, I introduced some of the team members I work with. But looking back at it, I seemed to have forgotten to mention a very important member of the Synergy family, Bruin. Bruin is the clinic’s therapy dog. Generally speaking, he roams around the office and approaches patients who look in pain. From there, he usually licks their faces or wags his tail out excitement just as a way of brightening their day. See, some of these patients who come in carry deformities, old age, and other limiting factors, which often impedes them from always having a positive outlook on life. Bruin’s main job is to provide some type of spark, big or small, to help these patients with their already tough lives and motivate them to get better. I know you all must be waiting to see what he looks like, so here’s a picture of him below:

Now that that’s over with, let’s get into what exactly I did this week.

I walked into the clinic, hoping to take on a bigger role and possibly work with some patients on my own (as opposed to the shadowing I did last week). And sure enough, my prayers were answered. Dr. Vincent extended my leash in a sense and allowed me to perform three basic hamstring stretches and certain corrective exercises on a few patients. Anatomically speaking, there are three hamstring muscles: the semitendinosus, the semimembranosus, and the biceps femoris. So basically, I was tasked with isolating these muscles individually through a series of stretches that work to eliminate any tightness and provide extended rage of movement. Now, each patient is different and has a different tolerance level. Therefore, as a therapist, it is important to feel for the patients and always ask them if the stretch is too much or too little, so they can maximize the full effects of the stretch. However, it is also important, as Dr. Vincent and the clinic instruct, to push patients somewhat beyond their limits in order to increase muscle strength and expedite the recovery process. Yet, this philosophy may be considered completely incorrect at other offices, which just goes to show that every clinic has its own methods. But when talking to many of the patients about this sort of aggressive approach, they all seemed to value it, claiming that even though a burning sensation may arise, it has proved to transformed their lives and make them stronger.

Unfortunately, for this post we may have to end things a little sentimental. This week, I found out the other four students I had just met last week won’t be working with us for the entire duration of my project. In fact, Jordan and Nicole’s last day was today, and Joe and Laurie’s last day will be next Friday. From here, they will take the next step in their PT journey as they return back to school and possibly conduct further research at other clinics. Even though their departure may open up more opportunities for me to work and connect with patients, these four have taught me so much in such a short time that they will truly be missed. So I'm throwing out a big thank you to them and to all of you who made it to the end of this post. I’ll be back with more eventful experiences next week. Enjoy the long weekend!

Just Warming Up...

Guess who’s back??? First off, I want to thank you all for your patience since my first blog post, I know you guys have been eagerly waiting for my next one :-P. But, let’s not keep you waiting any longer and get right down to it.

I had an amazing first week at the Synergy PT clinic! As soon as I walked through the doors on my first, I was greeted with the most welcoming smile from Kathy, the receptionist at the front desk, which immediately soothed all the nervous tension I had entered the office with. Soon enough, I was introduced into the clinic where I met the man himself, Dr. Vincent Peries (my on-site mentor). After casual salutations, the first thing he told me to do was to correct my posture. “Back straight, eyes up, squeeze those glutes,” he said with such conviction. Throughout the week, Dr. Vincent introduced me to several nuances in what humans consider simple everyday tasks such as standing, walking, and sitting. For instance, he had me practice my walking to experience what the patients go through. He mentions it’s important to have this so that we know how to perform these exercises before blindly instructing the patients how to do so. Therefore, as I was walking on a treadmill, he had me execute intricate heal-to-toe conversions, terminal knee extensions, and once again, severely tightened glutes in order to push off from one leg to another (You won’t believe how much my glutes have been worked just during my first week!).

Aside from making me continually sore, Dr. Vincent introduced me to several of his patients and allowed me to form deep connections with this really diverse group of people. I met individuals of many different ages, backgrounds and injuries. With each patient, I was able to hold a steady conversation, mostly on the basis of why I’m working at the clinic and what I hope to discover with my research. Starting next week, Dr. Vincent said I’ll be working with some of my own patients and will take on a much bigger role in the clinic so I’m super excited for that as these hands are super eager to help!

Now, as far as the team goes, I’ve only introduced you to two members, Kathy and Dr. Vincent. I was also work with several PT (Physical Therapist) and PTA (Physical Therapist Assistant) students from different schools from all over Arizona along with additional synergy staff. First, let’s start off with Jordan, the first student I met and had the pleasure to work with. Jordan has what I like to call a very “chill” personality in that he is always welcoming and easy to talk to. Next up, we have Joe. Joe has one amazing beard, one I aspire to grow one day, but that’s beside the point. His compassionate personality and willingness to do whatever to help each patient really proved to be eye-opening for me. There’s also Laurie. Every time I see Laurie, she’s always smiling and that smile seems to brighten up the clinic every single day. Next, we have Nicole. Whenever Nicole speaks to patients, you can tell they have the absolute trust in her because of her everlasting care no matter the circumstances, something I aspire to gain once I start to work with patients. The Last of the PTs is Drew. When I first worked alongside Drew, he welcomed me with such open arms and taught me the importance of adjusting your therapy style to the comfort of the patient, something that is especially important for strengthening that patient-therapist relationship. And finally, there’s the office manager, Emily, the main reason I’m working at the clinic in the first place as she was completely flexible in working me in with Vincent and for that, I am extremely grateful. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a greater group of people to work with day in and day out throughout my research project!

And that pretty much sums up my first week at Synergy PT! I’m so excited to return next week and pick up where I left off. Be sure to stay tuned as I’ll have another blog post around this time next week and thanks so much for reading until the end. Have a great weekend!