Abstract.
Lauren Tymchuk: Dr. Sloan Allen, Lanier Village Estates-Physical Therapy
This year my mentorship was at Lanier Village Estates in physical therapy. I shadowed Dr. Sloan Allen everyday following her around and seeing what she did with different patients different days of the week. She broadened my knowledge of the anatomy and how our bodies work as well as taught me how age affects different muscular systems. I got to see progress over time and see how with patience and determination, patients were able to overcome their injuries. After seeing what a physical therapist does on a daily basis, I was able to realize, more so, that I would want to go to college a couple extra years to be able to actually diagnose the injuries I saw patients coming to Dr. Sloan with. This mentorship was a great experience and taught me how to handle different situations regarding different patients’ work ethics. One of my favorite parts about sports medicine is that you start out with a setback, and over time, you can see how your input helps your patients come to a solution. This mentorship allowed me to see that sports medicine is definitely the field I want to work in and gave me a chance to create great relationships with patients that have had full life experiences. Interview:
Reflection: I can agree with this on a personal level as I feel the same as Dr. Sloan on wanting to make an impact with patients that have had sports injuries. After going through the grind and having many injuries myself, I feel that I would know how to relate to my patients on a personal level and be able to keep them going every step of the way. 2. How do you know what exercises each patient needs to do? Answer: This depends on their age. Different ages have different capabilities, and I have seen all the spectrums hands on. Many exercises I have learned over the years from others, or I have come up with them myself. There are many standard exercises we learned in college, but once you go out into the real world, it’s very different. Reflection: I could see age being a huge factor on specific exercises. I know that someone in retirement wouldn’t be able to do the same exercises I would be able to do as I am currently active in sports and still a teenager. To me, it seems like I would need a lot of education on the background of certain injuries to know which ones my patients would need to do. 3. Do you ever have to look up exercises online? Answer: I often do that when I am stumped with specific patients. Many patients are limited in the exercises they can do depending on age and mentality, so if I ever can’t come up with exercises on my own, I look on medical websites for help. Reflection: In this day and age, the internet is so resourceful. I could see potentially using trustworthy websites, such as gaileo, or many other medical websites to get ideas from. Since I like to challenge myself so much, I feel like I would stray away from using the internet as much as I could. 4. What did they teach you in college about specific exercises for specific injuries? Answer: We had a different unit for each part of the body, so that we could go in depth to every possible injury. The exercises we learned about are often useful, but they aren’t always the most beneficial for my patients. We learned from examples, but in the workplace, there are real people with different types of bodies that function in all kinds of different ways. I use many of the techniques they taught us, but I usually have to come up with ones that zone in more on the specific injury. Reflection: I could see how college would teach you a lot of the basics, but no one really knows what they are going to need to know until they are actually out there working with real people. 5. Do you ever ask other physical therapists for advice on what exercises you should do with your patients? Answer: I can usually come up with or find exercises on my own, but if I know of a physical therapist that has recently had a similar case, I have gone to them for advice before. Reflection: I think this is a smart idea. You can learn from others while gaining knowledge for yourself. I could see this being very useful for a physical therapist just starting out. 6. Do you ever feel it necessary to do the exercises with your patients to see if they are really working the targeted area? Answer: Yes, I do this a lot just to double check that my exercises are working on the specific parts of the body that I want them to work on. Usually after a couple of reps, I can feel the muscle in my own body doing or not doing what I want it to. Reflection: I would so do this just to get the workout in, and I think it’s smart double checking yourself just to make sure. It never hurts to be safe. This also keeps you humble which is a good life skill to acquire. 7. Is it more beneficial to do the same exercises over and over again or different ones each time? Answer: It depends on the patient, but more often than not, I find it more beneficial to do different exercises, so that you know that all parts of the targeted area are getting worked on. Reflection: This makes a lot of sense to me as the same exercises could also get boring making the patient lose motivation. 8. Do you feel that your background with sports has helped you have an advantage for knowing how to treat certain injuries over someone who has never played sports? Answer: Definitely. I feel that I knew more about injuries from my own and from just constantly being around athletes before I even went to college. I feel that I know how to balance the right amount of challenges with the right amount of encouragement. Reflection: I can atest to this as I could see my background with so many different sports helping my future career. Not only do I have knowledge about injuries and the body, but I have worked with some of my best friends as they overcame injuries always having to keep them as positive as I possibly could. 9. Do you feel that the mental aspect of injuries determines the recovery time more so than the physical aspect? Answer: I do. If you are motivated and want to recover quickly, you can usually do so. When I have patients that hate coming in and never want to put in the best effort they can, their recovery times are always longer. Many times, I try to motivate and get my patients staying hopeful, so I can speed along their recoveries whether it be for sports or just for going back to everyday life. Reflection: Personally, I could see a person’s mentality determining their recovery time more than their physicality. When I have been positive and motivated to recover just to make it back in time for an important game, I have always succeeded. 10. How do you know when certain exercises are too much for certain patients? Answer: This depends on their age as well. I wouldn’t give the same amount of reps to someone that is 65 that I would to someone that’s 13 and in very good shape. I have to be wise and patient as I ultimately just want my patients to get better. If they start hurting or are very tight, I never make them keep going through with an exercise. We take multiple breaks and go slow to begin with just to make sure we don’t hurt the injury all over again. Reflection: I could see age depending on this as well as just overall physical strength. I know that I can’t do certain exercises even without an injury that a 300 lbs football player could do just because I don’t have the capabilities that they do at my size. |