Today I first was able to meet with a Physical Therapy Assistant in the morning. I learned the different responsibilities of a PTA and I found it all very interesting. I especially enjoyed the different patients we had and I loved that we were able to talk about the different diagnosis’ and treatment options. One of the patients, Mrs. Toucan, has osteoarthritis is her knees and rheumatoid arthritis. I was able to discuss the things I had learned from class, the osteoarthritis study I participated in, and the different articles I have read. I loved being able to bring up the new treatments I had read about in medical journals and discuss the different implications.
We met with Mr. Rooster again today. His enthusiasm is refreshing! He tried SO had to be able to maintain good posture and as I would see him throughout the day he would sit up very straight and give me a little smile. We did sit-to-stand exercises and worked on maintaining balance while sitting. Those trunk muscles are important and I had him reaching all around for cones. This was good for his trunk muscles and also beneficial in helping him to remember to look up and pay attention to his surroundings.
Ms. Zebra is going home soon and she has made AMAZING progress. When I first started seeing her, she had no control of her trunk. The PT had to pick her up for transfers and she was not able to assist very much. Today we set up an obstacle course to help her remember that there are often objects to her left (the weaker side). We all laughed as I clumsily bumped into objects and noted that I needed the therapy and not Ms. Zebra.
We saw many other patients and I was able to observe different situations. I am becoming more comfortable in the gym setting and I love being a ‘regular’ in the gym. I am starting to understand many therapy techniques and I get to practice my therapeutic communication.
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