A new day, a new PT to shadow. With more appointment cancellations and schedule differences, I ended up shadowing 4 physical therapists today. I started with Zach who was working with a runner trying to regain strength. The patient ran on the treadmill for a while, and then did some isolations and strength building exercises. This was the first patient I’ve worked with who actually had the strength to do cardio and run. I also shadowed Ann Marie for the first time today while she did an ankle evaluation on a patient who came in after going to an Orthopedic Urgent Care. I got to see how she assessed the injury first, and then gave strengthening exercises. This particular patient was already in the habit of doing high intensity workouts regularly, so she would likely have a faster healing time due to her built up strength. I was also back with Tyler for a couple appointments today, and got to see one of the patients again from earlier this week.
One of the most interesting cases of the day was with Kristina. A patient came in 3 days post-op after getting 2 screws taken out of the front of his knee. He had been a regular patient before, and had other sugeries done in the past. Since he was only 3 days out, Kristina had to do a dressing change, and it was cool to see the sutures and how it’s healing. We worked mainly on strength building, since his mobility was still very good, likely due to the fact that he was a young adult and the placement of the incision at the front of the knee and not directly over the kneecap. I also got to see the Alter-G (anti-gravity) treadmill being used for the first time!
Throughout this week I’ve noticed that the majority of patients come in with either shoulder or knee mobility issues. I’ve seen patient after patient doing the same arm strengthening exercise or balancing exercise, and they’re all based around strength building and gaining mobility.
