Almost finished with ultrasound...

Well, I guess that's a relative thing to say. No one's ever really done practicing their ultrasound skills, after all.

But I AM almost done on the short-term front. Practical on Thursday sometime. I'll go in, do my two patient scenarios, and serve as a patient for two of my classmates, and then I'm DONE for the day.

Back from Busy Week!

I know, I know. In my last entry I said I was back, and I mean it this time. Having two practicals in one week means you don't really want to spend any free time doing anything BUT study and practice. And because of the way my personal life was set up at the time, I had zero time for anything outside of studying.

That'll probably happen again. And again, and again. Just the nature of the beast, I suppose.

We started doing ultrasound, and our teacher is understandably nervous about our being able to perform with little supervision -- hence the necessity of practice, practice, practice. I've probably put this much effort and practice into little else in my life, and had better results (since early youth I've spent many hours in front of a television playing video games, for example, and had much better results with those!).

Outside of that, school's going well. Making roughly mid-B's for everything, which is about what I expected.

Day Fifteen: So it's been a day...

...or two since I last updated. Sorry. Been busy! You understand, right?

Two practicals are coming up next week. I took a test today and did a presentation on my book I mentioned in a previous update ("The Horse Boy" by Rupert Isaacson). Think I nailed both of 'em. But THEN we had an "open lab" session with the teacher we're having practicals with next week and it made me pretty nervous to think of all the practice I still need. Worse still was the message I received through our online school forum with all the rules regarding practical day: our lab is one full day in the week, so on practical day we have to randomly select a time from a hat and prepare ourselves for it. Everyone will eventually go, but some will have more time to prepare for practicals that morning/early afternoon than others, so it's important to come to class prepared to go right away.

My lab day (and therefore my practical day) is Wednesday -- for that class, anyway (Clinical Kinesiology). I have another practical the following day (Therapeutic Procedures), with the same type of standards.

Basically I saw that message and it hit me that this is definitely happening.

I hope I don't come off sounding whiny or griping about the wonderful experiences I'm getting. But man. These practicals are 5-6 days away and I'm ALREADY feeling nervous.

I'll try to think of it like Russell Brand once said: "I feel nervous! It feels good to feel something."

Yeah. Maybe!

Day Twelve: More tests + practicals!

WHOA was I wrong when I wrote that I had no more tests yesterday. We're having one Friday (not to mention a five-minute presentation) plus two practicals and another test next week. It's been pretty much a solid string of tests since last week, really.

Sometimes you get so busy you forget you're taking seven classes with seven unique exams to take each time!

Gotten some of my test grades back. So far so good. Making pretty solid B's mostly. When I got in, I told myself to try to reach for the lofty goal of all A's each semester...

...we'll see!

Day Eleven: No More Tests + Ultrasound!

Took the last of my handful of tests today. I feel really good about this one. It was in Therapeutic Procedures I and consisted of everything we'd covered in both class and lab from the beginning up until our current stopping point (bed mobility and transfers). I actually feel better about this one than the last two. I had a moment though where I went into the student lounge and the 12-13 other students were all standing around chatting about correct/incorrect answers (something you'll find in pretty much every school, I suppose). Usually I go in and nervously check my answers against theirs, but in this instance, I felt more confident that I was right about the majority of the questions.

I think my studying is getting a lot better. I'm always nervous about my habits at the beginning of a new class -- you just don't know since you have no data.

After that it was just a matter of starting our newest section on heat and cold, plus our newest lab (for Thursday): Ultrasound! Apparently my teacher gets notoriously nervous about teaching new students how to perform ultrasound procedures (she supposedly even screams at people while they're trying to learn), so while this seems like a pretty cool section, we'll see how we fare.

Happy Labor Day!

Hope everyone had a good, long, fun-filled weekend!

Weekend Article: Tripping seniors to keep them from falling?

Researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago have devised an experiment to help prevent falls in senior citizens, according to a report by Lindsey Tanner of the Associated Press. While conventional research methods have included exercises to boost stability and balance, a research team from the university - led by physical therapist professor Clive Pai, PT, PhD - has devised an experimental moving walkway that acts like a treadmill - except in that it includes shifting jolts in different directions to keep the user from getting too used to walking in that direction. The user will also be outfitted with a special harness to keep them from actually falling while "tripping" on the walkway.

Preliminary research found that 24 similar "trips" in just one walkway session taught older adults to learn to catch themselves and reduced their chances of falling outside the lab, during everyday living, by 50 percent up to a year later (Tanner 2014).

Pai is optimistic about the preliminary findings, which have proven more effective than standard conventional fall prevention techniques. "His research is focusing on building subconscious learning," the report said, "and evidence so far shows it can happen surprisingly fast. 'This is all implicit learning. We don’t give any instruction. They don’t have to be motivated — they’re naturally motivated because they don’t want to be on the floor,' [Pai] said" (Tanner 2014).

Pai's team received a $1 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging to study and develop the treadmill system, and plans to enroll 300 participants within the next five years (Tanner 2014).

Tanner, Lindsey. (2014). Tripping seniors on purpose to stop future falls. The Associated Press. Retrieved from http://bigstory.ap.org/article/tripping-seniors-purpose-stop-future-falls

Day Ten: Week two, concluded

Did terrific on practical #1, aced the med term test (well I don't know truly how well yet, but I'm sure I did well), and all assignments were turned in on schedule.

Now time for a Friday/Saturday where I do absolutely nothing school-related. It's time I took some time off.

Then back to the books. This Labor Day weekend doesn't get to be fun just because I want it to be. I have two more tests this week plus a five-minute presentation to give. Oh, and ANOTHER practical coming up on bed mobility and transfers.

It sounds like a lot, and it is. But I think I'm finally getting the hang of this schedule.

Day Nine: Now that THAT'S over...

Practical #1 completed. Don't know yet how I did (I find out tomorrow). And I'm not going to violate my honor code by talking about what was on it, I'll just say I was pleasantly surprised.

Big med terminology test tomorrow. Gotta study hard. This week just doesn't stop!

Day Eight: Goniometry!

Goniometry is harder than it looks! That's probably what they expect from us, though. I always knew the therapists I'd observed were masters of measuring a patient's exact body landmarks. Hardest part had to be keeping the proximal arm steady during an active motion. After that it's just a matter of reading the right markings.

Well, the teachers have been saying that we're the "over-achiever" class. Apparently we're far ahead of the previous class. And instead of trying to get us to conform to their idea of where we should be, they simply keep raising the bar. Pretty great quality to have in a teacher.

Day Seven: Almost falling asleep

Definitely had one o' "those" days today. Getting out of school and working out was a really nice reprieve from the doldrums of sitting in a desk for seven and a half hours. All day.

Not to complain. Wednesday will get better. I have Kinesiology lab all day Wednesdays, and that's always a fun course.

We're doing goniometry, too (measuring range of motion in joints) so that'll be real fun.

Day Six: Work, work, work!

SO busy with studying these days I hardly had time to research/write on this blog. Sorry for the late entries. It's been hectic. I had a fun, relaxing weekend full of two whole days of NO school only to follow it all up with a super busy week including my first practical. So, yeah! Go school!

Anyone else get that feeling? I'm sure I'll look back on all this one day and go "Wow, I can't believe I made it this far."

Weekend Article: New Delaware law will include Telehealth outreach, dry needling

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell gushed about a new state law that opened doors for the practice of dry needling (a practice that dates back to the ancient days of Chinese acupuncture) and updated the definition of physical therapy practice in the state -- an update which now includes telehealth plus the ability to allow non-native visiting physical therapists to treat patients when they are "affiliated with athletic teams and organizations or performing arts companies who are temporarily practicing, competing, or performing in Delaware" (Brady 2014).

The move was seen as a major coup for the state Physical Therapy Association, as evidenced by George Edelman, PT, OCS, MTC, president of the Delaware Chapter. "The legislative process was very arduous," Edelman said. "I am grateful for all of our chapter members who attended hearings, met with legislators, and sent emails or made phone calls in support of HB 359" (APTA 2014).

The APTA chapter president could not have been more proud of the trajectory seen for his state. "We are thrilled that Delaware now has a physical therapy statute that reflects 21st century practice" (APTA 2014).

American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). (2014). New Delaware PT law includes Telehealth, dry needling [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2014/8/22/DelawarePracticeAct

Brady, Gerald L. (2014). House bill 359: An act to amend title 24 of the Delaware code relating to physical therapy and athletic training. Retrieved from: http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.NSF/vwLegislation/HB+359?Opendocument

Day Five: Emotional rollercoaster

That's what this week has been, largely. Just a series of ups and downs the size of which left me tired and weak by the end of each day.

Can't say I didn't enjoy it, though!

Future PTA students - those of you who read this blog, anyway - please do take notice. I don't know your program or your instructors. Everything is coming from my personal experience and my own instructors at my own campus. But what IS uniform with your program, most likely, is the pacing of the courses. And it is fast. I have a four-year degree in English from a local university and I've never had to learn so much in so little time. They cram 15 weeks of school into 11 to make room for administrative stuff plus clinicals. And I can guarantee that will be what your program wants from you.

No, if I'd had a better idea of the pace of this program (and had more than just people's words to go on), I'd have had all my homework done well ahead of time. Needless to say, I'm not exactly behind, but getting homework done is a critical process that slows study time down. It's nice to have weekends for a short reprieve, but once Monday hits it's going to hit hard.

I'm just saying: get ahead of the game before it gets ahead of you. That's the lesson I learned the hard way this week.

Day Four: Hellooo practical number one!

First day of Therapeutic Procedures Lab and I'm already signing up for my first practical next week. Luckily it's all about taking vital signs, and aside from a few hiccups, I'm about 90% on those.

We went from being complete amateurs (no vital sign taking experience) to having to master the skill over the weekend; then we did bed dressing and draping & positioning -- e.g. if someone has neck pain you need to position and drape them in the treatment room according to how you treat that pain (fyi - we learned that it's important to have them in a position where you can adequately get to their neck - or whatever part of their body aches).

Bed mobility was our final stop. I'd actually seen some PTAs and nursing assistants from a local home health clinic use a lot of bed mobility techniques on my grandmother a few years back, so there wasn't a whole lot of new ground there. We even got to perform these moves on one another using actual hospital beds so we could see things from the patient's perspective.

I'm learning a ton in a little time, and it's making me anxious - so anxious that one of my classmates read my heart rate at 105 (it was a time error, but it could've happened)! This is probably the most I've had to learn in such a short time. I'm still excited, though. My teacher today said that all the second semester students get to have more fun.

Hope she's right!

Day Three: Well THAT was interesting!

Had my first Kinesiology & Therapeutic Exercise lab today. Was pretty fun! Even for a class that lasted all day!

We were in a class of nine students. We discussed simple biomechanics, learned a few moves (ab/adduction, in/eversion, rotation, etc) and even did some hands-on with one another trying to find bony landmarks and learning how to palpate. Then we practiced our biomechanics moves until lunch break, then came back to do some fun experiments about finding center of gravity in wheelchair patients -- by climbing into wheelchairs and going up and down ramps. It was a pretty full day, too, considering. I started typing this around 4 in the afternoon and had to take a quick nap in between posting it; the day wore me out.

Super late day two post!

I know this is really late, and I have to be brief because it's late and I need to get to bed.

Documentation was the course I had today. Super interesting, fun, and very vital to the profession in every way. We have a fun teacher who is making us teach a skill (any skill we know well enough) to the class and recording it so we can watch it back and grade ourselves. It'll be fun and interesting. I might ask her permission to have the video of myself so I can share it here.

That's really all for now. My schedule was super light today but the work in other classes has me beat.

(First day of) actual class!

WOW. Man, I mean ... Wow. That was a ton of information. I've heard some horribly ill-informed people call PTAs "glorified secretaries," mocking the idea that because they have the word "assistant" in their title, they must not possess any technical medical knowledge. What planet were they from?

Today was an 8am-3:30pm day, roughly. With less than a handful of breaks in between. Man. Just a complete storm of information. I'll definitely have to go back and look it all up again in the teacher's notes because there were times I simply could not keep up.

All that aside, I definitely think this is it. This is where I need to be. With all this suffering and griping about falling behind in my note-taking, and I continue to know in my heart of hearts that coming to this program was not a mistake.

This is how it's gonna be for the next 8-9 months. Better get used to it!

Weekend Article: Neurons from stem cells in rats

I love the field of neurology. It fascinates me that these nerve cells throughout our body act as the medium by which all sensations are felt, all information is synthesized, and all activity in our body is directly impacted. It's very fascinating and it's always something I look for when I scour the web for science news.

In this particular article, it appears that, again, human stem cells are responsible for yet another marvel of modern neuroscience. Scientists at the University of San Diego School of Medicine used human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to produce thousands of axons in lab rats with spinal cord injuries (News-Medical.net, 2014).

According to the early online edition of the scientific journal Neuron, Paul Lu, PhD, reported that the human iPSC-derived axons "extended through the white matter of the injury sites, frequently penetrating adjacent gray matter to form synapses with rat neurons" (News-Medical.net, 2014).

The stem cells were derived from a healthy 86-year-old male patient.

What's further fascinating about this study are the larger implications it could have on the very notion that spinal cord injuries will necessarily mean permanent damage to the body. If, for example, we can prove that the mechanisms involved with the growth and extension of these axons can overcome any amount of damage to the spinal cord and further synapse with the host body, even with stem cells derived from fairly aged patients.

To caution the reader, however, senior author Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD, states that we might have to wait to learn how to control the growth of axons before jumping to human trials.

The enormous outgrowth of axons to many regions of the spinal cord and even deeply into the brain raises questions of possible harmful side effects if axons are mistargeted. We also need to learn if the new connections formed by axons are stable over time, and if implanted human neural stem cells are maturing on a human time frame - months to years - or more rapidly. If maturity is reached on a human time frame, it could take months to years to observe functional benefits or problems in human clinical trials (News-medical.net, 2014).

Tuszynski believes the findings to be extraordinary, however, the research is much too limited yet to properly restore functional use of limbs to the body. "Ninety-five percent of human clinical trials fail. We are trying to do as much as we possibly can to identify the best way of translating neural stem cell therapies for spinal cord injury to patients. It's easy to forge ahead with incomplete information, but the risk of doing so is greater likelihood of another failed clinical trial" (News-Medical.net, 2014).

I will however be updating this blog in the future to see how this plays out. I would love for this to become an opportunity in my lifetime.

But we'll see!


News-Medical.net. (2014). Neurons derived from human iPSC and grafted into rats after spinal cord injury produce cells. News-Medical staff. Retrieved from http://www.news-medical.net/news/20140808/Neurons-derived-from-human-iPSC-and-grafted-into-rats-after-spinal-cord-injury-produce-cells.aspx.

Review: Day Sixteen

Gonna start picking it up with the school work soon. Been studying more muscles than reading lately.

Once our online access is granted, I'm so gonna tear into those assignments and get them done early so they won't be hanging over my head the whole weekend. This has to be a fun weekend for me; there won't be many (or any) after that!

Any other budding PTAs out there know what I'm saying?