This week was especially exciting. On Tuesday somebody brought the perfect number of bagels so everyone working the morning shift could have one, and on Thursday one of the patients brought mini cupcakes for one of the therapists and her "helpers" (aka whoever saw the box and was hungry) to enjoy. Other than the free food, I was able to interact with the patients a lot and learn more about the field.
I had a pretty simple research question: what exactly happens during a patient's first injury evaluation?
I wasn't as confused as this dog, but I wasn't 100% sure about what happened during these appointments. Luckily, I was able to sit in on my one of my site advisor's knee evals!
The patient is a dancer, who had previously been in physical therapy for Osgood-Schlatter's disease, a common, growth-related knee injury. However, this time the patient's pain was in the other knee, and came about after landing from a jump. The sharp pain was located in the back of the knee and flared during activities such as walking up the stairs. To start, Dr. Jeschien asked the patient to do a squat, but they could only bend slightly at the knee before there was discomfort and pain. After asking questions about the current and previous injuries, he asked the patient to walk back and forth (and back and forth and back and forth) in order to make observations about their gait, which is simply just how they walk. Dr. Jeschien noticed that the patient was bringing their knee in and kicking their foot out with every step, a sign of weakness in the quadriceps muscles. After making these observations, he then measured the patient's strength in both knees by bending and stretching the legs and asking the patient to resist when he pushed against either leg. This all seemed pretty straight forward as I sat in, so I sat in and watched everything, even making mental notes of my own about the patients injury.
However, as the eval went along, Dr. Jeschien was taking notes about each measurement he was taking, which would later help him to create the exercise regimen the patient would follow. Most of the notes were numbers on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10 or plus/minus signs to dictate ability, flexibility, and overall strength. By the end of the about 20 minute eval, Dr. Jeschien wrote up a short "starter" program including 4 exercises that the patient would go through that day and continue to do at home and an ice and electrical stimulation period at the end of the rehab. By the time the patient comes for a second appointment, Dr. Jeschien will write more exercises into the routine based on what he saw during the eval and any new information the patient comes back with.
This week was definitely helpful for my research on both knee injuries and how the individual rehab programs are created. See you next week!
I think it's interesting that numerical scores are assigned to a lot of different variables. Does each number have it's own conditions, or is it more of a loose determination of where the patient stands on flexibility, for example?
ReplyDeleteSounds like this week was exciting and productive! It is so cool that you got to sit in an evaluation and actually experience it. Do the numerical scales differ depending on how severe the injury is, or is it the same for all patients' and injuries? I can't wait to see next weeks post.
ReplyDeleteHi Carla! This week's question sounds interesting! What would be an example of an electrical stimulation period for the patient?
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you had the perfect opportunity to answer your research question! In regards to the scale, is there a system that determines the number, or is it mostly relative. See you next week!
ReplyDeleteHey Carla! You mentioned that the player is a dancer. I was wondering if the type of sport or activity that the patient participates in has a great effect on the treatment they will receive? Are there any common aspects between the recovery of patients who do similar activities.?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of patients usually have receive physical therapy? Is there any trend of patients who do a specific sport tend to come in for PT? Do a specific group of people playing a certain sport come in with more severe injuries than others? It's really interesting to see how much wear and tear your body can endure before something's wrong!
ReplyDeleteHello this is a very interesting week since I am a dancer and my friend has the same condition in her knee from dance! I was wondering how often dancers are treated for this condition and how the process might change for how severe it may be?
ReplyDeletenice research! I'm surprised that the evaluation is only from the scale of 1-10. I would have through that it would be more specific. Thanks for the interesting information!
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