Tuesday May 5^th, 2009

 

Daily Activities:

            Today Stephanie and I met Diane at 11:00 to meet with our first patient. She is a 42-year-old female who suffered a fall at an obstacle course. Her right meniscus and patella tendon were damaged and torn as they were directly hit from the fall. Diane began the patient with small weight exercises ranging from lateral pulls, to hamstring curls. As this was going on Diane let Stephanie and myself look over the patient’s medical report for the knee. We found out that she went through an operation two weeks ago from Monday. The surgeon gave Diane a report that said she had a grade 2 tear and grade 3 tear, (grade 3 is the worst). Diane then persisted to put the patient on Stimulation, which breaks up the fluids and swelling in the injured area. After the Stimulation Stephanie and I observed Diane as she made the patient balance on a foam block to see how strong the knee was. Diane said that in order to gain more movement in the knee again, they would have to rebuild the muscles around it. Diane, Stephanie and I created a workout plan for the patient, which would bring her knee back to full health slowly but safely.

            After our first patient Stephanie and I were given diagrams of the knee and definitions and placements of the ligaments and bones in the knee area. Steph and I were also given a disorder or injury, and it’s our job to research how it can happen, and how you treat it.

 

Today was a big step for me, as I was able to work on my own patient, EM who had a torn ACL a year ago. I used this blue type of jell to massage the knee and with the help of Diane we used the Stimulation machine to take down some of the swelling. Overall it was a big step for me and I am excited to see what the rest of the week will bring.