Blog #6

During one of the days during my senior project, I had the opportunity to observe an occupational therapist who worked at the clinic. He mainly focused on patients who had hand and arm and hand conditions or injuries. This was very different from the hip and knee injuries that I had typically been seeing throughout my time observing so I was very intrigued to learn more. One of the patients that came in had a condition known as a trigger finger. This condition is where the finger is unable to straighten as it is locked in a bent position. The patient had just had surgery to fix this condition, resulting in multiple stitches over the diagonal incisions that were cut for the surgery. During their session, the patient got the stitches removed, which surprised me as I only thought that was something that doctors could do. They were also given a tissue massage around the area on their hand to help circulate blood flow after. At the end of the appointment, it was very clear to see how much movement was gained within their hand and finger. This was mostly due to having gotten the stitches removed, but the gain in regular motion of the finger that initially had the trigger condition was very cool to see. I also learned that the diagonal incisions on the hand were purposeful to help the skin heal better. This is because the skin on a hand falls in a diagonal pattern, making it easier for the skin when healing as opposed to straight-line incisions. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog #5

During my project so far, I have been surprised by the amount of documentation the job of a physical therapist required. They are always taking notes, typing up how the patient is feeling and their progression through their exercises. When inquiring about what they are actually writing down, I was told that the SOAP acronym is followed for taking notes. The S in this acronym stands for subjective information, which is what the patient tells the physical therapist about how they are feeling due to their injury or condition. The O stands for objective, which is the data that is measured in a session, which could include range of motion measurements. A is for assessment which is an explanation of how the patient is progressing from session to session. And finally, P is for documenting the next steps and plan for future sessions going forward regarding the patient's exercises and physical goals. I also had the chance to sit in on a few evaluations of new patients in the past few days. ...
Read more

Blog #2

Throughout my time at the Mayfield Village Clinic, I have been observing Rosie Hajdukovic, my mentor. She is a board-certified clinical specialist in sports physical therapy. Throughout the majority of my time observing I have followed her and her patients around as they complete their physical therapy exercises. At times I am not able to shadow Rosie, I spend time with one of the many other physical therapists working at the clinic. Everyone is super nice and helps to explain the science behind each injury to help give me a better understanding of the recovery process. The patients are also very nice and willing to explain their injuries and how they occurred so that I am able to understand each of their situations.  The clinic heavily affects the lives of others through its use of physical therapy. There are a variety of patients that come into the clinic. Some patients have had surgery to help fix an injury or condition while others have a condition or injury that surgery is not...
Read more