This week I was able to do my first non-simulated evaluation. This was on the first day I was back and I felt like I had forgotten a lot of evaluation skill. I made myself do it anyway because I knew it would be good for me. The patient was complaining of lower back pain. He said it was so bad that he had to stop doing his work out and the strength and conditioning coach made him go to the athletic training room. I took a history and did the observation which I felt confident with, but when I got to special tests, I realized I had forgotten a lot. At this point with the history I was between a muscle strain and SI dysfunction. I consulted with the ATC and we decided to start with special tests for SI dysfunction. I did the compression and distraction test which was positive, then I did gillet test and the stand and bend over test, and only one of them was positive. Then I did the long sitting test which was crazy positive. I felt like I had pretty good proof for SI dysfunction by then. I reported back to the ATC, and she told me I was going to realign his hips. Maybe I’m just a nerd, but I was really excited to learn how to do this. She said first I have to determine which side of the hip is raised and which side was lowered. We did this by checking the alignment of the iliac crest, ASIS, and PSIS. Then we did a method where the patient placed his foot on my shoulder and I pushed down on his other leg and he pushed against both resistances. I checked the progress by doing another long sitting test and the results were a lot better. I felt pretty cool for being able to do that. I then hooked him up to IFC and gave him ice to help with the pain and soreness he was feeling. I felt like the process was very slow, but I am glad that I was able to come up with a diagnosis and be able to fix it.
In addition, I have re-stated my goals for this semester. My first goal, I will complete my clinical packet by attempting at least 10 tasks a week. Second, I will become proficient at doing evaluations by attempting or practicing at least 1 a week. Third and final, I will become proficient at doing tape jobs by attempting or practicing at least 3 a week. This week I have attempted 14 tasks.
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This is where I do my weekly clinical blog assignment. There is either a prompt I am responding to, or I just talk about something exciting I saw during the week.
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April 2019
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