HAPPY THANKSGIVING eat a lot of food!
I believe my strongest domain is emergency/ immediate care. I have not been able to experience many emergency situations, however am always very prepared for them to happen, while clinically experiencing I make sure to formularize myself with locations to all emergency equipment and EAPs in cause of an emergency. While during clinical experience I have explained to my preceptors that I would like for something to go wrong. So, then I am able to get the experience of a true accident before I am an AT myself. We now have access to the simulation lab in Marion, we are able to run codes and experience the true natural of an emergency. I feel that I also understand how emergency situations need to be handled whether it is a C-spine injury or a broken bone. Another domain I ham strong in is evaluation, however am much stronger in the lower body than the upper body. I am very confident with lower extremities because I feel like I have been around them the most since entering the program. I am able to match most injuries just from the mechanism of injury for lower body. However, am not as strong as I would like to be for evaluation of the shoulder and back. The special tests for those areas have been very hard for me to remember and truly understand. I have not experienced many injuries in the sports that use shoulder and upper body. But I feel very confident with wrist and hand, but just lack some knowledge for the shoulder and back. However, hopefully after the conference I am attending in London will help me understand upper evaluation a bit better. One way I can strengthen that weakness is by doing more evaluation for upper extremities, whether they are real or just mock evaluations. My biggest weakness is definitely organization and administration, I am O&A right now, so I am still learning most of the material for that domain. The hardest thing that I am having a hard time understanding are the different types of budgets, what they are, when they are used and how they are used. However, after going through and building our own athletic training room and supplying it I feel that I have a better grasp on things. I am going to work much more in that chapter of my BOC prep book, to strengthen that weakness
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A treatment that I find the most effective for me, is cupping. I had a patient during the season who had many knots throughout her hamstrings. I did some trigger point, however for such a large area it was hard on my fingers. I find that with cupping I am able to scan for knots then I can place the cup over top of the knot until it releases. There are bigger cups for larger areas and smaller cups for smaller areas, making it perfect for any location on the body. After cupping or doing any type of massage on an athlete I always explain to them the importance of drinking a lot of water after any type of massage and that they may bruise some in the location of treatment.
This week I was able to experience something I never thought I would experience as an athletic training student, clinically experiencing a horse show. Chaypin and I arrived at the show, scouted out a spot to stand so we could see the whole ring, then placed the cooler in an office. They made it all the way through the jumping events without a problem. Then started the flat, walk, trot. By this time the horses were starting to get overused and a bit frustrated. There were many different divisions in the event. About half way through one of the divisions, two of the horses became spooked, one was taken out of the ring and replaced. The other horse continued in the ring, then quickly reared up almost throwing the girl off the horse. However, she regained control and finished the ride. Toward the end of the horse, the main coach and a rider walked up to us asking if we could take a look at her. She was experiencing some shin pain, that became very severe during her ride. She was pointing to right over her anterior tibialis. I asked her if she had had any problem before and if she did a lot of running. She explained she runs a lot along with riding and she has had shin splints before. Then while palpating she was very uncomfortable and said how much it hurt. While palpating I could feel a lot of crepitus and knots. After Chaypin released one she told the athlete she needs to come into the clinic and sign up for a time to work on her shins. This fall semester my favorite part of my clinical experience has been traveling to Meredith with the women’s soccer team. That was my first time traveling with the team to another school and being able to run on the field for an evaluation. The on-field evaluation was very quick and easy to rule out a fracture and get her off the field quickly looking and palpating, a small amount of swelling on the lateral malleolus. After getting her off the field I observed her lateral malleolus, the swelling had increased twice in size. After observing I was able to do a complete evaluation to rule in the injury, doing Talar tilt, Kilger’s, Anterior drawer, and Tap test. She had pain with all tests, however in the same location. After determining the injury to the anterior talofibular and calcaneofibular ligaments being a grade one sprain. I was able to tape her ankle using mule skin and elasticum. I then took her through functional sports specific tests, cutting, sprinting, and jogging on the sideline. She was able to complete all tests with minimal pain, so she was able to return to the game in the second half for only a short amount of time. After the game and taking the ankle tape off we realized that her swelling had increased to the size of a baseball. Over the next two weeks I was able to monitor her progress and do treatment and rehab with her. That experience was special to me because it was my first time doing an on the field evaluation. It was also special to me because I formed a very good relationship with my soccer girls during that trip and have continued being friends with them since then. They look out for me and much as I look out for them. This has definitely helped me reach my goal for my future. My goal is to become an athletic trainer for a professional team, after this semester I have become more open to working with a soccer team and possibly even female.
As I have said in the past, women’s soccer has been my favorite sport so far to gain experience with. This week, I experienced something for the first time. While trigger pointing a hamstring an athlete almost kicked me in the face, two different times. Since soccer ended, clinical has been very slow. I am able to experience with men’s basketball, so it should be speeding up soon. |