This past week, I got to go on another mentor visit at the Carrell Clinic to observe Rachel. Like last time, I found my visit to be very enlightening and I left with a smile on my face and, lots of new information, and some pressing questions I researched answers for.
I was very lucky with my last mentor visit because Rachel happened to have a session with an ACL recovery patient that coincided with my possible mentor visit time. This time was not as fortunate, but I did not expect it to be as that was completely coincidental. However, something equally as helpful arose. During this visit, I shadowed Rachel as she oversaw a session with a man named Joe. Joe, as I learned, is a former orthopedic surgeon himself and has done many ACL reconstruction surgeries. I was ecstatic! I gained lots of new information from both Rachel and Joe about the ACL, and what was so wonderful about Joe’s insight was that I got to learn about what it’s like from the surgeon’s perspective. I also got to learn about Joe’s injury, which was fascinating. He was in physical therapy to recover from a total reverse shoulder replacement. A conventional shoulder replacement device essentially mimics the normal anatomy of the shoulder: a plastic "cup" is fitted into the shoulder socket (glenoid), and a metal "ball" is attached to the top of the upper arm bone (humerus). In a reverse total shoulder replacement, the socket and metal ball are switched. The metal ball is fixed to the socket and the plastic cup is fixed to the upper end of the humerus. Joe is not a younger man, so his recovery needed to be both intensive (to help him heal quickly) without being too excessive (which may actually cause him worse injury). Rachel assigned him many different exercises that looked difficult even to me, but Joe successfully completed them all. It was inspiring to watch the two of them work together - two intelligent, dedicated professionals working together to achieve one common goal. It filled me with motivation to be in that position one day.
Rachel and I also revisited the homework research she had assigned to me that I had completed. My biggest takeaway from this was what I learned about the FIFA 11+ warm up. This is a warmup that is designed to prevent injury in athletes over the age of 13. It has a 30% success rate and, on paper, looks like it covers all the bases of successful injury prevention. However, Rachel asked me to look at it in a different light - a personal light - and think about what I, a completely recovered ACL injury victim, think is missing from it. The answer was glaringly obvious when I thought about it that way. The FIFA 11+ warmup is missing the planting and cutting warmup movements that are crucial to preventing ACL (as well as other knee, hip, and ankle) injuries. It also lacks hamstring and quadricep strengthening movements, both of which help strengthen the leg as a whole and prevent injury. And lastly, I thought that it needed just a few minutes of stretching at the end, because I personally need to stretch before exercising in order to feel like I am reaching my full potential.
I look forward to every week where I get to have a mentor visit because every time I leave, I feel more knowledgeable and confident than I did before. I am becoming increasingly sure about pursuing my career in physical therapy.