Chiro-practically speaking

Professional VS NonProfessional

On greater than one occasion, Challene has approached me with a headache, neckache, shoulder pain, or whatever in hopes of receiving a cure from my skilled hands. Of course, I oblige. Apparently, we had a little spy a few times because Ethan now asks for his neck and back to be worked on. "Fix my back," he'd say while diving on the ground. He'd hold still as I would adjust his back and neck.

Needless to say, I need to get me a table. Well, on greater than one occasion Ethan would be so greatful for my magic hands that he would want to return the favor. "Ethan fix Daddy's back. Lay down Daddy." He'd say excitedly. Of course, I'd oblige.

Not bad form on this one.
I think all his training must have gone out the window for this move. Honestly, I don't know what he was trying to accomplish here.
He was just finishing an 'Atomic Elbow Drop' in this photo. I quickly explained that patients don't appreciate that move as a therapeutic adjustment.

He learned from the best!




Mommy got a taste of it too!

Well, I'm two weeks into my next quarter and I'm loving it. Let me 'splain. It seems that 8th and 9th quarters are the most demanding of the entire program. As such, the school has created the split program where a student may opt to 'split' 8 and 9 into three different quarters. This I have chosen to do. I have but a mere 23 credit hours this quarter. Ahhhh, it's like a walk in the park. I never thought I'd be happy about 23 hours. But when you go from 38 to 23, it makes a big difference. At any rate, I now have Friday off completely and I get a half day off on Thursdays.

I have 5 patients. One of which is actually off this quarter, but if he needs to come in, I'm his intern. Two of my patients are upper quartermen which is good because they can tell me all their mistakes and give me pointers. I hope to take advantage of that.

As is custom, I suppose I'll give you a breakdown of my classes for this quarter:

• Physical Therapy II - Whereas last time we studied modalities (i.e.: electrical therapy, hot/cold, Ultrasound, Diathermy, etc.) this quarter we're focusing more on the rehabilitation aspect of physical therapy. For example, we're studying Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) which is an incredibly affective way to rehab torn muscle groups (rotator cuff for example). We did it in lab for our shoulders for about 30 minutes and I was hurting the next day. It really isolates the specific groups you need. Which..... is good.


• NeuroMusculoSkeletal III - The last in the NMS series. We finished the lower extremity last quarter, so we started the upper extremity this quarter. For the laboratory final we had to put together our own exam flows for the knee and ankle. "What does that mean, Will?" When a patient comes in, or if an injury occurs during a sporting event or something this is the exam that should be done. It screens for fractures and includes a complete exam of the entire area. Well, everybody (including me) was freaking out about putting these together. There were several "flows" floating around campus that people were using, but I put my own flow together that made sense to me and I kicked butt on the final. I mean, I nailed it! I ended up performing the knee regional exam for my instructor which was probably the harder one due to the incredible number of orthopedic tests included. I missed one point -- which was just a brain-fart on my part. My partner got the ankle exam and barely passed.


• Soft Tissue II - Part one was several quarters ago and focused on massage and stretching. This time, it is geared towards rehab like PTII. We're learning inovative ways to perform spinal traction without having to buy a $500,000 machine. Actually, all it involves is a long belt. Pretty cool.


• Clinic Phase II - A continuation of the clinic experience. We spent most of last quarter memorizing a general physical exam flow. This quarter is getting more specific. Last week we did an Eye Ear Nose and Throat exam. They hire people to act as patients for us, so it's kind of cool that way. My patient was complaining of a headache and vision changes. Well, after examining her, I discovered that she has Glaucoma (not really, but was pretending to be). It was kind of fun. Not so fun in this class are a couple of the other specific exams I have to perform. Let me explain. WSCC trains us to be "Port-of-entry" physicians. What does that mean? Just like an M.D. family doctor, I'm trained to diagnose pretty much anything. The only difference is my choice of treatment. As it is, the school is required to teach me according to the scope of practice for chiropractors in Oregon. Oregon has the biggest scope of practice in the nation for chiropractors. As a result, part of the program includes performing a certain number of Prostate Exams, Gynecological Exams, and Male/Female Genitourinary Exams. Those will be happening this quarter. They hire people to be patients for these too. Soooo.... that's nice.


• Cardiorespiratory - Ummm, studying diseases/conditions of the cardiorespiratory system. Beyond pathology we look into history, presenting signs/symptoms, diagnosis treatment, and prognosis. It's a great class, but the instructor is so dog-on boring! Honestly, the only way I can stay awake is to do a Sudoku or a crossword during class. Otherwise, I'd be sleeping.


• Cast Lab II - Last quarter we did the lower extremity, can you guess what we're doing this quarter? Upper extremity, that's right. Beyond plaster casts, we also do slings, taping, splinting, compression wraps, etc., etc. We actually only meet like four times throughout the quarter.

Looks like that's about it. I have actual scheduled time I have to be in the clinic. If I don't have patients that day, and am not asked to be the Intern-on-call, I do paperwork. There is a gargantuan amount of paperwork to do. You may be surprised.

Well, you made it to the end of this entry, here's a couple more pictures for your reward.

Ethan explaining his drawing of Nemo. He's never been able to recreate the drawing since.

My cute little Joshy. His whole mouth is white with approaching teeth. He's been pretty miserable lately.

Quinn and LauraLee came up for a visit during break. We plan on an entire entry dedicated to that trip, but here's a teaser. They took this of us at Multnomah Falls.

My bike during a nice ride up Larch Mountain recently. Nice way to end it I think.