DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

28 October 2010

1:30-5:00pm   3.5 hours

Accumulated Hours: 31


  Nicole had a patient today that hurt his arm; he tore the ligament in the area around the elbow playing football. The doctor put him in a splint restricting straightening/movement for a couple of weeks. After that he remained in the splint however was capable of bending and straightening the arm as far as possible without pain. The shoulder and wrist received no injury or signs of pain from the incident. Nicole began with heat followed by massaging the area to loosen up swelling and stiffness. From there she gave him wrist curls and an exercise where he extended the arm, then brought his arm up as far as possible and repeated. He also did an exercise that required twisting the wrist back and forth. In the end his arm was put under ice with stem around the injured area for about ten minutes. The patient’s main concern was getting back into sports and was looking for a splint that protects the arm but allows enough movement for sport activity. Before sports, Nicole’s main concern is healing and strengthening the arm. I have noticed that a therapist always follows what the doctor prescribes for the injury. For example, Nicole will only prescribe a moveable splint if the doctor allows the patient to start back up with football, otherwise she will continue therapy to strengthen with restrictions.

  A new patient came in after having the joint in her pinky dislocated and destroyed when walking her dog. The leash was wrapped around the pinky when the dog jumped forward and thus pulled the finger completely out of place. The doctor operated and placed temporary screws within the joint to help support the join while it repaired. When the screws were removed the incision became infected causing much swelling. As Nicole described to the patient, large amount of scar tissue and swelling in the joint is preventing movement in the finger as the tendon is caught in the tissue rather than being able to glide across the joint. The patient was put on heat and told to soak the finger in warm water at home to loosen up the scar tissue. After heat the finger was massaged and stretched.

  There were four patients in the clinic at the same time today with hand injuries from walking dogs, whether from falls or from the leash itself. Nicole mentioned a dog trainer that showed her how to hold the leash correctly to avoid injury. It might be interesting to add a section to the forum that I am going to build for my project a section on how to prevent injuries from dog walking or may be even just common injuries in general.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.