Reflection: 28/9/2020 Hours: 2
What happened:
Today was the first day in clinic, we had a group discussion on PPE, procedures for clinic and completes a few case studies together.
What I was thinking and feeling and what was good or bad:
I felt confident that I remembered quite a bit from the second year which boosted by confidence however I realised I have forgotten a lot of pathology and am going to revise this gradually over the next few weeks and particularly in reading week. I still feel nervous about exercise prescription as we haven’t covered this much yet during our lectures, I know that this will improve across the year and to work on this I will read lots of journal articles and books. I am going to create an exercise list for each joint and for specific pathologies, so that when I am in clinic, I have easy access to exercises, if I am struggling with exercise prescription.
In this session I learnt that going into extension with side flexion, tests which facet joint is injured. I also learnt three key exercises that can be used to ease pain in individuals with discogenic pathologies. Discogenic pain is worsened when the lumbar spine is in a flexed position.
The following exercises extend the lumbar back to ease the pain.
- Knee hugs (laying on back) can progress to relax knees down to either side
- Book under bum while laying on back to pull spine into extension/increase extension in back
- Flat back, knees and hips flexed at 90 degrees, alternating each leg
What else I could have done/areas for improvement:
Keep practicing these areas, making notes on key points learnt and using these to prepare for final exam.