Hours gained: 215
Total hours: 221
This was my last session in the clinic, and I was very upset about that. I learnt a lot from the supervisors as they held a lot of workshops and sessions where they helped us prepare for our endless exams. They also made it very easy to change shifts or pick up extra hours as I had done.
The first client I had for this session was a follow-up appointment, her previous appointment was on the 06/06/2019 she was diagnosed with facet joint stiffness. Her ROMs of her lower spine had improved, and she had less pain as well. I started treatment with an STM over her lower back and then I continued the PAs from the last session. I did central PA’s over L3 and L5 at grade I, because grade II was still too painful, for 3 sets of 60 oscillations. I then reviewed her exercises. I was worried that I the floor reaches from seated would be too hard for her, but she enjoyed that exercise the most. She thought it helped her the most too. All her exercises were good, but she didn’t need to progress as she hadn’t been doing them for very long. She missed days in between as she couldn’t find time to do them regularly. After hearing that I should’ve given her exercises that she could’ve done at work, so she had the maximum opportunity to do them. Next time I need to talk into consideration of the client’s needs and where they would most likely be doing their exercises.
The next three hours were spent with STM clients. The first client requested full leg massage as they had a game on Wednesday and so I obliged. I measured ROMs and they were all good and so I started to massage the client. The client didn’t want exercises and so I didn’t give them. The next client wanted an STM on her lower back as she mentioned tight muscles. I checked PA’s of her lumbar spine and found that unilateral PA’s over L3, left side was stiff and it also caused pain. I added this after the massage and did grade II for 3 sets of 60 oscillations. The last client was a raider’s player who wanted a full leg massage. I measured ROMs and they were fine and then I started the massage.
The last two hours were spent shadowing the masters students. The first client had lower back pain that was diagnosed as disc prolapse. The therapist started with a lower back STM and then exercises were given. The exercises included cobra stretch, floor touches, cat and camel, and then glute bridge. I spoke to the therapist and discussed why he used flexion when that aggravates the symptoms of disc prolapse. He didn’t know that when someone has disc prolapse that rotational and flexion movements should not be done. The then had a word with the client and scrapped that exercise. The last shadow session was spent helping one of the therapists with a massage to the lower limbs, back, shoulders, and neck.
Overall, I felt like I had fewer massage clients today which was a relief. I saw some of the same pathologies, but I had progressed and updated the exercises I had used. I also helped another therapist with his exercise prescription too. I feel like in order to improve I could work more on my communication skills as I still find it hard to talk to clients while I’m massaging them.