10/6/2018 0 Comments Reflective Journal #6When thinking about what we have learned in textbooks, I try to remember that that condition is the perfect example of its kind. The history, mechanism of injury, observations, palpations, special tests, will all point directly toward that injury if it is a textbook injury. Typically in a textbook, the author will not mention other signs or symptoms the patient may have from other pathologies because we are being taught about just that injury. This is the reason we speak of “textbook answers” because the textbook presentation of an injury or condition is perfect, without any doubt. However, in reality those cases are few and far between. It reminds me that it is necessary to treat the individual, not the injury.
Through my experience in the program, I have learned that an injury will hardly ever look the same between two different patients. Each patient has different anatomy, different prior conditions, different skill and experience levels, and all of these factors can effect how the injury presents itself. I believe this concept is also hard with illnesses, not just injuries. Some individuals can present with only a few symptoms of an illness, while another patient will have all of the symptoms. Additionally, pain tolerance plays a role in reconciling textbook information with real life situations. For example, a football player this year experienced a grade 2 hamstring strain on the first day of practice will eccentrically contracting his hamstrings. That individual had never had an injury before, and his reaction to the injury was much more intense than other reactions to hamstring strains I have seen during my clinical experience. Overall, I think the most important thing I have learned from reading the textbook to personal experience is that we don’t treat injuries, as I mentioned early. The person is of utmost importance, not just treating a specific pathology like the textbook suggests. A patient consists of that injury, but also an emotional component, pain tolerance, past medical history, other pathologies, etc. My goal is to help the patient become better than he or she was before they walk into the clinic in whatever area I can help with, injury related and also not injury related. I believe making relationships with the athlete helps us understand that the person we are treating isn’t just a scenario from a textbook or from class, but they have become our friend (with professional implications, of course).
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