the rOad less Traveled

After reading about different professional development opportunities following graduation, my eyes have been opened to a large number of opportunities to grow as an occupational therapy practitioner. It is hard to look so far into the future and think about specializing while I am still in school, but knowing that I have so many different paths I can take gives me so much excitement. Although I am not planning on getting another degree at any point following graduation, I will not keep that door completely shut.  If I had the opportunity to earn a specialty certification other than PAMs, I would be interested in Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist (CDRS). Following our guest lecture on CDRS, I was interested to learn more about how to improve a client's function and independence behind the wheel. I enjoyed learning about the different types of adaptive equipment and modifications an occupational therapist can make to a car to allow someone to drive who otherwise thought they...

How Did I Come Out of Guillain–Barré SyndromeIn      In the TedTalk,  Shruti Jain talked about when she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). GBS is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks nerve that carry signals to the brain. This causes degeneration of the myelin sheath ad results in peripheral nerve system (brain and spinal cord) damage. Symptoms include weakness and tingling the lower extremities, respiratory issues, bladder control issues. double vision, pain, and fatigue. This disease is at its worst in the first 2-3 weeks so the patient experiences severe pain and weakness and is at risk for contractures and respiratory dysfunction.         Shruti Jain says that she believes that everything happens for a reason and the days she spent in the emergency room made her realize her passion. She would deal with her pain by making jokes about her surroundings and with her doctors. Jain talks about one day that she d...

     For my media project, I was assigned a case study for a 68 year old named Dennis. Dennis recently had a stroke and was brought into the emergency room due to an unbearable headache, slurred speech, and loss of control on his left side. After 10 days, Dennis was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital. Dennis enjoys gardening and woodworking and his goal is to return to those hobbies. After an evaluation, Dennis has deficits in visual perception, particularly with figure-ground and spatial relations. He also demonstrates left neglect, completely neglecting objects on his left side while getting ready. He has great difficult dressing (unable to figure out front from back or sleeve hole from neck hole) and needs maximum assistance to do so. Dennis is able to transfer with minimum assistance and ambulates with a hemi walker. He interacts well with the staff, teasing them and involving humor in his interactions, but does not understand why he has to be in a rehabilitatio...

  "The Big Idea My Brother Inspired" By Jamie Heywood       In this Ted Talk, Jamie Heywood talks about when his brother, Steven, was diagnosed with  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 29. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. This disease starts killing motor neurons in the spinal cord which causes loss of muscle control. Early symptoms include muscle twitching, slurred speech or weakness of a limb and eventually people with ALS lose control of the muscle needed to move, speak, eat, and breathe. No one knows the exact cause of ALS and there is currently no cure, with the average lifespan being three years.        Although ALS is a horrible disease, Jamie and Steven saw  it as a gift because they began to learn of a new way to look at life. They had an amazing journey as a family and decided to do something with the d...

A test for Parkinson's with a phone call      In this Ted Talk, Max Little discusses Parkinson's disease and the importance of objective tools to detect it sooner so there is a better chance to find a cure. Parkinson's disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects the ability to control movement. This disease usually starts out slowly and worsens over time, eventually causing trouble talking, sleeping, walking, and with balance it coordination. It also causes someone to experience behavioral changes and/or have mental and memory problems. Some of the most common symptoms of Parkinson's are tremors, stiffness, and slowing of movement (bradykinesia). Many of these symptoms are due to a loss of neurons that produce dopamine, causing abnormal brain activity.  There are 6.3 million people worldwide who have this incurable disease. Little says that there are no biomarkers for this disease and therefore there is no simple blood test you can do. Instead, you ...

                                             Life after paralyzation: Janne Kouri at TEDxVeniceBeach      During this TedTalk, Janne talks about a tragic accident that instantly paralyzed him. While playing volleyball at the beach with his friends, Janne ran into a wave and hit his head on a sandbar. After a gentleman rushed him to safety, Janne was able to get to the hospital. From that moment on, his life changed and he questioned everything. The doctors told him there was no hope for his recovery and he would never walk again, but Janne did not give up hope. He asked himself if wanted to be happy: and the answer was yes. He spent every day doing what made him happy and kept fighting. After a lot of research, he found Frasier Rehab in Louisville Kentucky, a progressive rehab facility. Janne and his girlfriend moved to Kentucky where he s...

   "How my dad's dementia changed my idea of death (and life)"  By: Beth Malone      In this Ted Talk, Beth talked about an encounter she had with her dad. Beth started this ted talk saying, "I've been doing some thinking. I'm going to kill my dad. I called my sister." Now this is not a phrase that many people would openly say to an audience of strangers but she was going through something that people would never dream of: her father was struggling with frontotemporal lobe dementia (FTD). Beth's thought process was that her dad was being tortured and his body was the vessel of that torture. She wanted to get him out of that body so that he could be free. FTD is a group of disorders that occurs from a progressive loss of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. This causes the lobes to shrink and can affect behavior, personality, language, and movement. Beth's dad experienced a major personality change and this caused him to get...

     For my neuro note, I read an article by Tyson Ward called, "I Got Hit By a Boat," where he talked about his journey to recovery after being in a major boating accident his junior year of college. It was very interesting to learn about the many miracles that Tyson and his family experienced in the year following his accident. He went from being hooked up to tubes to keep him alive, to comas, ulcers, memory loss, seizures, extensive therapy and eventually getting back to the life he knew before the accident. I really enjoyed the Tyson explained certain terms to make it more retable to those who may not understand what was going on his brain during his recovery process. For example, he explained his weight loss during his coma by saying that his brain chose to go into a coma when it was not in good enough shape to keep him in an aware state and repair all of his injuries. It (the brain) knows that the body is in no sort of shape to do anything positive in an awake state...

     When I think of advertisements that stick with me, there is a specific one that comes to mind: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). I used to see this commercial everyday when I watched TV and it would always make want to hold on extra tight to my dogs. I always remember the iconic song by Sarah McLachlan, "In the Arms of an Angel" and I immediately knew what was playing on my screen. Next thing I know, I'm watching haunting images of puppies and kittens caged in horrendous conditions and my heart just melts for them. It was always so heartbreaking to imagine how terrified these defenseless animals must be and I just couldn't help but wonder what kind of a person would do this to an animal.      Recently I have been studying neurobiology and learning about what aspects of out human nervous system are involved in specific responses to things. While watching this commercial, I know I always felt so much emotion, whether it w...

 

     In the therapeutic world, assistive devices are often used to aid clients in their occupational performance and participation. So what are assistive devices? Canes, crutches and walkers are prime examples and they are made or adapted to assist a person in order to perform a specific task. These devices can be instrumental in helping a client regain independence. What is also instrumental is making sure that these devices are properly fitted to your client. An inaccurately fitted device can not only be ineffective, but it can actually strain a client's muscle or ligament and cause additional injuries. It can also cause instability and affect a client's gait which can cause more pain.        Some common assistive devices include canes, axillary crutches, Lofstrand crutches, platform walker, and rolling walker. I will now explain how to properly fit each device.  - Canes : the client's elbow should be relaxed and flexed 20-30 degrees and the han...

 

     Mobility is the ability to get from position to another and a person can face many challenges if they lose that ability to move. The order for restoring confidence in mobility is listed in a hierarchy and is listed from least mobile (1) to most mobile (9): 1. Bed mobility 2. Mat Transfer 3. Wheelchair transfer 4. Bed transfer 5. Functional ambulation for ADL 6. Toilet and Tub transfer 7. Car transfer 8. Functional Ambulation for community mobility 9. Community mobility and driving     This order is what I expected and what I have seen while volunteering and shadowing multiple different occupational therapists in the past. This order can help increase a client's confidence while also increasing strength and mobility. By starting with the basics, such as getting out of bed and in a wheelchair, clients can work their way up to eventually getting the toilet and tub as well as the car. As they master each level, they will gain the confidence to move on to the ne...

     I have attached 3 pictures to this post. The first one is of my friend, Andee, holding a snowboard in Colorado. The second picture is of my other friend, Michaela, sitting on a horse while we were riding in Zion National Park. The final picture is of my little brother, Jack, holding my puppy.       In this post, I will focus on the third picture of my brother sitting on a hammock, holding my puppy the day we got it. While sitting on the hammock, Jack’s elbows are flexed, and his pelvis is at an anterior tilt as it rolls superiorly over the head of the femur. He has a slight flexion of his spine in the sagittal plane and coronal axis. He has a slight cervical curve to the right, a slight thoracic curve to right and a normal curve. His scapulae are protracted at the scapulothoracic joints and his head has a little forward tilt with a slight rotation to the left. His femurs are flexed with a slight internal rotation.       This po...

I recently researched the neurotransmitter and learned about the basic properties and conditions that be affected when you experience too much or too little serotonin levels. Most people know that serotonin contributes to happiness and well-being, but there are serious side affects when you body produces too much or too little. While one extreme can cause depression or anxiety, the other can cause fever or even seizures. Below is a link to a video of something that I think of when talking about serotonin and the happiness that it can produce.  Hope you enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyCbBR0y58Q

     In the story “Man from the South”, the soldier bet an old man that his lighter would work 10 times in exchange for a Cadillac. He did not know, however, that he would have lost his finger whether he won the bet or lost. Thankfully, the wife stepped in and stopped her husband before he could chop off the soldier’s little finger. Although the soldier said that he wouldn’t miss his little finger because he did not feel like it was necessary, it would have cost him more functionality than he realized.       If the soldier lost the bet, he would lose 50% of his grip strength. Although the little finger may not seem like it has much of a purpose, it is extremely important for grip strength and power. The little finger works with the other fingers to carry out everyday activities and without it, the soldier would have trouble carrying anything weighted. This would not only affect his duties as an American soldier, but his personal activities, such as bru...

     During podcast "How Can Going Bling Give You Vision?", David Linden speaks about how he lost his sight and how perception of vision changed. He originally thought that blindness was the end of any life he could have and he would live the rest of his life alone. However, after working with an occupational therapist, Linden realized that, although vision is useful, it is not necessary to have a fulfilled life. Linden decided to take control of his reality and live his life with eyes wide open. He started holding himself accountable and seeing beyond his fears because they just became excuses, short cuts and surrenders. By stepping into the uncharted terrain and deciding to let his fears go, Linden was able to build a beautiful life with his family by his side. 

         I recently watched a TED talk by Dushaw Hockett, founder and Executive Director of Safe Places for the Advancement of Community and Equity and listened to a podcast by Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Both of these advocates spoke on implicit bias and how we need to approach the systematic racism that we have faced in this country for so many years. Implicit bias is a term used to describe the attitudes that we have towards people or the stereotypes we associate towards them without our conscious knowledge.      During Dushaw Hockett's talk, he spoke about the three characteristics that make a bias implicit. The first is that it operates on the subconscious level so we do not know we have the bias. The second characteristic is that it runs contrary to conscious beliefs. For example, a person could consciously say they are wanting to help others while subconsciously doing harm in the...

     Scapulohumeral Rhythm is the relationship of movement between the scapula and the humerus during upper extremity movements.  The clinical relevance of this rhythm is that in order to obtain the full 180 degrees of motion in the shoulder, there must be a synchronized movement between the scapulothoracic and glenohumeral joint. The standard ratio of the scapulohumeral rhythm is 2:1. This means that for every 2 degrees the humerus moves in the glenohumeral joint, the scapula moves 1 degree in the scapulothoracic joint. So even though the majority of movement occurs at the glenohumeral joint, without that 1 degree of movement of the scapula, one would not be able to obtain the full range of motion that our shoulders can achieve. The scapulohumeral rhythm also helps in maintaining length tension relationships, meaning that muscles do not shorten as much as they would without the upward rotation of the scapula. This allows the muscles to sustain their force production...

The KAWA Model was developed by Japanese occupational therapists in 2000 in order to socially and culturally communicate their view of occupation and wellbeing to the world. While the western perspective focuses on the individual and a client's independence, the eastern perspective focuses more on the concept that that self and environment are connected together in one inseparable ball.  The word "Kawa" is Japanese for river so this model uses a river as a metaphor to represent life. The river is seen as a journey that flows through time and space and the optimal state of well-being can be portrayed by a river with a strong, deep flow. There are also other elements in a river that depict different things in our life, such as water (flow of life), walls and floors (social and physical elements), rocks (obstacles), driftwood (traits), and spaces (therapy).  The picture above is a drawing of my river and how it pertains to my life. My walls and floors are my support system, ...