It has been several [long] years in the works. I am finally starting on my Doctorate in Physical Therapy. I am doing it through Neumann University. What is unique about the program is that the school part is on the weekend. All day. The education and class work is strictly built through the weekend. The clinical portion of the program will follow the traditional DPT experience, Monday through Friday.
For my first set of classes I’m enrolled in: Anatomy and Kinesiology and Biomechanics.
The summer session is just an introduction, it is not meant to be a full course load, several schools in the Greater Philadelphia area have a summer session with one or two classes with Anatomy being the core.
For my first set of classes [at Palmer] I was enrolled in: Gross Anatomy I, Human Embryology, Spinal Anatomy and Palpation I, Histology and Cell Physiology, Chiropractic Philosophy and Practice I, Fundamentals of Physiology
Class Comparison – Anatomy: Neumann University and Palmer College
The anatomy class is the same. There is the lecture portion and then there is the cadaver portion. And so the comment I’ll probably make throughout this entire documentation is that there isn’t a difference between anatomy class in physical therapy school and anatomy class in chiropractic school. There is more dissection in physical therapy school because of the turnover with the bodies.
In chiropractic school (Palmer at least), would try to keep the bodies preserved for several incoming classes, since they are on the quarter system. Whereas at Neumann, with having one incoming class once a year, it would be entirely too difficult to preserve the bodies for an entire year for there to be any benefit to the students; so it makes sense to have fresh bodies ever year.
I did happen to cut myself twice on Saturday. Smooth….
There’s not a possible way to have a chiropractic spin on anatomy. So for those of you who call out chiropractors, know the anatomy classes are the same. There’s not a chiropractic version of the hamstring muscle insertions, actions, and innervations. It’s anatomy, you can’t mess up anatomy.
Class Comparison – Biomechanics: Neumann University and Palmer College
There wasn’t a true biomechanics course that is similarly structured at Palmer College. A lot of the biomechanics concepts that it will appear I’ll learn about were scattered accordingly through several different classes: Gross Anatomy I palpation, Spinal Anatomy I and II palpation, and other clinical classes.
The biomechanics course will run the same course with anatomy so that anything we learn in Anatomy (on Saturday), we’ll talk about the biomechanics (on Sunday). Biomechanics encompasses not only a lecture portion but a lab portion. The lab portion consists of palpation and muscle testing (exactly like that of Gross Anatomy I and Spinal Anatomy I and II at Palmer).
Each of the two classes this session will provide me several different things:
- Learning new material
- Refreshing old material
- Providing further insight and details on concepts I already know
Well I’ll be studying this week. There’s going to be weekly quizzes, lab assignments, and a big exam every two weeks. The unique thing is I can use the stuff I am learning and relearning an apply to patient work during the week to also help me study.
So if you want to keep track. There’s not much difference right now between Physical Therapy school and Chiropractic college.