And away we go. The official start of Fall 2018 begins…three new classes, two new professors and some very dense information that’ll be enough to put me to sleep by 9 AM.
Physical Agents: Our Saturday class with the goals to teach us about the different modalities used in the Physical Therapy realm. Often what the uninformed population think of what Physical Therapy is. “Oh so all you do is slap on heat and e-stim.” So that’s what we’ll be learning about this semester is all the different modalities that physical therapy as to offer (and chiropractic offices).
- Ice and Heat
- Electrical Stimulation
- Ultrasound
- Traction
- Shockwave
While this information is not new to many in the class because many them are working in relevant health facilities that let us use the technology already. And having multiple “PT modalities” courses at Palmer College, when I was there, there’s a baseline of information already there. So similar to Gross Anatomy much of this will be review and just being able to refine the more technical information is what this class will hopefully provide.
Pathology, Pharmacology, and Review of Systems: This class is going to have the most information. Ranging from diagnostic imaging practices and disease to understanding biomarkers for disease to how different drugs could potentially affect your patients as you take them through their rehabilitation. It’s going to be difficult. And, it’s also because it’s being taught by our anatomy professor and his exams were tough!
Research in Physical Therapy: This class will probably be the most challenging for me. It is also the first of three research classes we have at Neumann. It’s research and I would bet it is going to be similar to what I had Palmer I just found the information dry. Keeping up to date on the latest research in techniques and treatments is important but learning about how to read an article and how to know if the articles you will be reading are relevant…that can put you right to sleep.
Another reason this class is going to be challenging, the professor flat out said it. She says her quizzes and exams are not going to be easy.
This is going to be an interesting semester purely for the reason of being able to balance coaching, working, and training. A few differences from the summer to the fall are:
- Football season is in full swing (something I didn’t have in the summer)
- Three classes this Fall compared to two classes
What’s not new? I’ve had this classes before in some capacity at Palmer. The “Physical Agents” class is Physical Therapy I and Physical Therapy II at Palmer. The “Pathology, Pharmacology, Review of Systems” class is going to be a mix of Radiographic Anatomy I and II, Pathology class, and a few other classes. Finally, “Research in Physical Therapy” is a spitting image of Evidence Based Practice I (and probably of II).
So while I have had these classes in some form or way, there is plenty I don’t remember (i.e. Research).
Let Fall 2018 start….now!