Strengths and weaknesses… It is always so hard to talk about these two little things, and I think that that is because self reflection is challenging, comlex, and sometimes depressing because everyone wants to believe that they are good at everything. However, being able to see, know, and understand your strengths and weaknesses is a wonderful thing. So let me start by talking about my personal weaknesses before I talk about my strengths, that way we can end on a good note. My two biggest weaknesses would have to be time management in general, as well as staying on task when it comes to things that do not require a lot of physical interaction and are mainly mental. I have an issue where time will either slip by before I can realize it has passed or due dates and things like that will be upon me and I will not be prepared for what I need to be. This is not good because as a clinician, I will have things that need to be done at specific times or by specific times. I am trying really hard to get better about these weaknesses by setting timers, phone reminders, writing things down, etc. There are times where somethings work, and there are times where these things do not work. I am still trying to find the combination of things that works best for me. Slowly but surely I am getting better, but it will forever be a battle that I face, especially when the stress begins to rise. Now to talk about my strengths. I am very strong when it comes to interpersonal skills and being creative and thinking outside of the box. Talking is my favorite thing to do, second to breathing. I especially love to talk to the people I am working with and the athletes. Being comfortable enough with myself to talk to anyone and being approachable to those around helps me to build better relationships and connections with the people I encounter. It also helps the athletes I treat to become more comfortable around me, while also increasing their ability to trust in me because they know that I care for more than just the injury they are going through. It is a skill that I am proud to have because I know that a lot of people, especially in the medical field, struggle with being able to talk to people as people rather than people as a case or a puzzle. Being able to be creative is a huge strength as well because if you are not creative then I feel like athletic training may be hard for you, at least to really succeed in it. Most athletic training programs do not receive huge amounts of cash for their budget, which means you need to be able to think outside of the box, especially when it comes to rehabs. These strengths are a continuous work in progress though and I can always get better at them. My motto is to keep an open mind, think outside the box, and always, always be myself.
WORD COUNT: 517
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Many times as an athletic trainer, I will face challenging conversations. Lucky for me, I have had the experience of dealing with some of those conversations as an athletic training student. This semester has proven to be full of many of those challenging conversations. A lot of times these conversations are with coaches or the athletes, and I have had the luxury of discussing issues with an athlete who had recently suffered a season ending injury. The conversation came about a few weeks post op, right at the beginning of his rehab process. Being an eager athlete, I had to sit him down and explain that his rehab was going to have to be very slow. This conversation was very difficult because I had to know and understand the athlete and his mindset, especially when it came to training. He is an athlete who has always pushed his limits and is always looking to lift heavy and progress quickly. Given the nature of his injury, he wasn’t going to be able to approach rehab with the exact same mindset as he approached training prior to the injury. I understood the physiology of the injury and I understood the athlete's mentality, but I was not quite sure how to approach the conversation or how to portray what I needed to effectively. In order to gather a better understanding of what I needed to do, I spoke with a professor during class and spoke of my frustration with figuring out how to approach the situation. She helped me significantly in being able to put what I already had knowledge of into what resulted in a very productive conversation. She also helped me to realize that what I say may not always be taken in completely the first time, and that it does not hurt at all to have the conversation several times in different ways. Sometimes you have to just work through different situations to understand what actually works with each individual person, this taught me that I need to look at everything openly and be ready to make adjustments when necessary because I cannot always approach one situation the same way all the time. I think that a lot of times, people get stuck in trying to do everything one way, especially when it comes to having difficult discussions. They get caught up in trying to have a process for every situation that they forget that there is no right or wrong way to handle things, and that sometimes taking a step back and getting a second opinion or a new idea on how to approach something or someone could actually be beneficial.
WORD COUNT: 442 This semester my biggest goal was to step outside of my comfort zone and do things that make me uncomfortable. I think I have succeeded in doing this in many ways. I have asked questions when I do not understand something, whether it be the purpose or the specific technique. This is big for me because I hate asking for help and would rather learn/figure it out on my own, but I am coming to realize that in order to be a good clinician I have to ask questions and be willing and able to learn from more than just my own knowledge from experience. Another way I stepped out of my comfort zone was by choosing a really difficult and unique rehab for my rehab project. I could have chosen one of the many ACL rehabs that we had, but I chose the biceps tendon rupture for two reasons:1) it is a very rare injury and provides for a very special learning opportunity that most clinicians will never be able to experience. 2) I knew that it would test and push my abilities in the realm of rehab and rehab design, and that excited me. It also scared me, which made it the obvious choice. I have also stepped out of my comfort zone by jumping at the opportunity to perform evals and not just going through the motions, but also by being confident in providing a suggestive diagnosis and evidence/reasoning behind why I believe that to be what is going on. For instance, during clinical experience one day an athlete came to the sidelines during a football game and was having trouble breathing. I saw he was in pain and made the decision to approach him myself and see what was going on. He stated his symptoms and showed me the location of his pain. I palpated and did some simple tests to rule out other possibilities, because at that time I was in between a possible rib fracture, intercostal sprain, or a rib contusion. Based on my findings I concluded that I believed it to be an intercostal sprain. I then presented my case to one of the certified athletic trainers, who then questioned me as to why I believed it was an intercostal sprain rather than something else. After reviewing it himself he concluded that he believed me to be correct. This was such a good feeling because many times in the past I had second guessed or questioned myself when someone above me was questioning my decisions, but this time I stuck to my beliefs and trusted my own knowledge.
WORD COUNT: 438 As an athletic trainer, when I have an athlete returning from an injury I play a vital role in the rehabilitation process. I am the person that they see before and after the injury most of the time. I know what their normal is before they are injured, and it becomes my goal to get them back to normal or better (hopefully) after the injury. I have to be prepared for all the ups and downs mentally and physically during the duration of the rehab, not everyone handles everything the same way and I need to know and understand that. I have to make sure that I am paying attention to all the details of my patient (how they are interacting with their team, change in behavior/mood, self isolation,etc.). I do not need to be overbearing or on their case, but I do have to let them know that I am there for them for anything they need or want to talk about, as well as making sure that I am asking them questions and their coach questions about day to day things. More specifically, making sure the coach lets me know if the athlete starts to withdraw from the team, stops coming to team functions, or if athletes come to him/her about any concerning issues. In order to do all of this I have to have a good, trusting relationship with my athlete. If I have a bad rapport with my athletes, they will not trust me and that could make rehab a challenge for all parties involved.
After the injury, and or surgery, the athlete should be given a protocol by the doctor. If no protocol is given, we should have a protocol in our program to follow for the injury being treated. The protocol should be used as a general guideline for the rehab process, but if the athlete is progressing at a quicker rate, and the doctor gives the okay for specific advancements (i.e. weightbearing, running, jumping, etc.), then you go at the pace that the athlete is recovering. No two people recover the same, so there is no point in holding one person back because another person progressed at a slower rate. While progressing through the rehab, the athlete will start with simple things, such as exercises to increase mobility and simple movement patterns of the affected area. By the end, they should be doing full strengthening activities preparing them for return to play. So how do you know when to go from one phase to the other? Once you begin a phase the athlete may struggle, but as time goes on the athlete will begin to notice the exercises they are doing are getting easier and easier. As they get easier you have to change the exercise (in number of reps/sets and/or surface) in order to challenge them, progress them, and continue to strengthen them. There may be times where the athlete is tired and you have to cut back or give them a day off, but if you are not consistently and continuously changing and adapting the exercises to the stage in which the athlete is in, then the athlete will never recover, at least fully. WORD COUNT: 539 This past week I have had a few evals, but the one I had the biggest challenge with was an ankle eval I did the other day. The athlete came in the day after the injury occurred, complaining of severe pain when walking. He said that it hurt to bare full weight on his ankle, and he had a severe limp. The mechanism was a cleat to the leg. The athlete was going for a block when a guy beside him stepped on his leg. His ankle inverted and the guy stepped on his leg above the lateral malleolus, his body went the opposite way. I was concerned about a possible fracture of the distal fibular head because he had severe edema compared to the other side and was only point tender in a specific point slightly above the lateral malleolus. His pain would radiate from that central point, and up the lower leg. His anterior drawer was negative, his talar tilt was negative, and his kleiger test was negative. He had some pain with the tests, but the pain was not a positive result to what the test was testing for. The compression test was positive, and the bump test was negative. I thought a possible stress fracture, but I was also confused because he had pain with walking and the fibula is a non weight bearing bone. With that said, I thought about how he could have the stress fracture, as well as an ankle sprain. Alex told me that he believed it was not a stress fracture, but that it was a bone bruise. I was stumped, but he said that we would treat it as a bone bruise and then see how it progressed from there. In the future, I will take a wider approach when ruling out fractures. I ruled out the ankle sprain, but i was dead set on it being a stress fracture that I did not even consider a bone bruise until it was brought up. This was a pretty simple injury eval, but I think that I struggled because I over thought the injury, and then I under then I got caught up in my thoughts. The ankle is something so familiar to me, which makes it dangerous because I tend to forget that I do not know everything in the world about the ankle.
WORD COUNT: 394 As an athletic training student, my biggest challenge that I face is time. Sometimes time management is a bit of a struggle for me, but I am working on that. Other times, it is finding the time to get everything done in a day, especially when I am in season and trying to keep up with practice, get clinical hours in, as well as trying to remember all the other work that I have to do. A lot of my peers talk about their crazy schedule and how they have no time, but yet they still have time to take naps… it is a funny thing really. I enjoy the fast paced life and excitement of AT, as well as the advantage it gives me with the hands on training I am receiving; however, it does not make it any easier to get friends to understand how truly difficult it can be. The challenge with this is finding time to have a social life in between all of the chaos, and finding the balance of school and breaks from school/personal care. Sometimes juggling all of the responsibilities that come along with being an AT student can be be really difficult, but other times it is simple and easy going. It all depends on the week, where you are in the semester, and what all you have going on (tests, projects, practice, etc.). When I really start struggling i usually turn to two people, and that would be my best friend and my mom. My best friend helps me because she understands the struggle because she is struggling/thriving with me. She keeps me grounded and sane, but also tells me that it is okay to feel like I am in a whirlwind of chaos. My mom understands the struggle as well because she has been through clinicals and has survived to tell the tales. She helps me because she understands me, I am her daughter and I am just like her when it comes to stressing, she knows I try to pretend like it is all good until it gets to the point I really am swamped. She is an outlet for frustration, and the advice she gives in return is lifesaving. She builds me up, but she also tells me when to step it up. I think the biggest support that I need is what is hardest to give, understanding. I am almost through college, but yet I find myself struggling with things that are so juvenile. I do not understand it, but it is the sad truth. I try and I try to push through, but lately I am finding more walls then I am doors.
WORD COUNT:449 This semester is all about me trying to make a fresh start. The past couple semesters I have really been struggling with my focus, and I have allowed a lot of struggles, in and out of school, to get me down. This summer was a real wake-up call, that I cannot allow these little occurances to deviate me from the path of my goal. I want to be able to pursue my career goals without fear of failure or of what others think. I want to be able to be confident in myself as a student, as well as an athletic trainer. Over the past couple of years I have attained knowledge, and I have applied that knowledge through clinical experience. Now, it is time that I allow myself to use and trust that knowledge freely and confidently. Each journal and each lesson along the way was meant to help me understand who I am and will be as an athletic trainer, but I failed to truly understand that until now. I knew what I was learning in class and why I was learning it, but I failed to see the significance in the little things behind the scenes. I feel like that is what has kept me from reaching my full potential, and actually succeeding in this major. With that being said, my main goal this semester is to completely change who I am as an ATS. I want to succeed and I want to be seen as a person who should be an athletic trainer. I want to be taken seriously, and I want to prove that I belong here. In order to do that, I have to buckle down and push myself in every way, shape, and form. I have to jump at all opportunities in clinical, especially areas I feel like I am the weakest. I know what I am comfortable with, but I cannot stay in my comfort zone and succeed. This semester is going to be about stepping outside of my comfort zone, and learning to be comfortable in my uncomfortable. In order to reach my end goals, I will have to focus on little goals such as, reviewing old material from previous semesters 1-2+ times per week throughout the semester. I will also have to try to expand my knowledge and understanding of new or confusing concepts, and I will try to find a time to do this 1-2+ times per week as well. Another small goal I have is to continue to do as many evals as I can, which works out perfectly since I am with football this year. The goal is to try to complete 3-4 evals per week throughout the semester, and more each week if possible.
Word Count: 458 As an athletic trainer, it is very imperative to take a holistic approach when treating any and all patients. We are supposed to treat the patient, not the problem. When an athlete gets injured, it's not just that one area that is affected by the injury. The surrounding areas could be what caused the injury, could be suffering because of the injury, etc. However, these are not the only things that can be damaged during the injury. Mental health is just as important when recovering from an injury. Poor mental health, such as becoming depressed, lonely, and isolating oneself from others, can hinder the recovery process of the patient. As the patient is progressing in rehab/treatment it is important to encourage them and celebrate new success, as well as discussing with them how life is outside of the clinic. Making sure they are still involving themselves in team activities and friend activities is important. It is also important to make sure those things are being reciprocated, especially for sports teams. As you can tell, treating a patient is more than coming in and working on just one issue that brought them in, many people come in reporting one thing when in actuality something else is causing that problem. An injury can also cause several other problems, especially if the patient is compensating for a lack of one movement, by using or making up another movement to do the same task.
As of this week I currently still have no attempts. I am struggling with finding the time to get in and work on my book. It is nearly impossible to get attempts just with myself and Matt. However, I am trying to do things I know that are in my book, joint mobes and such, but we have not had an opportunity to do that with a patient yet. I am also working on going through my book in order to write down things I can attempt and master while in the clinic. I am hoping to really step it up here in the next week and really bust out the attempts and hopefully start getting masteries. I really need to get it going. I do not want the end of the summer session to hit me like a ton of bricks because I have nothing done in my book. With that said, I will continue to try to get something worked out to get more attempts. WORD COUNT: 408 Many see rehab as something that only PT’s do, but they are very wrong. Athletic trainers play a vital role in the rehabilitation process of the athletes that they are treating. These athletes are the patients that the AT’s see on a regular basis, and they know the norms of the athlete before the injury. As an athletic trainer, my role is to get my patient, the athlete, back to their norm or better than their norm post-injury. I must follow the protocol set by the physician in order to do this. My role is also to keep them motivated and ensure their mental health through the process of rehab. Many times when athletes are injured and going through rehab they can become depressed/down. This affects the progress they have made and can stunt the advancing of the progress. I, as an athletic trainer, need to be aware of the signs so that I can help and encourage my patient to keep their head up and maintain a positive attitude. This can be done by setting small, short-term goals that can help them to reach long term goals. The short term goals can be daily, realistic goals that can motivate the athlete by them seeing their daily progress with little (but big) achievements. I progress my patient by their protocol, but also by their abilities. If exercises are being completed with ease, pain free, with full ROM (or ROM where it should be) then a patient should be able to progress with an exercise. Some exercises must wait, for example, if a patient is to be non-weight bearing for a specific amount of time, I will not progress to weight bearing exercises unless the doctor releases them to that. However, if an athlete is allowed to be weight bearing, say with a knee injury, and has been showing steady progress with goblet squats and have had no pain with the full ROM, I can then begin to progress to squats with a barbell. If the exercise is attempted in the next session but causes pain or form is compromised, I would not allow the patient to continue and would return to the previous exercise they had just progressed from (the goblet squats). Now, there is a difference between discomfort and pain. If the patient reports discomfort such as tightness, the exercise can still be performed as long as there is no pain. Discomfort is a normal part of returning from an injury. Not everything will necessarily feel great, but it should not be extremely painful.
This week I was unable to get any attempts or masteries due to working on administrative duties in the clinic with Melissa. I have not had time to sit down and work through my PBLS and book to see if any line up, but plan on sitting down tomorrow since I will have time. WORD COUNT: 480 This past year and a half in the program has been a whirlwind. I’ve had highs, I’ve had lows, I’ve had victories, and I’ve had failures. With each and every up and down, came a lesson. I learned that fear of failure will cause you to never reach your full potential. I realized that yes, I may have a sleeping issue, but I cannot blame all of my failures on that one problem. I am learning the importance of being proactive in not just clinical work and school work, but also the importance of it in every aspect of life. I know that my past cannot define me or confine me. Dwelling on my past mistakes and failures will be no help in advancing in my future. I have to ask for help when I need it and I need to take advantage of the resources I am given. I want to make a complete change as a student during this course. That goal is something I plan to accomplish. It will not be easy, it will require discipline and perseverance, and it may even require a few breakdowns. Nevertheless, it will be well worth it in the long run.
I am setting little goals for myself along the way:
In order to complete my clinical packet I am going to have to buckle down and bust out attempts. I want to get a minimum of twenty attempts per week, and I want to get as many as soon as I can to allow adequate time for masteries. I’m not sure you could say I approached this in a logical process considering I have a shortened time to complete my packet in. I believe this goal is very achievable, but it will be very challenging and I am really going to have to time manage in order to accomplish this goal. WORD COUNT: 405 |