May 15th- Day 10

I finished up my week in the office with Dr. Hennig today. Again I saw a variety of shoulder and knee injuries in patients ranging from 16 to 85! During some of our down time today I was able to ask Dr. He might and his Physician Assistant a few questions I had accumulated about meniscus tears and then it just so happened I was able to see a few patients with tearing in their medial meniscus later on this afternoon. I read a lot about shoulders and knees from the textbook Dr. Hennig lent me and it was great being able to apply my new knowledge to the cases we worked on today!
The coolest part of my day was watching Dr. Hennig perform a Vision Scope of two knees today! A Vision Scope is similar to a normal scope of a knee that would take place in the OR, but is done right in the office with the patient awake, and is used only as a diagnostic tool. It is a fairly new tool and is used on patients who are unable to get an MRI for a variety of reasons. One of the patients had a meniscus tear as well as some arthritis and it was really interesting being able to see both on those within the knee using a small camera that is sent through a large needle into the joint! It was definitly difficult for me to orient myself with what I was seeing within the knee but once Dr. Hennig explained where in the joint we were I found myself being able to identify different structures. I must say although I love being in the OR, which is where all be almost all of next week, I am a little bummed that I only have one day left working in the office with Dr. Hennig, seeing such a large variety of patients!

May 14th- Day 9

Today was yet another fantastic day with Dr. Hennig. This morning I woke up early and made my way to Hillside Surgery Center where I traded my office clothes for a pair of scrubs and spent the day in the operating room! I sat in on three arthroscopic shoulder surgeries, two for anterior instability and one for multidirectional instability. Not only was able to observe a variety of techniques used by Dr. Hennig in order to repair the joint but I also learned a lot about the principles of shoulder arthroscopy. I was able to sit in on the nerve block done before the procedure, as well as watch as the surgical team which included the surgeon, a physician assistant, a scrub nurse, a circulator, and an anaesthesiologist prepared, positioned, and draped the patient. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the surgical team as they completed their organized routine for each patient. I was also able to see a lot of different surgical instruments in action which was really cool because reading about them and seeing them being used are two very different things. After my first surgery I had a break in which I was able to break open Clinical Sports Medicine, by: Darren L. Johnson and Scott D. Mair, a textbook that Dr. Hennig lent me today to read throughout the duration of my senior project. After skimming through most of the text already I must say I am so excited to dive into this, it is jam packed full of information, but it is also at a level that I am able to comprehend versus being full of medical jargon. I must say that the highlight of my day was the last surgery, the shoulder with multidirectional instability. It was really interesting watching an arthroscopic capsulotomy, being able to watch Dr. Hennig maneuver around the shoulder and put in multiple sutures easily kept my attention. I loved spending my day in the OR but it was certainly a long day. I am looking forward to breaking open that textbook again tonight and returning to the orthopaedic office tomorrow morning!

May 13th- Day 8

Shoulders, knees, and hips! That is what my day consisted of in the Doctor's office today! Dr. Hennig and I saw a lot of patients with discomfort in their knees, most of them able to attribute the pain to arthritis in the knee. I was able to observe Dr. Hennig for multiple injections of the knee and learned a few more special tests to check stability as well as mobility of the leg. We also saw a good amount of patients with shoulder issues today that ranged from rotator cuff tears, bicep tendonitis, and even an AC joint separation. It was really cool looking at the AC joint separation on the X-rays which was very obvious but I also being able to look at the patient and see the raised bump from the joint separation.

We spoke to the patient about several treatment options. The surgery would consist of making a tunnel through the clavical and bringing an allograft through the tunnel and down to to anchor the bone. The patient wanted to put off surgery unless absolutely needed so today Dr. Hennig gave him a cortisone injection into the shoulder to relieve some of the pain created by the injury.

We also saw two patient with hip and thigh pain. The first patient was having a follow up visit after having 3 screws put in his left femoral head after fracturing it. The patient was having pain because the screws had backed out of the bone some as the bone settled and the gap created by the fracture had closed. The patient has some bursitis caused by the heads of the screws rubbing on the bursa sac that separates the hip from the IT Band. The last patient I saw today was complaining of hamstring pain and it was determined that the patient had sustained a tear in his hamstring. With the patients permission, Dr. Hennig allowed me to perform palpations on the patient's leg and one could easily feel an enlargement created by a bundle of hamstring muscle on the patients leg. Overall it was yet another educational day and I cannot wait to return tomorrow where I will be able to sit in on a few surgeries! 

May 12th- Day 7

Since I did not go to the office this morning I was able to take the morning off and attend advisory today. It was great to visit with my advisory and also finally see Lindsay and Mel again! I was also able to meet Anders, the world's cutest baby. It was so nice to visit with the new parents and seeing the three of them together as a family!
This afternoon I spent a couple hours in the training room where Chris reviewed how to take someone's blood pressure and gave us the opportunity to practice on ourselves as well as others! I learned that my blood pressure this afternoon was 125/65 which is fairly normal for someone of my size. We discussed Orthotics and how specialists will fit a person with these special soles in order to correct and support their feet. We wrapped up our day learning one technique on how to tape an arch in order to provide support, which I found much more success in taping but I forgot to take a picture of my volunteer's taped arches!

May 11th- Day 6

My first day at Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists with Dr. Hennig flew by! I arrived at the office at 8:30 and begin seeing patients right away. I was able to observe a variety of cases, varying from follow up rotator cuff surgeries, to torn labrums, and recent ACL injuries. I was able to observe Dr. Hennig perform H.O.P.S. (mentioned in my previous posts) as well as learn how to read a MRI from different angles, review X-rays, and find what I am looking for on an ultrasound. Dr. Hennig also taught me a few mobility tests which one patient graciously allowed me to practice on her leg!

This afternoon I was back in the training room with Chris and learned a lot about the different types of electrical stimulation and the different reasons to use each type. Chris then hooked us up to the stim machine and showed us the different ways to engage your muscles depending on where you place the electrical current!

Week 1 Reflection

Although this week did was not part of my original senior project plan, it was still very educational and applicable with my intended exercise science and premed major this coming fall. I started my week of on a great foot renewing my CPR certification and ended my week taping students and working on injury rehabilitation. I had been so concerned going into this week not knowing what I was going to do since I was unable to get into LRGH Orthopedics until this week, but Chris was awesome about helping find things I could do that still matched what I wanted to learn and helped me complete my goal of 15 hours for the week!
I would have to say the highlight of my week would be going into Concord Orthopedics on Wednesday and watching as the Doctor went through all the steps of H.O.P.S. that Chris had just taught me the previous afternoon, and although I felt bad for the patient, I must admit it was pretty cool to witness first hand a vasovagal reaction! The wasn't much of a downside of my week, although I couldn't be in the hospital I had a great time in the training room! I was able to learn a lot with Chris and Kelly that may not have been covered in the Doctor's office. I loved having the chance to learn and practice the technique of taping ankles, wrists, and sometimes mouths, two thumbs up for week one!

May 8th- Day 5

Today was a low key day. I spent a couple hours in the training room with Chris this afternoon and continued to practice my taping. Erika and I practiced taping eachother and with each time I practice I get a little bit better. After that I helped Chris fill the water coolers for the fields and then headed off to practice myself. After practice I met up with Chris at the JV Boys Baseball game. Sadly I missed the player who was hit in the face with the ball and had a laceration on his face that needed to be Steri stripped before he could head off to the hospital for stitches. I was able to practice my wound care on a young spectator who suffered from a bloody nose (epistaxis), as well as clean out and bandage an abrasion on a player caused by sliding. Although I would say today was the least productive day I had this week it was great being able to apply some of the knowledge I have gained throughout the week at the game this evening!