Day 11 - 2/24/25
During the first day of week 3, my morning started early at 8am and started with a patient who I didn’t know used to teach Biology at Cornell and he came in with neck problems. He did something different today when he came in as he used an arm bike to get those upper traps working and also some band work. At the end of his session, Jeremy had performed a deep tissue massage for his neck and it seemed to help him a lot but it might just be temporary since it was only a massage. He was sent home with some light stretches to do and is expected to come back later this week. We unfortunately had another patient that had canceled after he was 20 minutes late to his appointment. That was very frustrating for Jeremy as this particular patient had been late numerous times and doesn’t really respect their time. He says it’s because of his job but I don’t think Jeremy is buying that. He is a patient who had fallen on his elbow and comes in for STEM treatment that he does to relieve some of that pain. Another patient that we had right before lunch was an older man who had been doing very strenuous labor when he was younger. He worked for a tree service company and required hard labor and carrying heavy machinery. He was an interesting patient because he had lower back issues, neck issues, shoulder replacements and knee issues but he seemed to be a fit individual as he works out pretty regularly. It was a very busy day for us since it was only Jeremy and I but I learned a lot and had a good time today, hopefully tomorrow is the same.
Day 12 - 2/25/25
For the second day of week 3, it was a very busy day as many patients came in to do their rehab treatments. It seems like the majority of older people like to get their things done early in the morning rather than later in the day as I found out that those people tend to wake up a lot earlier than usual people. We had a couple of patients try different exercises because of their recent improvement during the days that they’ve been coming in for. From what I saw, it looked as though the patients had a good look on their face but also worked hard during their performance. It was critical for them to raise their intensity so that we could analyze how well it was being performed. During the afternoon, it wasn’t as busy as it was in the morning. We had some younger athletes come in with their injuries and do some rehab as most of them were wrestlers. Those athletes mostly came in to do their regular rehab exercises without introducing anything new and had noticed some improvement which was good. It was a great day today and I’m hoping that tomorrow is just the same.
Day 13 - 2/26/25
For the third day of week 3, it was not a very busy morning as only one patient came in to do their exercises and the other had canceled which was a bummer. I was having a good conversation with the first patient we had as he would come in many times. After that everyone had left for lunch and didn’t need to come back until around 1. Lunch was good and came back at 1 for our next patient which had his fair share of problems. We had them do their balance exercise techniques to keep them in an upright position. It’s very critical, especially for older people to master their balance because it results in them falling less which is the number one cause of injuries. In addition to that, patients were put on resistance to measure their abduction and hip strengthening which is also key for balancing. All of the patients did really well considering their positive performance throughout the times that I’ve seen them come in. I’m glad to see them improve little by little.
Day 14 - 2/27/25
For the fourth day of the third week, my morning started significantly earlier than these past few days. It’s always difficult for me to wake up early in the morning because I come back exhausted but in a good way. Couldn’t have started the day any better without a cup of coffee which always wakes me up. The first patient that came in was the ex-Cornell biology professor who had severe neck tightness and issues. Jeremy had me perform an ultrasound on him which sort of helped and then proceeded to do a dry needle and e-stem at the same time which seemed to help him. Another patient had come in and so I had to do the honors and start him up with his exercises. He comes in pretty frequently so I am familiar with what he does as he likes to start off with the bike to warm up his legs and then moves onto a squat machine. After all the equipment that was done on him, we performed some stretches for him to do for his knees. In addition to that, we had put weight cuffs on his ankles and would use those to kick a medicine ball to strengthen his quads. He spent about the last 20 minutes or so doing straight leg raises, bridges, and other exercises during his visit. At the end, he looked good and was happy with his session.
Day 15 - 2/28/25
For the fifth day of week 3, I came in at 9:30 as that was his first appointment. This patient usually comes in 3 times a week and already knows what he needs to do. His first exercise was an arm bike because he had a shoulder replacement and it aches when he uses his arm in a particular position. What we were doing here was trying to establish strength in his bicep and shoulder by using resistance bands. Arms bent and pulling into his chest and arms straight going down at a 45 degree angle. After a while, it made him pretty sore but sore was good, meaning that we triggered a little bit of the muscle which is important. After he performed the resistance exercises, we had him lay on the table to do some arm stretches and he seemed to be okay during the stretching part, but then seemed to be sore after his visit. After he left we had about an hour of a break before another patient needed to come in and we called him “the tree guy,” because he cuts trees for work and has many back, neck, knee, and shoulder problems. We usually just listen to what he has to say and see what seems to be bothering him the most and that’s when Jeremy comes to a conclusion of what to do with him. Since he has many issues, we usually like to listen and see what may be bothering him the most out of everything that was going on. We did some dry needling which didn’t end up so well because he doesn’t like needles and started to feel noxious so we stopped. Instead, Jeremy performed a deep tissue massage and stretched out his neck which seemed to be better for him. He is a very fit individual who likes to lift weights so I am surprised that he has all kinds of injuries, but anything can happen. This was all in the morning, so it was fairly busy for the both of us which was good. In the afternoon, we had a track high schooler who must’ve strained her calf but we aren’t exactly sure and spent a while trying to figure it out. We think it might be the head of the gastrocnemius but still aren’t sure. She will come back soon again and we will have more details on what we think it might be. Overall, it was a good but busy day and I learned a lot.