I believe every single PT student should do their first clinical rotation in an acute care setting. Here’s why: You see most everything a physical therapist does all in one setting:

• Orthopedics- if you work in a major hospital chances are you will work with a s/p joint replacement of some sort. Hips, knees, shoulders…you name it. It’s all there.
• Cardiopulmonary- CABG, Cath, AV valves, Respirators OH MY! You better know your sternal precautions.
• Geriatrics- Not everyone in the hospital is old, but the majority certainly are.
• Neuro- CVA, spinal cord stroke, GBS, SCI… It’s all here folks.
• Multidisciplinary learning- you are surrounded by Nurses, OT’s, Speech Pathologists, Respiratory Therapists, Dieticians, MD’s, any many other disciplines. Wonder what they all do? I’m sure your CI would love to let you spend half a day shadowing one of them.

I believe it is the perfect place to start on your first clinical because it will provide you with a nice foundation for the rest of school. You will learn patient care skills, bedside manor, and you will be able to understand where your patients are coming from. Unfortunately, this acute rotation is my last. It has been a nice summary of everything I have learned, but if I could do it all again I would most definitely choose acute care first. So, if you are wondering where you should go, find a hospital that will take you and make the most of it. I promise you will not regret it!

I had always wanted quick reference sheets without having to pay for them. I am a broke student after all! Well after two years of hoping and crossing my fingers no luck, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I tried to make them as full of important, pertinent information as possible. I trimmed out all of the fluff and stuck with the main points consisting of: muscles that cross the joint along with their corresponding insertion, action, and innervation; normal ROM values; important ligaments; open/closed pack positions; special tests; etc etc

UPDATE: I realize there are only 3 guides currently. I am still working on the shoulder, wrist, and elbow. If you have any comments or I got something wrong, let me know here.

UPDATE #2: The shoulder and elbow are now finished and ready to be downloaded. See below!

UPDATE #3: The shoulder is NOT finished! I will finish it soon,  promise!

UPDATE #4: The shoulder is IS finished! Yay!!!

So without further adieu here they are:

The elbow

Link: Elbow Quick Reference Guide
Version: 2.1
Downloaded: 2486 times
Description: Two page quick reference guide consisting of:

• muscles that cross the joint along with their corresponding insertion, action, and innervation
• normal ROM values
• important ligaments
• open/closed pack positions
• special tests
• etc etc

The ankle

Link: Ankle Quick Reference Guide
Version: 2.0
Downloaded: 1449 times
Description: Two page quick reference guide consisting of:

• muscles that cross the joint along with their corresponding insertion, action, and innervation
• normal ROM values
• important ligaments
• open/closed pack positions
• special tests
• etc etc

The knee

Link: knee quick reference guide
Version: 2.0
Downloaded: 2422 times
Description: Two page quick reference guide consisting of:

• muscles that cross the joint along with their corresponding insertion, action, and innervation
• normal ROM values
• important ligaments
• open/closed pack positions
• special tests
• etc etc

The hip

Link: hip quick reference guide
Version: 2.0
Downloaded: 1631 times
Description: Two page quick reference guide consisting of:

• muscles that cross the joint along with their corresponding insertion, action, and innervation
• normal ROM values
• important ligaments
• open/closed pack positions
• special tests
• etc etc

The Shoulder

Link: Shoulder Quick Reference Guide
Version: 1.0
Downloaded: 1713 times
Description: Two page quick reference guide consisting of:

• muscles that cross the joint along with their corresponding insertion, action, and innervation
• normal ROM values
• important ligaments
• open/closed pack positions
• special tests
• etc etc

Breaking a bone is just one of those things that is bound to happen at some point to someone. Luckily (knock on wood) I have yet to break a bone.

Some causes of bone fractures

Descriptions of common types of fractures

• Simple — the bone is broken in one place.
• Comminuted — the bone is broken in several places with at least 3 bone fragments.
• Open — the skin is injured exposing the broken bone (also called “compound”).
• Closed — the skin is intact over the broken bone.Undisplaced—the broken bone pieces are aligned.
• Displaced — the broken bone pieces are not aligned.

Treating bone fractures

• If you think you have broken a bone, seek emergency medical care immediately.
• A medical examination and x-rays can help determine if and where a bone is broken.
• The broken pieces may need to be put back in place and then immobilized until the bones can heal as new bone forms around the break.
• The type of treatment will depend on the kind of fracture and the specific bones involved.
• Fractured bones usually need at least 4 weeks to heal although casts may be removed before that to prevent stiffness (particularly for fractures involving the elbow or hand).
• Physical therapy may be required after the bone has healed. Read the full story

Recently my wife began having pain on the medial side of her knee while running and riding the elliptical machine. I watched her exercising to see if I could find a change in her osteokinematics or some other muscle imbalance. I noticed as she walked or ran on the side where she had the medial knee pain her pelvis would drop.

This led me to question her hip abductor strength on the right side of her pelvis which could explain the drop on the left side. I performed a Pelvic Drop Test on her right leg to test for a pelvic drop on her left. She could only perform 3 repetitions before tiring. A positive test in anything less than 10 repetitions.

In a recent article in the Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association showed the connection between hip abductor strengthening and a decrease in medial knee pain.
Read the full story