Hello blogging world, this is my first blog and I’d like to introduce myself and my profession. I am a staff physical therapist at Action Potential, a spectacular (if I do say so myself) outpatient PT clinic in Glen Mills PA. Who am I really? Well in a nutshell I’m a former D1 athlete, who loves to eat good food (I do my best to cook it myself), enjoys hiking, camping, reading a good book, enjoying a glass of wine, touring a museum, and going to the orchestra.
Basically I like to do and learn about a lot of different things. And from the amount of questions I get from my patients and friends/family many of you are just as curious as I am.
So this is where the blog comes in.
What’s the #1 Question I get about my job
You’re a Physical Therapist, so can you give me a massage?
How to answer such a question:
- Yes, but you won’t enjoy my type of massage.
- There is so much more to PT than that!
So what does it mean to be a PT, and why is my job so awesome?
- I get to Be Sherlock!
- A patient comes in with a script. Sometimes it is a great guide for the treatment but many times its not. The patient has pain, or poor balance, or trouble moving, and I get to tease out why.
- So let the investigation begin! The best indicator is how we move.
- The bare bones of PT is helping people move better, helping them reach the highest potential that they can achieve so they can play/perform better, take care of their home or family more easily, or walk without the risk of falling.
How cool of a job is that!
- A patient comes in with a script. Sometimes it is a great guide for the treatment but many times its not. The patient has pain, or poor balance, or trouble moving, and I get to tease out why.
- The People/Patients:
- At Action Potential our model allows me to have a full 1 on 1 session with each patient. As a result, I get to learn more about you. I get to hear about your day, things that you’re interested in, and what you’re having difficulty with (physically and otherwise).
- Not only do I hear about what you’re having trouble with, if it’s in the realm of movement we get to work on it
- Big stress on the word WE. PT is definitely a partnership, I don’t have a magic wand to wave. My job is to guide you and set you up for the postures and exercises that will help. YOU have to do the heavy work!
- My coworkers:
- The people I work with are awesome and know 10x more than me in basically everything (but they are also much older than me ;-))
- The best advice I received when looking for a job was to never be the smartest person in the room. And with this group that’s certainly the case. Everyone at Action Potential is seeking new knowledge and constantly looking to grow.
So this is what the blog is about. Surrounding ourselves with smarter people and together learning and investigating how to improve how we move, how we think, how we eat, how we relate etc. All the daily things that we may think too much about (ex. food, sports, diet, exercise etc) or don’t think enough about (breathing, mindfulness, posture). And hopefully together we can move better in all aspects of life.
“Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.
Tip Toe if you must, but take the step”