This week we had year 10 work experience student, Matt join us at our PPS Carlingford clinic. Here is what Matt had to say about his experience. Matt, we are glad you had a great week!
“Hi, my name is Mathew Macan and I had the privilege of being a work experience student at PPS Physiotherapy from the 1-5th of August. My very first day involved me taking a test just to see where my knowledge was at with the anatomy of the human body, and I’m afraid I didn’t do the best. But I was soon informed that I wasn’t expected to know everything and that it was normal for most work experience students to not do too well in the first test. I was then handed a work book to fill in what I had learned throughout the week.
I cannot speak highly enough of my supervisor, Kimberley Cochrane, who did an absolute amazing job in helping me throughout the week. She was always willing to lend me some of her knowledge and was very open minded in answering my questions. Throughout the week, I met so many new people who were patients and I was told (with their consent) what had happened to them and their management. I cannot speak highly enough of all the physio’s as they were an absolute pleasure to work with and I could not have asked for a better team.
Throughout the week, my knowledge of bones, muscles, joints and injuries increased rapidly as I asked questions on things I didn’t know and tried to make sure that I knew them for the next day. I learnt about the four major ligaments in the knee and all four of the rotator cuff muscles. Going down to The Kings School everyday was also an experience that I wouldn’t have witnessed everyday and the team did an awesome job in treating the patients down there. Although I wasn’t allowed to do any work on them, I tried to absorb as much information as I could and even tried to test my knowledge at home with my parents and little brother.
In the middle of the week, I had the opportunity for a cast to be put on me by Kim, as it was her first time putting one on someone, and we succeeded. For a first time effort, I must say that Kim did an awesome job! During that same day, I got to experience the slightest bit of being a physiotherapist as I got to perform some therapy on my employer, David, to his thoracic back. I was a bit scared to perform it at first, but Kim guided me in how to position myself and how to put my hands on David. She also gave me a few tips on how to properly perform the therapy and what I was actually doing to David’s back. Although I was having so much fun in talking to patients and learning about what their injury was, I had to keep working through my booklet to get an even greater understanding of the body.
Towards the end of the week, Kim started to show me more about sprains and muscle soreness. I got to feel what it was like to walk around in a cam boot, which is what people wear when they have sprained or broken their ankle. David was such a great mentor as he was giving me mini pop quizzes randomly throughout some days and he always made a joke about it. I felt good on one of the days when he asked me to grab him one of the tools used for measuring how far you can bend your knee and I knew what he was referring to.
Friday came and it was my last day at the clinic and I had to take my final test to see what I had learnt throughout the who week. I did much better that time! Kim then suggested that we go through some reflexes. I had a bit of an idea what they were, but had never really done or experienced any testing on them. Kim first tested my tricep and bicep reflexes. I wasn’t too sure what to expect but then when my muscles jerked, I knew exactly what had happened. She then tested my knee and achilles. Kim then let me test some of her reflexes and I got to get a feel for what physiotherapists look for when testing them.
A patient came in that day who had some X-Rays. Kim asked if she could show me the images so I could see what was going on. We discovered osteophytes (which are loose bones fragments floating around in the joint). We had a quick look at the report and Kim explained it to me. I had my last visit to The Kings School and I got to appreciate just how much the PPS physiotherapists work to treat all the boys.
It has been an absolute privilege working at PPS Physiotherapy and I can’t thank the team enough! Thank you so much David Brown, Kimberley Cochrane, Jovi Villanueva and Grant Burton for helping me get through the week!“
