Senior Project Reflection

PART I: Two-Hour Presentation
(1) Two-Hour Presentation Student Assessment
AE
Why?
The reason why I think I deserve an AE is because I think i had a good amount of content.  i spent a lot of time thinking of a creative way to set up the room that I had, I was well prepared for the presentation, and through out the lesson I spoke clearly and on pace.

(2) What are you most proud of in your 2 hour presentation and why?
The room set up is what I am most proud of because it took a lot of work in coming up with ideas on how to organize it.  Also because I took a lot of time setting everything up.

PART II: Overall Senior Project Experience

(3) What do you think you did well on in the project? What could you have done better?
 I think that  most of my presentations that I did, like the five minute, twenty minute, and my 2 hour presentation.  Something that I could have done better is getting  a little bit more research and having more variety in the research as well.


(4) What is your EQ and what is the best answer to your EQ?
EQ: What is the best physical therapy technique to treat a patient with back pain?
Best Answer: Core strengthening

(5) How has the last month of culminating events (e.g I-Search, Two-Hour, Exit etc) affected your answer to your EQ? Has it changed? Why or why not?

The last set of assignments have not changed my answers to my EQ.  They have actually brought me to a firmer foundation on why they are my answers because i did a little bit more research on them.

(6) What suggestions do you have in order to improve the senior project?
For the last couple of project, I am not too sure if they were meant to all be due around the same time. Like the isearch, service learning, and other core class assignments: That week was pretty intense beacuse of all the things that were due.


(7) Overall Senior Project Assessment
P+

Why?
I think I deserve this assessment because I have met proficiently in most of my senior project components, and they have all been quality work as well.  There was also a lot of effort put into all of the assignments as well.

Service Learning

Literal

• Tues. & Thurs. Nov. 2010 - May 2011

• Monica Miller 909.399.3100

Interpretive

• The most important thing that I gained from this experience is that I got a live experience on everything that i read.  I got to see how an ultrasound machine works, I was able to try the electrical stimulation, the paraffin wax, and I was also able to get a demonstration n massage that they give a person with back pain.  Overall my service learning gave me an experience of all the techniques that I read about and I was able to see the difference rather then read about it.  It was important to me because it gave me a personal experience on what I believe would be the best technique to treat a patient with back pain. 

Applied

• My service learning helped me answer my EQ by allowing me to have an expert in the field.  My expert helped me answer questions that related to my EQ.  She also explained to me how different physical therapy techniques work, and which ones she saw that worked best to treat patients with back pain.  Another thing that my service learning helped me in is that it gave me a live experience on all the physical therapy techniques that are used for back pain.  I was able to input my own personal experience to answer my EQ.

(2)
 Monica Miller, 909.399.3100, 9635 Monte vista Avenue, Suite #206, Montclair CA

2 Hr. Rough Draft Lesson Plan

Sponge activity: Ask this: if you had back pain how would you treat it? Make students write something down. Collect papers share out their answers.  Explain what type of techniques they described and relate them to physical therapy.

Introduction:  EQ: What is the best physical therapy technique to treat a patient with back pain?

Breakdown: Best: Being above average, Physical Therapy: the treatment or management of physical disability, malfunction, or pain by exercise, massage, hydrotherapy, etc., without the use of medicines, surgery Treat: Give care to. 

Why you chose topic: The reason why I chose this topic is because there is a lot of information on this, the accessibility for service learning for this topic was easy, and lastly my uncles accident made me want to know focus more on this topic. 

Plan for the day: 

• Sponge Activity
• Introduction
• First answer
• Activity
• Second Answer
• Activity
• Third Answer
• Activity

Foundation:  Introduce myself, introduce my topic (physical therapy). Explain that I will be focusing on techniques useful to treat back pain. 

Body:

Answer 1: Heat and Ice therapy

-----Activity 1:  Describe in detail what you plan to do

Answer 2: Posture Correction

-----Activity 2:  Kneeling side kick exercise, Students will Kneel down on the floor, back straight, and then lean to their left until left hand is on the floor. Lift right leg straight out to the side until it's parallel to the floor; move that leg slowly backward and forward for three to five seconds while maintaining a straight spine. Students will repeat on the right side.Followed by Standing Side Kick in which students will extend arms to the sides, straight out from shoulders. Lean forward while lifting right leg, toe pointed, out to the right. Lift foot 4 inches off the ground and balance. Repeat with the left leg.

Answer 3: Core strengthening

-----Activity 3: Have students lie on yoga mats. Pair them up and have them lie on their back.   lifting both feet up in five seconds.  Their partner will count off the five seconds out loud. They will repeat 3 times and then switch off.  Then the three pointing kneeling lift.  In this you stand in all fours, then lit leg out then in  and repeat for 5 times. then switch off with partner.

Conclusion:

What is your best answer and why? Core strengthening because it provides more mobility to the person, decreases back pain, and strengthens muscles from the back.

What is your 3 most important sources and why? the Ultimate back Book, Monica Miller 9 service learning person), article<--- i don't have the exact name of it.  they are my most important sources beacuse they provided a lot of information on my topic and gave me a lot of details on questions I had. 

What is your product and why? my product is that i will obtain future training for a physical therapy aid.  this is my product because I will be very proud of receiving and earning the opportunity to have this.

Independent Study 2

1. Days attended massage classes were:

• Every Tuesday & Thursday from March 1, 2011 - April 19, 2011

 2. My Log:

 

3. LIA

Literal:

• I Daisy Betancourt, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hrs. of work.
• I completed a total of 15 sessions.  I also obtained new knowledge on the anatomy of the back, which included learning the different muscles that cause inflammation and which ones do not.  Another thing was distinguishing the different types of pain a patient is having whether it be aching from soreness or pain due to fractured back, or sport injury.

  Interpretive:

• During the time that I went to my classes, I observed how to give a deep tissue massage, Swedish massage, and along with that i was able to practice on my instructor and a dummy.  I learned how to position my hands for the deep tissue massage and for the Swedish massage as well.  Along with that I was also able to identify whether different types of pain by feeling the muscle. 

  Applied:

• My independent study helped me answer my EQ because as I mentioned in it in my independent task 1 blog.  It showed me that massages can reduce inflammation on the back which is one way that pain in the back can be reduced but only temporarily.  It also led me to one of my answers which is reducing inflammation.  I came to the conclusion with this because most of the patients that came for a massage had certain muscles from the back were swollen.  Swollen muscles were treated with ice or heat therapy to reduce inflammation and that always had a positive result in patients.  I went further into researching it in different articles and books and they also said that reducing inflammation is effective in reducing back pain.

Visual/Performing Arts

Daisy Betancourt
Sculpture of body with Needles :)
Relates to my EQ because the body will represent the patients and the needles will represent the pain that the patients have on their back.
What is the best technique a physical therapist can use to treat a patients with back pain?

Interview 4 Questions

1. How do you determine if a patients problem is in the back area?
2. From your prospective would you suggest surgery to a patient with back pain? Why or why not?
3. In your opinion, what is the best technique you can use to decrease back pain on a patient?
4. Follow Up: What about this technique makes it the best?
5. What would you prefer: Manual or Ultrasound therapy? Why?
6. Follow Up: Why not (Manual/ultrasound)?
7. Would you agree that most patients that receive ultrasound therapy and have good results, is all psychological? Why or why not?
8. would reducing inflammation help decrease back pain? Why or why not?
9. Would reducing inflammation have a BIG affect in decreasing inflammation or just a small amount?
10. Can heat therapy increase back pain? If so how?
11. What determines if a patient receives ultrasound therapy, manual therapy, or exercises?
12. If you perform ultrasound therapy on a patient, does it have to be at a certain frequency, so that the patient feels a decrease in their back pain?
13. Follow Up: Does it have to be pulsed or continuous?
14. Would you agree that massages on the back only provide temporary relief on back pain? Why or why not?
15. Can the deep tissue massage be used to decrease back pain? Why or why not?
16. Do you think that posture plays a major part in back pain? If so,  what can be done to correct posture?
17. Why is core strengthening important when decreasing back pain?
18. What do you do if a patients with back pain doesn't decrease?
19. Follow Up: What if the pain increase?
20. Can back pain be there forever, or is there a possibility that it can go away?

Independent Study 2

1.   For my second Independent Study I plan on continue taking the massage therapy classes.  I plan to go to the same place as my last independent study.  With this in mind I hope to gain more knowledge on massage therapy and hopefully have more practice in it as well.

2. My independent Study 2 relates to my EQ because massage therapy is considered one way of reducing back pain.  Also as a physical therapist, he or she needs to have the proper skills when performing a massage.

Independent Study 1

1. Days attended massage classes were:

• Every Thursday from Nov. 4th - Feb. 9th. From 3:30 - 5:30

 2. My Log:

 

3. LIA

Literal:

• I Daisy Betancourt, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hrs. of work.
• I completed a total of 15 sessions.  I also obtained new knowledge on different massages that there are, and some new techniques that are being used which involves mixing the different types of massages into one.  Another thing that I completed was my understanding of how a massage can reduce inflammation on the back and relax the muscles.

  Interpretive:

• During the time that I went to my classes, I observed how different types of massages can be put together to create one good massage.  I learned how to use my weight to give massages on different people with different body masses.  I also learned different points that should be massages with caution and what parts of the body cannot be massaged.  I learned what body parts I have to use for each area of the back.

  Applied:

• My independent study helped me answer my EQ because it showed me that massages can reduce inflammation on the back which is one way that pain in the back can be reduced.  Also the hot stones that are put in the back make the muscles less tense which make it easier to give a deep tissue massage which can help reduce back pain if the patient or client's cause for there back pain is muscle aching.  The heat that the hot stones provide also reduces inflammation in the back.  Another important thing that my independent study showed me was that massage therapy for back pain is only a temporary relief, because I noticed that the clients that came for back pain reasons continued to come.  The instructor which is also a certified chiropractor told me as well that a massage is only a temporary relief for back pain..

Lesson Plan

Essential Question: What is the best physical therapy technique to treat a patient with back pain?

• Introduction: (Total:3 Min.)
• Introduce myself (1 Min)
• Explain Posture ( 1 Min)
• Simple explanation between posture and back pain (1 Min)
• Verification:
• Ask questions on how the class thinks that posture can be improved
• Q1: Do any of you guys know if there is an activity to improve posture? (1 Min)
• Q2: Are there any equipment that help improve posture?
• If so why do you think it improves posture? (1 Min)
• Body:
• Literal
• Introduce Exercise ball (1 Min)
• Brief history (1 Min)
• How it helps with posture (1 Min)
• Describe posture (1 Min)
• Good posture (30 Sec)
• Bad posture (30 Sec)
• Interpretive
• Connection between exercise ball and posture (1 Min)
• Connection between exercise ball, posture, and back pain (1 Min)
• Applied
• Explain how PT helps prepare me for the job I want which is a PT Aid (1 Min)
• Explain what PT aid is and what they do (1 Min)
• Activity: (4 Min)
• Have the whole class freeze!
• Choose 2 students to come to the front of the class
• Have them choose 3 students with the best posture
• Ask 2 other students why they were chosen
• Show them good posture with exercise balls
• Conclusion ( 2 Min)
• Source 1
• Source 2
• Source 2
• Overall importance of exercise balls, posture and back pain J
• Visual:
• Poster
• PowerPoint
• Materials:
• Exercise Balls

ESLR Check

1.  I have been an effective learner by being responsible with the assignments that have been given this year, whether it be homework or project.  I try to turn things on time and give quality work.

2.  Model Assembly project were complete, participated, senior projects like research checks

3. Try and help more people if they need any.  :)

10 Hr. Service Learning Check

1. West Star Physical Therapy Network
2. Observing patients while they get their massages, evaluations, exercises, ultra-sounds, heat/ice therapy, and help organize shelves.
3. The most important thing that I have learned so far are the different techniques/exercises that are used to get patients in good shape.  I have found out that each patient needs specialized exercises that fit her/his body type and problem.  You can never give the same exercises to the people that may have the same problem because everyone's body is different.  Specialized exercises allow the person to feel comfortable with handling pain or body weight.

Interview 3 Questions

1. What physical exercises can be given to a patient with back pain? 
2. Are there any limitations to the type of exercises that a patient can perform?
3. Is there a recommended time limit for the amount of physical activity that is performed?
4. Would you recommend heat or ice therapy?  If a specific one why?
5. Do you think exercises like yoga or pilates  would help treat a patient with back pain?
6. Can ultrasound be performed on the back area to reduce pain? Why or why not?
7. Do you think motivation in both the physical therapist and the patient can play an ipomrtant role in treating a patient with back pain?
8. Are there any types of massages that can help treat a patient with back pain?
9. What are somethings that can cause back pain?
10. Can back pain be temporary or is it possible for it to be permanent?