ASIA testing

Today, we did ASIA testing on my Spinal Cord patient.. The PT had done a couple ASIA testings on other patients but me and my supervisor had never done one before so it was really neat to participate...and I got to test his legs :)
This is the form that is used...

The dots on the body to the right of the form are the areas that you test sensation using the cotton or the pin prick..the pt has to tell you what they feel, and where they feel it. It wasn't as complicated as I was originally thinking! The pt came it diagnosed as a t12  SCI but we found out that he is more like a t10 SCI with his motor movement and sensation.

Today, I used a reacher, cones and a ring toss activity to work with him on seated balance activities, I wrote a short term goal for him to be able to sit on the edge of the mat table for up to 1 minute with min assist...this will be important for transfers to the bedside commode, and especially when he goes home. I'm looking forward to monday bc we are going to get on the mat with him and do some fun things! I can't wait to learn so much about SCI and how to treat and teach them different techniques! Keep ya posted :)

Have a great weekend :)

week 6

Hello all (all 1 or 2 people that actually read this haha)
I'm not in my 6th week of this fieldwork. ONLY 6 MORE !!!

So far I have had pt's with hip replacements, knee replacements, multi trauma,  and stroke. Today I got my first SCI patient. He is a t12 paraplegic and it is OVERWHELMING..there is just soo much different stuff between the ortho patients and a cord patient. I did his eval today and it took 4 of us to get him sitting EOB and then to do a sliding board transfer to the w/c. He is going to be a great learning experience and I'm excited to see how far he comes!! Tomorrow we are doing ASIA testing on him bc he isn't really presenting like a T12 SCI...so that will be really interesting!

Man I am sooo over my multi-trauma patient- he has a long history of back pain, and then was in a car accident and pretty much shattered his leg from the knee cap down. He is seriously addicted to pain medications. He knows exactly what time of day he gets which pain medicine and if you ask his pain level, he will just be sitting there saying he is a "high 9" or "oh its about a 10 right now"...when a 10 is the WORST PAIN EVER you would not be able to sit there without screaming bc its so bad!! And he is just getting on my nerves- he talks badly about his wife EVERY day- today he called her "the pitbull" and he has been inappropriate with me - calling me 'sweet cheeks' and saying "i cant afford a divorce but if i could, youd be worth it"...so we had to have a little talking too and he's straightened up some now thankfully! He is scheduled to go home on the 18th but we are trying to get him out sooner!

My other pt now is a double hip replacement. Hes a real nice guy and easy to work with. Its challenging bc of his size- he's very large- if he was going down there is absolutely nothing I could do to stop it!

I really need to start on my graduate project and my inservice ASAP- maybe this weekend? I am making a vision assessment kit for my facility, and doing my inservice on spinal cord injury. Should be a good learning experience but I am NOT looking forward to the presentation that's for sure!

Alright, well that's about it for now :)