From Alvin's Corner

Greetings to all! First of all, I'd like to thank Violeta for keeping this site up and running. I've thoroughly enjoyed all the updates and the informative posts!

My name is Alvin Chung. I'm a TWU MOT student who's currently doing my 2nd internship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. I'm here to share a bit about my fieldwork experience: some basic info that can help you to get ready (though we can never truly be ready for FW; we can at least try!) for fieldwork and some other "factors" that may foster or hinder your experience. I'll get right to them...


1. THY SHALL KNOW YOUR MANUEL MUSCLE TESTING (MMT) THROUGH AND THROUGH

This is one of many basic tools necessary to complete an initial evaluation. You must first know the proper position for testing each upper body (UB) muscle group in gravity and g-eliminated plane as below:
Shoulder - flexion, extension, lateral abduction, internal/external rotation)
Elbow - flexion & extension
Wrist - flexion & extension
Once you know how to test them, you must give each position a grade. Pay attention to gravity vs. gravity-eliminated & full ROM vs. part of the ROM when testing and grading. (The grading system varies from facility to facility. My current affiliation used Trombly (OT for PhysDys)).

Learn the textbook one well and your clinical instructor (CI) may teach to a quick gross test depend on the setting you will be in. This is a crucial weapon to keep in your arsenal! Fire away!



Well, I'll post one at a time. Second Commandment to come tomorrow!


-Alvin
alvinchung2@gmail.com