Presenter: Laura England, Psychology, Global Public Health Scholars
I worked at Hereford Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine in Parkton, MD under the supervision of Karen Kinsey. I interned as a physical therapy tech, meaning I helped patients with their exercises and got them their heat/ice treatments afterward. The public health connection is that each year, 50% of Americans over the age of 18 develop a musculoskeletal injury that would benefit from physical therapy. Globally, there has been an increase in the need for physical therapy, but that increase is happening at a greater rate in lower income countries where physical therapy resources are more limited. Some major takeaways from my experience are that a patient's desire to get better is crucial for their treatment outcome because exercises must be completed daily on the patient's own time and that positive reinforcement is the best way to encourage patients to complete their exercises. I also learned some important life skills, such as time management and dealing with difficult patients.