A Much Need Break...

Before my mental breakdown from studying on Monday. Which also happened to be Halloween. After an Anatomy test last Monday, a Lab midterm on Friday and a Physiology midterm on Monday (which means I have been studying nonstop since last summer), I felt that I deserved the night off from using my brain. So I dressed up as a beer maid and drank some bier (which is German for beer) with some of my fellow classmates.

Some of the ladies in the DPT class of 2014

Charmin Bear

Beetle Juice!

Poor homeless man

Some of the fellows in the DPT class of 2014

Max the Sheriff Dog

Tuesday morning was a little rough, but Halloween was very fun and definitely worth it.

I know I have complained about how much studying I have been doing and how it has taken over my life and that I feel like my brain hurts, BUT...I really do like the information. And I have been finding fun ways to learn it. I feel that arts and crafts are a great way to really understand something and truly learn it:

Lumbar and Sacral Plexus

The ever daunting brachial plexus

Peripheral nerve innerations

Intrinsic hand muscles

Intrinsic hand muscles as art

Right smack in the middle of completing my pre-reqs for this program, my knee hurt every time that I ran. Wouldn't you know it...I went to see a Physical Terrorist Therapist for the first time EVER. His diagnosis was that I had a weak gluteus medius (which is a muscle that is weak on almost everybody in the world - slight exaggeration). My PT showed me some exercises to strengthen my weak muscles, but I didn't really know why having a weak butt muscle would make my knee hurt when I ran. Well, now I know why. Exciting huh?

Do you want to know? Well sure, I'll tell you.

Your Gluteus Medius abducts your thigh at your hip joint, which means that when your legs are together, this muscle allows you to lift your thigh away from your body sideways

Thigh Abduction

Now, when you are running or walking, the action of this muscle is a little different. Instead of abducting (you learned a new word!) your thigh, you are stabilizing or drawing your opposite hip up when you are standing on one leg (which is typical of running or walking).

a weak glut med will cause this action:

A) is a normal or strong Gluteus Medius B) Shows a weak muscle that can not stabilize your hip

Thus another muscle will compensate to keep you from falling over, such as one of your quads. This is not their primary job and when muscles have to work overtime, they punish you by causing you pain. Just kidding.  But since this is not the quads normal job, it will become tight and pull on your patella and cause knee pain. Who knew the body was so complicated?

Well there you have it. Fascinating huh? 

I hope you had a fabulous halloween!