I love hands.

They are more complicated than I could have imagined, though. I understand now why you need to be practicing for at least 5 years before you can even consider becoming a Certified Hand Therapist. You basically have to be a rocket scientist and know every muscle, tendon, origin, insertion, surgical procedure, rehab protocol and contraindication before you can touch the client.

During my second day of fieldwork I was able to go through a tendon gliding routine with a patient, and assess a patient's grip strength with the dynamometer. Next week I'll spend half of the day sitting in on surgeries! Awesome!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Presenting at the NJOTA conference was incredible too. I had horrible dreams the night before that I freaked out and didn't show up at it. haha. It really was a lot of fun, and once I got up to talk, it all came out fine.

The conference was great for networking and learning. It's funny to talk to random people, and when you mention a place you've worked or had a fieldwork placement, people will always name someone they know. The OT world is really small, it amazes me.

I attended two lecture sessions, one was about contracture management and one was about the aging eye which gave an overview of natural changes that occur and common pathologies, as well as compensatory strategies and devices we can use.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

School is starting to pick up, and I'm almost at the overwhelmed point, but it's nothing like my first year. It's probably the same amount of work, but my coping/time management skills are improving. I'm taking 5 classes...
Adult Intervention
Adult Evaluation
Research
OT Skills III (UE)
Clinical Neuroscience

Time to get some work done.
Nap first. ;)