Anza Connaughton, Spinal Rehabilitation at the Frazier Institute, Week 4

Hello again! It’s me, Anza, and I’m a pintern learning about the world of adult neuro recovery in Louisville, Kentucky. At this point, I’ve earned a place at Frazier as the department “pinhead” (my coworkers originally thought that pinhead was a joking insult that was next to my name on the schedule). The fourth week was full of new challenges and even more learning experiences. This week, I conquered what can only be described as the boss level of stand sessions. It took lots of care, work, and effort and, at the end of the day, I’m better off because of it.

When we’re running a stand session, we have one person who is designated to run the computer tracking software to track all of the exercises, times, and events that might occur during that session. The software is fairly complex and was actually specially created for this particular stand study. In addition to the stand tracker, the person on the computer will sometimes take care of running the tablets that control the stimulation that’s going to each of the muscles on a participant’s body during the session. Depending on the participant, we might have anywhere between 1 – 3 tablets. With three tablets, there’s a lot of work to do so ideally you would have one person on the tablets and one on the stand tracker. However, that was not the case this week.

On one particularly fast-paced session, I was in charge of three tablets, the computer, and the bungees. This is the ultimate test for anyone, especially an intern on their fourth week of work. You should’ve seen me. I was a tornado whipping between different programs, pressing all kinds of buttons, and adjusting the bungees for proper mobility constantly. It’s really important to be as accurate as possible with all of the data collection because the work that we’re doing is research. I can only imagine that the session looked chaotic with people calling out different numbers in milliamps and a perpetual look of terror on my face, but we made it through and I feel stronger now. They don’t give us any kind of awards but I’d like to think I earned a gold star. After working up a sweat on a three tablet session, I felt like I needed a nap; but one must go on.

Another milestone for me was getting to be the hip trainer on a stand session. This is one part of a stand that can be really tricky and I was fortunate enough to get to try it out. One thing that has become really evident to me throughout this internship is how important hands-on experiences are. By getting to actually be on hips, I learned so much more about what you’re looking for when it comes to alignment and why things like having the bungees adjusted are really important. One of my favorite moments was getting to call out for a “squat special with cheese” (as we say in the ‘biz). Before you get intimidated by all that complicated jargon, a squat special is loosening the bungees by two notches on the top and one on the bottom. We like to make up lingo because…well, it’s fun. We adjust the bungees so we have the mobility to be able to bring the hips down into a squat position. Squats are one of the harder exercises when on hips because you have to make sure that both hips go down together while also staying in good alignment. The trainers on knees and trunk help by calling out when hips need to go left, right, forward, or backward. Another thing I learned is the value of an athletic polo shirt which is more breathable and collects less sweat during an hour-long workout on hips. You should see the size of shoulder muscles now — I’m huge.

Me training the hips on a stand session

Outside of work, I spent my last week with my roommate, Elena. My host family was on vacation this week so we cooked for ourselves. For Elena, this meant oatmeal for breakfast and dinner and as for myself, I ate a pretty sizable amount of tofu. Elena got here before me so her internship is ending. I’m so sad to see her go — I’ll be riding the bus alone (sigh). However, you can’t get hung up on the sad stuff. We spent her last few days here doing what we do best: eating. We went to our favorite ice cream spot, the Comfy Cow, and also got delicious Indian food. She headed back to Telluride this morning but we’ve become pretty close and are looking forward to hanging out when I get home.

Elena eating sugar for the 1000th time this week

“Welcome Home” flowers for my host family and veggies from the farmer’s market

I can’t believe I’m already over halfway through my internship. So far, my time here has been better than I ever could’ve thought. I’m so lucky to have this opportunity. All of the people that I’m meeting are awesome and I never would’ve imagined I’d get used to the humidity. I can’t wait for week five!