Hello! I just finished my fourth week interning at the Frazier Rehabilitation Institute. Fortunately, last week I was able to go back after my quarantine and dive right into working with patients and learning more about spinal cord recovery. I participated in a neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) session, and I was introduced to a new technique that is used in the lab to determine the condition of study participants. I also got to go to Indiana this week for the first time with my host family’s neighbors where we enjoyed some bubble tea.
Throughout the week I assisted in setting up NMES sessions and supporting participants who would use the standing mechanism (pictured below) in order to retrain their muscles. This entailed setting up and monitoring computers and tablets that would regulate the amount of stimulation being transmitted into an individual’s muscles, the time in which this stimulation was active and when the participant was resting, and taking notes on the different types of activities that they would be completing. These activities would include different reps of exercises like assisted standing, squatting, or heel-toe-shifts, which required a set of people to help support an individual’s legs, ankles, trunk, or hips depending on their neurological capabilities. I have participated in these sessions before by running the computers and tablets, but it was my first week officially interacting with the patient by holding up a participant’s knees while they completed these activities, which was much more exhausting than I had expected.
Additionally, I got to help with a study session on the original version of the treadmill, flown in from UCLA, that I mentioned in previous posts. Unlike the other treadmill, the one shown below has a circle of sensors that rely on “markers” to provide researchers another way to observe study participants. While there is a camera that records every session, these markers work similarly to the CGI effects used behind the scenes of a movie or TV show in order to track the participant’s joint movement.
This weekend I also got to go to Indiana for the first time, which was so much fun! I went with one of my host family’s neighbors. They were super welcoming and took me to go get boba tea while walking over a bridge that connects Indiana and Kentucky. We hung out at a couple of different parks and enjoyed the fantastic weather, for it had drizzled earlier that morning. The past week has been a blast, and I can’t wait for next week!
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