Research Project

I am doing a research project for school and for it, I want to learn about the psychology of recovery because I want to find whether recovery is only biological, only psychological, or a combination of both.  I want to learn about the physical aspects of PT as well as the mental ones and see how they affect each other.  

My research is a topic that I really want to dive into and see what I can find.  I am in the place in my college search where I really just want to know for sure what I want to do for my future career.  As of right now it is PT for sure, but I want to know as much as I can and see where I can go with it.  I don't want to be just another person, I want to make a difference.  I know I will probably fail at times, but if this is something that I am truly passionate about, I will keep going.  

Yesterday at church, I was talking to a parent that helps teach a class of 3 and 4 year olds with me, and she told me about her experience with a physical therapist.  Her daughter, who is about 6 now, was born with most of her right side not working.  The doctors said it was very unlikely that she would be able to ever walk on her own.  But she went to PT to try to work on it and her physical therapist was always very supportive through it all.  The daughter's physical therapist got married this past summer and this woman's daughter got to walk down the isle as a flower girl.  It was so cool for this mother to be able to see her daughter who they said would never be able to walk, walk down the isle unassisted.  Now her daughter can practically run.  The mother told me she was so thankful for her physical therapist and the power of prayer.  After we has finished talking about this, there was tear in this mother's eye from how much this has truly impacted her.  

I am about to begin volunteering at a local hospital in their PT department and I am so excited!  I love to serve others, and I think it will be good to get actual experience in the field I hope to be in and research.  I think this will be a great source of knowledge for the field I am so fascinated with.  I think it will be interesting to find how the mental and physical aspects of recovery affect the recovery process.  How does a supportive family affect the recovery?  How does having a goal help?  Should there be a mental recovery plan alongside a physical recovery plan?  These are just a few questions I hope to answer.  But in the end, I hope I can find something I am passionate about and be able to pursue fully.  I know my journey to become a physical therapist will be hard, but with the drive, I know can get through it.  This is the main thing I hope to get out of my research, a passion for PT.

The Success of Failing

Failing is good.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. 

Failing shows a process, it shows that not just anyone can do it.  It makes the journey difficult but worth it.  Do you feel better about an A in a class that you slept through or one that you tried and tried and finally made it through?  I would choose the ladder.  

I have definitely felt failure before.  I took AP Chemistry which is said to be one of the hardest classes in my school.  Our teacher told us in the beginning of the year that we WILL fail at least one assignment, and it will be okay.  This freaked me out because I am not used to failing things and I have always tried hard at school to make the grades I do.

As it turned out, the class was the most difficult class I have ever taken and was very very frustrating at times.  I did fail in that class.  A LOT.  I don't think I ever got an A on a quiz or test the whole year and I got some of the lowest grades I've ever gotten in high school.  It did get discouraging at times, but I kept going.   I kept working and I did a lot of work outside of class and I stayed after school many days to get help from my teacher.  I was probably one of the people that struggled the most, but I do not regret taking that class at all.  I learned so much about myself and the subject as well. 

I learned about time management for a specific class, because we did not have homework most nights, but it was recommended to study on your own and review notes and read the text book.  I learned that I can ask a teacher for help and they are ususally more than willing to help.  I set up study groups with my friends and reached out to outside resources such as AP reveiw books.  I learned that I was able handle the rigor of the class.  I found some ways that helped me deal with the pressure and stress from the class and school in general. 

But this class also taught me I can fail.  And it will be ok.  It is more about the journey than the destination.  It also showed me my full potential and that I need to take responsibility for my learning. 

Because of this experience and a few others, I think that a good dose of failure is beneficial, especially in the long run.  I agree with an article that I read encouraging parents to let their child fail.  I think that it is good for parents to encourage their child, but I don't think they should do their work or make excuses for them.  Especially with kids and teenagers, I think it is best to fail from their mistakes and to learn from that.  Some day those kids will be kicked out of the house and they won't be able to call mommy about every problem or concern they have.  They will have to make decisions on their own and experience any consequences of those decisions.  I think the best way for parents to prepare and protect their children is to give them as much advice and encouragement as they can, but in the end have them live and learn on their own. 

Everyone fails, for example our 16th president failed a lot.  Though, he used his failures to make him stronger and he never gave up. 

What's next?

I'm a senior this year and I get asked the same questions by almost everyone I talk to:  Where are you going to school?  What are you gonna major in? 

I find these questions very annoying because I still have no idea what college I want to go to.  All I know is that I want to be a physical therapist.  My dream job is to be a physical therapist.  But this doesn't much answer the questions people ask about for college, because I don't know what my undergraduate degree will be.  I'll be in college for seven years and I might go to a different school for my doctorate degree verses my undergraduate.  So I have no idea really where I will end up in the future.  All I know is I want to be a physical therapist. 

I can't say I was one of those kids who always knew what they wanted to be. Like my sister knew she wanted to be a teacher since the 2nd grade and my brother has wanted to be an engineer since he was in 4th grade.  No, I came to this conculusion more recently, but I still don't have a specific degree.  Physical therapists can major in anything for their undergraduate degree, so I can study Exercise Pysiology, Psychology, Exercise Science, Biology or anything else.  But I guess I am not alone with my major undecided because this article I read said that 80% of freshmen at Penn State are not sure of their major. 

You may ask why I want to be a physical therapist.  I have a few reasons. 

I can definetly say that I am a math/science person and not a history or language person.  I took anatomy last year and I loved it.  It was one of the coolest classes I have ever taken because I got to learn about how the body works.  

I also love to help others, I know it might sound wierd, but I truly do.  I love to be able to serve others and make anything easier for them.  I would love to be able to help people physically when they have an injury.  I want to give them support through a recovery because I know it can be very difficult and also help them get back to normal life or a sport.  I want to make an impact on others lives.

2nd grade with my siblings

I still remember my physical therapist from second grade when I broke my arm.  I  had fallen off a swing, requiring a cast and physical therapy.  I needed physical therapy because I couldn't extend my arm all the way or bend it normally.  My physical therapist pushed my limits to make me better but was very nice.  We got my arm to straighten correctly, but a bone in my elbow was not allowing it to bend all the way, so I ended up needing more surgury for that.  But she was very supportive through the whole processes and definetly helped my recovery.  I want to be someone like that. 

Theater of Pain

"'It goes back to pee-wee ball,' Ryan Clark says.  'When I was six, I was a punt returner on my dad's team.  I got hurt.  I went up and told him, 'Dad, I can't straighten my neck.' But I made sure I told him that after I returned a punt for a touchdown."

This is a quote from the article Theater of Pain.  Personally I think that this is ridiculous that a six year old feels obligated to continue playing a game although he was obviously seriously injured. It is one thing when when a NFL player gets injured, their average salary is $1.9 million, but a six year old?  What kind of pressure is on this kid that makes him feel obligated to continue to play through injury?

Do we too much emphasis on the saying, "no pain, no gain?"  So much so that pain is expected to be endured to be the best?  Arguably the biggest sport in the USA is centered around hitting other people as hard as possible.  But this somehow brings people together.  This sport is made for entertainment and it brings family and friends together.  Anyone watching a game, whether you have a fantasy team and know everything about the sport or know the teams solely by the uniform color, everyone understands a big tackle.  Most people get the "ouch that hurt" but also the "that looked awesome" feeling.  You have to admit, it can look pretty cool, but can also cause serious injury.  Though, have we put too much pressure on the players, whether six years old or NFL players, to endure the pain of the sport?