Now that's being narrow minded...

You learn a lot during clinics and sometimes you learn how much other medical professions truly knows about their supposedly allied health team. Everyday I'm realising how little doctors really know about rehabing joint problems. They may know how to drill holes, screw nails and put plates into people but that's the easy part of getting the patient back to "normal" function. They may know the theory of rehab but man do they suck at applying it.

Yesterday at clinics we were discussing a patient in the room where patients' folders are held. All of a sudden someone says with excitement, "Is that really a goniometer? So that's what they look like". Then this morning the same person was talking to his colleagues and said, "did you know that a goniometer really does exist. They're not just something you ask for during practical exams and never expect to see". That's right an intern doc said that. For all you non physios, a goniometer is basically a gadgat to allow us to measure the angle around a joint (e.g. how much bend in the knee). These are the same people who have the final say as to what happens to their rehab progress.

Earlier this week we wanted to clarify the doctor's plan for a patient. She wrote in the notes that the patient should be placed on a CPM, a machine that passively bends and straightens the knee for the patient. Usually this machine is given to a client who's had knee surgery or extreme difficulty bending the knee. Well we wanted to clarify if there were any specific range that she wanted him to achieve. When we spoke to this intern doctor, she admitted that she didn't really know what a CPM machine was and how it worked. We had to explain to her that you can adjust the range, the speed, and how long a patient usually uses it for. She said that she only wrote it under the plan because it was something that they were told to do for knee cases. Oh baby intern doctors...they have so much to learn in such a short period of time...

I've always told people that if you ever suffer a muscle and/or joint problem, always go see a physio and NOT your family doctor. I think I've proven my point here. Doctors don't know anything about muscles and what is required to rehab muscles and joints.

I've been so busy with my clinical placement these past two weeks that I never finished writing about my express trip around Oz. When we were down south we did this Tree Top walk and climbed

After we got back up from down south, Flash and I rented a car to drive up north. There's a huge difference between north and south. In the south you get the cooler weather, the wineries, and greenery. Up north you get extreme heat, desert like dryness, and everything is very isolated from each other. It was pretty much night and day.

When we got the Exmouth, our most northern destination, we thought we had arrived at a ghost town. Maybe it was the heat of close to 40 degrees but that place was deserted. In the brochures it looks like the place to be, with tons of stuff to do, but definitely a disappointment. Originally we had planned to stay up there for a few days but ended up only stay for the night. We did get up close and personal with the wild Emus. They were everywhere and loud. I seriously thought that they would attack our tents during the night. Here's a pic of two of them walking towards our car and tent. Just a little scary considering they have a rep of attacking people...

Once we left Emuville we drove to Monkey Mia, home of the wild Dolphins. On our way there we drove past the Tropic of Capricorn.

At Monkey Mia there is basically a big patch of open grass area for people to set up their tents. There are no designated area so wherever you can find a spot, it's yours. So we chose what we thought would be the best spot available and apparently it was an honoured area.

There were these 2 groups of Aussies and a Swedish sitting there and we later found out that they had been there for the past few days. They told us later that the night before was extremely crowded except for their area. Apparently they stood their ground and no one dared pitch their tent in their area. But we kinda just kinda slid right in and started setting up before they knew what was happening. They were pretty impressed at how we just acknowledged their presence and then went about setting our tent. Without knowing, we had just been welcomed into the "big boss" tent group. The Swedish couple was hilarious. They had been saving up and planning this "around Australia" trip for seven years. Yes you read correctly, seven years. They were catching the bus from town to town until they got all the way around Australia. I don't think I could do that but good on them. The guy was so anal and had a schedule for everything they did, from watching the sunset to when they were eating dinner.

Here are some pics of up north