Excel Rehabilitation and Sports

Enhancement Internship

Details:Site: Excel Rehab and Sports in Clemson, South

CarolinaPreceptor: Doug Lauber, OTTitle: Clinic AideDates: January 2016 – May 2016Hours: 180+ clinical observation hours

About Excel:

Mission: The co-founders of Excel pride themselves on providing quality care in Physical, Occupational, and Hand therapy. When Excel first opened they stated “Patients and their families know quality care when they experience it. It’s a result of great people and skills, and Excel has BOTH…There is a difference.”

My PreceptorDouglas Lauber, OTRDouglas Lauber is an Occupational Therapy Specialist in Clemson, South Carolina. He graduated with honors in 2000. Having more than 16 years of diverse experiences, especially in Occupational Therapy and Hand Therapy, Doug affiliates with no hospital, and cooperates with other doctors and specialists in medical group Excel Rehab and Sports. Doug is an Upper Extremity and Certified Hand Therapist.

Other Co-workersAlthough Douglas Lauber was my primary

preceptor, I worked with several other Physical and Occupational Therapists, and OT Aides during my internship. The therapists I worked with were very welcoming and taught me what it means to be a professional.

I also worked alongside other Clinic Aides and administrative staff. The other Clinic Aides were the ones I interacted with most. We had to work together effectively and efficiently when shifts would become very busy.

Position: Clinical AideDuties:

Maintain and Disinfect treatment areasPrepare ice packs and hot packs for patientsTransition patients between exercises and from

waiting room to treatment areaAssist patients with therapy activitiesProvide support for patientsBegin patients on warm-up exercises

Duties: Preparing hot packs to warm up muscles

For occupational therapy, most patients will warm up with a hot pack. The heat allows for more blood to flow to the area and relaxes the muscle, preparing them for exercise.

I typically prepared and put up hot packs for patients’ treatment sessions.

Assist Patients with Therapy Activities:

In the picture above I am helping a patientput on ankle weights for a particular exercise.

In the picture below I am hanging up the pulleys for a patient to stretch.

Begin patients on warm-ups:This machine is called the sci-fit. It is typically used to get the legs and arms moving to increase blood flow and wake the nervous system up. Other warm up machines include treadmill, nu-step, or elliptical.

This is a picture of me helping adjust a patient on the sci-fit machine.

Projects:Performing the DASH assessment on new

patients/evaluations for Occupational TherapyMore information can be found on the following slide

Case Study ProjectMore information can be found on the following slide

Setting up patients for electrical stimulation “E-stim” is a warm-up activity for muscles. For

occupational therapy there are typically two locations to set up electrical stimulation on the shoulder. Anterior/Posterior or Crossing the shoulder (which includes

medial/lateral locations)

Disability of the Arms, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH)When Occupational Therapy would have new

patients to evaluate, the Clinic Aides would perform the DASH assessment on them.

This assessment consists of 15 questions or daily tasks and has the patient rank their ability to complete them. The ranking system is as follows: No difficulty, mild difficulty, moderate difficulty, severe difficulty or unable.

A low score indicates better health, while a high score indicates poor health or more disabilities.

Case Study ProjectOne of the therapists I worked with, Jess

Loudermilk, had a patient in her 20s who was an avid runner but suffered from Compartment syndrome. I was very interested in this case because I also am an avid runner. I talked to Jess more about this patient’s background and treatment plan and decided to write a case study. A case study includes patient background, initial evaluation/examination, measurements, intervention plan, and ultimately the outcome. This case study can be found on my “Internships” tab in my portfolio.

Setting up patients for electrical stimulation

Another warm-up technique is electrical stimulation. I was responsible for setting up the E-stim machines and cleaning them up when patients were done.This picture to the left is me setting a patient up on the machine.

More tools: This picture includes a variety of tools important to therapy. The “Faktr” tools are used typically in soft-tissue massage to soothe the muscle. The goniometer is used to measure range of motion angles.

Conclusion:I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Excel Rehab and

Sports. The biggest thing my time at Excel taught me was how to interact with the general public and what it means to be a professional. I also learned a tremendous amount about occupational and physical therapy from the therapists I worked with. All the employees at Excel were happy, upbeat, and welcoming and I feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity. I can not wait to begin my career as a Physical Therapist.