Week One

Situation: This week, I was given the opportunity to participate in a physio session of an 18-year-old male patient with recent left minor patellar dislocation. This session was one of a few follow up physio treatments from a prior initial assessment. He presented with recurring anterolateral knee pain as well as increasing posterior knee pain. This was preventing him from returning to work as an apprentice carpenter, and was important that the condition was addressed to allow him to return to work as well as ADL’s.

Task: The main priority of this physio session was to manage the presenting condition to alleviate pain, facilitate healing and promote normal functioning and movement, which would enable him to return to work.

Action: I initially measured his knee flexion and extension to use as a baseline assessment. I then used ultrasound on the anterolateral aspect of his left knee to relieve pain and promote healing as well as massage on his hamstrings to relieve muscle tension as this could have been contributing to his recently acquired posterior knee pain.

Result: After using ultrasound and massage, the patient reported a decrease in pain levels from a 4/10 to 2/10, and was able to gain further range of motion after treatment when compared to his knee flexion and extension at the beginning of the physio session.

Evaluation: The main issue I had was my technique whilst using the ultrasound. As the anterolateral aspect of the knee was quite bony, the ultrasound head was losing contact with the knee and therefore affecting the efficacy and primarily the use of the treatment. There were times during treatment where the contact of the ultrasound head was adequate, but there were more times where contact wasn’t. I need to develop and practice my technique in the future in order to improve the intervention.

Strategies: I continued to practice the use of ultrasound throughout the week with different areas of the body such as the neck in order to improve my technique. I was able to seek advice on ways to improve my application and found I need to employ different strategies such as applying slightly more pressure on the head of the ultrasound as well as using slower circular motions. I used these skills in other sessions and was able to improve on my overall treatment technique.