Well. It’s been quite a ride to get to this point so far. More than halfway through the degree, and it is astonishing just how fast time flies. Equally, it seems like an age away since we were at the Olympic Games and I decided that the academic path was a good idea.
This year started off with a lot of time in University, looking specifically at Neurological, Respiratory and Spinal physiotherapy. This was followed swiftly by post-Christmas exams, which messed up my fell racing schedule somewhat, but sacrifices have to be made somewhere… Happily, the marks I got were all in the region of where I am aiming for, so the revision and the brain seemed to be working ok at that point.
We then had a couple of months working in groups on a presentation, which was a fairly intense part of the course. It is funny how working in a group really ends up galvanizing the mind and makes you work in a particular way. The final presentation went well, apart from a technical glitch of the whole computer system freezing up partway through my section (not my fault, I must hasten to add). Apparently this was dealt with very well, and we were completely unfazed by the problem.
From there, placements began in earnest. My first one was in the Community setting over in Stockport, so I spent 6 weeks on a mobile unit with my Clinical Educator, seeing all manner of physiotherapy issues and visiting people in their homes. This was a very eye-opening experience to see quite how things work in the physiotherapy setting outside of hospitals.
After a fortnight off for Easter I was back into my second placement – Neurophysiotherapy – which has been the most challenging one to date. A truly fascinating area of physio, and one that is quite often neglected when people think about the profession as a whole.
Now that is over, I am sitting down to make sure my portfolio is up to date – it will be assessed at some point next year, so it is probably best to make sure it is in some kind of order now, rather than wait until the week before I need it, and spend 72 hours surrounded by myriad sheets of paper.
This summer will also have some time dedicated to research and looking through academic papers in anticipation for a literature review that will need to be done in the first semester of the 3rd year, taking time to relax a little, but still working as hard as ever with massage clients over the summer. At least I don’t have to juggle work with University over the next couple of months, but that is going to be something that I’m going to have to deal with again once it gets to September.
Can’t wait.
Taking time to read on a rest day in Snowdonia