I conducted an interview with Ms. Phyllis Williams, Physical Therapist and owner of Affinity Physical Therapy, a practice that focuses on orthopedics and sports medicine. The interview covered the following main topics: her experience as a physical therapist, common injuries in athletes and treatment methods, injury prevention, trends in sports medicine, and recommendations for a student interested in pursuing a career in sports medicine.
Experience and Background
Ms. Williams has over twenty five (25) years of experience in sports medicine. She started her career as a physical therapist after she was in a car accident and had to undergo rehabilitation with a Physical Therapist. She enjoyed the process, was interested in the career and decided to pursue it. She indicated that she finds her career very rewarding as she has the opportunity to fix people who are broken, relieve their pain and make them happy. Through her career as a physical therapist, she has developed a strong sense of compassion for her patients as well as the ability to motivate them when the need arises.
Common Injuries in Athletes and Treatment Strategies
Ms. Williams stated that the common injuries she treats in athletes are ACL tears, labrum tears, Osgood-Schlatter disease, and Achilles injuries. One of the strategies she uses to treat these injuries is dry needling. Dry needling is a form of acupuncture used to treat neuromuscular dysfunction. A needle is placed in a muscular contracture or tight band in a muscle fiber that can disrupt function, restrict range of motion, reduce pain or cause local tenderness. The needle is used to trigger muscle stimulation, promote blood flow and decrease swelling and pain.
Ms. Williams indicated that athletes can help prevent injury by eating a healthy diet, staying hydrated, conditioning, stretching and sleeping. She said that most athletes do not get enough sleep. Rapid-eye-movement(REM) sleep is particularly important as it helps athletes recover faster.
Trends in Sports Medicine
Some trends and technologies discussed included:
Reflexology: This is a type of massage that applies pressure to the feet and hands in order to relieve stress. Studies have indicated that it helps reduce pain, stress and anxiety and it is sometimes combined with other therapies offered by physical therapists and chiropractors.
Iridology is a holistic approach to diagnosing medical conditions through noting irregularities in the pigment of the iris. This is a highly controversial diagnostic tool and is not widely accepted in the medical field.
Recommendations to Students Interested in Sports Medicine
Ms. Williams emphasized the importance of students exposing themselves to different experiences, learning continuously, participating in internships if possible and shadowing experts in the area.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed my conversation with Ms. Williams. Our discussion actually expanded beyond the borders of physical therapy and we touched on several areas that I’m currently studying in my biology class such as cancer cells, the vascular nature of all aspects of the body including bones and their capacity to heal quickly. I gained deeper insight into the field of sports medicine including the use of holistic approaches to treating sports injuries.
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