Moving forward

This week in class I learned that the physical therapy catchphrase is "move forward". I think that slogan really captures what PT is all about. We're involved with helping people move, obviously, and all the muscles and nerves involved with movement; but we're also involved with helping people move on when something traumatizing has happened in their life. We help them find ways to cope and adjust so that they can move forward with their lives.

I'm speaking theoretically, of course. I haven't actually been able to do any of these things yet. Hopefully some day I will. For me right now, "moving forward" means ploughing ahead after an overwhelming first week of classes. It means accepting that neuroanatomy is going to be insanely difficult and coping by working hard and studying a lot. Neuro is going to be harder than anatomy by a long shot. Anatomy was a lot to memorize, but in neuro I'm having a hard time orienting myself and conceptualizing the information. I liked anatomy, but I doubt I'll be able to say the same for neuro after this semester. According to the second years, neuro was the bane of their existence at this point last year.

Despite neuroanatomy, my classes haven't been bad so far. The kinesiology and rehab labs have been kind of fun- we got to palpate each other, position people in a bed, and learn how to use a wheelchair. So we've already learned some useful, albeit very basic stuff. The hard part about having so many classes now is that I'm often in class from 8am to 4pm, so I'm exhausted by the end of the day. I'm still trying to work out a schedule where I can go to class, study, work out, and eat in the most efficient way possible. I have a feeling this semester is going to force me to be very organized with my time.