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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 19 of 19. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by alexandra_k on February 15, 2013, at 20:20:15
I'm going to be one! Physiotherapist, that is (or physical therapist for all you 'mericans out there). Not personal trainer. That is... If I manage to make it through another degree without starving. Mwah haha...
There is a fine line between professor and homeless person with no job and serious lack of wardrobe. Oh yes indeed there is.
http://individual.utoronto.ca/somody/quiz.html
:-)
Posted by Phillipa on February 16, 2013, at 10:01:38
In reply to PT, posted by alexandra_k on February 15, 2013, at 20:20:15
What a great idea I see one now for extreme back issues. I think it helps if only insurance didn't dictate how many sessions are covered. Do you know anything about a site for excercise for scoleosis combine with arthritis, disc problems, osteoporosis. The scoleosis curves forward the goal is to release some of the thoracic and lumbar vertabrae to allow the curve to bend more normally backward and eliminate pain. Evidently they are stuck and won't move.
If you go to school again how many years of training to be a physiotherapist? Has this helped you also? This is a field that needs good PT therapists. Phillipa
Posted by sleepygirl2 on February 16, 2013, at 23:28:37
In reply to PT, posted by alexandra_k on February 15, 2013, at 20:20:15
Congrats! Very marketable profession, or so I hear.
Best of luck
Posted by gardenergirl on February 17, 2013, at 13:50:49
In reply to PT, posted by alexandra_k on February 15, 2013, at 20:20:15
That's a good field with a lot of opportunity. Enjoy!
Posted by Dinah on February 18, 2013, at 11:28:38
In reply to PT, posted by alexandra_k on February 15, 2013, at 20:20:15
That's terrific! When do you start?
Posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2013, at 10:06:04
In reply to Re: PT » alexandra_k, posted by Phillipa on February 16, 2013, at 10:01:38
> Do you know anything about a site for excercise for scoleosis combine with arthritis, disc problems, osteoporosis.
no.
> If you go to school again how many years of training to be a physiotherapist?
4.
but then there is grad school.
Posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2013, at 10:15:07
In reply to Re: PT » alexandra_k, posted by sleepygirl2 on February 16, 2013, at 23:28:37
> Congrats! Very marketable profession, or so I hear.
thanks.
it seems to be more marketable than it used to be (in this part of the world at least) since you no longer need a referral from a primary care doctor. it means that patients can choose to come to you according to how well you market yourself. a certain kind of patient, at least, since now patients are required to co-pay (they never used to before) and ACC is limiting funding for the number of visits (they never used to before).
Still, who is to say what will happen in the next 4 years. And it can hardly be less marketable than philosophy. There is always going to be money in health. And there isn't much in the way of a history of academia for the field...
Posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2013, at 10:15:40
In reply to Re: PT » alexandra_k, posted by gardenergirl on February 17, 2013, at 13:50:49
> That's a good field with a lot of opportunity. Enjoy!
thanks :-)
Posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2013, at 10:26:17
In reply to Re: PT » alexandra_k, posted by Dinah on February 18, 2013, at 11:28:38
> That's terrific! When do you start?
monday. or my first class is scheduled for tuesday, actually.
i'm kinda scared.
the first semester curriculum is a broad social science-y intro to university / to health. with lofty goals like teaching students how to take notes appropriately for university and how to think critically and how to write (horror of horrors) 1,500 word essays. On the one hand an easy intro of a semester might be nice... I have been working pretty hard on my thesis over the summer and had a lot of stress with moving... On the other hand my experience at tech last year tells me that I'm more likely to snap at the crap that they are likely to be feeding us before we get properly underway with our degree specific courses next semester.
i can apply for recognition of prior learning to get out of the first semester curriculum... i'm not entirely sure what to do. the hardest thing is that i'm not entirely sure who to talk to about this (who can understand where i'm at) since the school is so large and i'm just another first year who hasn't been given any opportunity as yet to distinguish herself from the herd in any way at all...
i guess i just suck it up and bite my lip as best i can...
Posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2013, at 11:03:24
In reply to Re: PT » alexandra_k, posted by Dinah on February 18, 2013, at 11:28:38
sorry - the above post was for dinah.
i've been having a hard time sorting out my living situation.
my ideal living situation is self catered accommodation in a grad student hall of residence. because of the zero tolerance to noise policy and the deadbolt lock on the door. i can work whenever the urge strikes me without interruption. because of the close proximity of people for if / when i do feel like some company. it is a luxury for the rich in my current part of the woods, however. and... i'm enrolled in an undergraduate degree so i'm not actually considered a graduate student anymore (even though I may be concurrently enrolled in a PhD at a different institution).
so i have to live with others.
my ideal living situation would be one where people are quiet (so i can work whenever the urge strikes me without interruption). the trouble is that people say they are quiet - but that turns out to mean that instead of getting out of the house and going to that bar / party they sit round the house all the time with the TV blaring. which is of course not quiet for me at all.
my ideal living situation is also one where i handle my own food. i eat what i want when i want and i don't have to answer to anybody else. i can be thrifty (very thrifty indeed) when i'm on a budget. i can binge on protein for the moments when i'm convinced that that is the holy grail... i don't cope at all well with any kind of pooling situation because the math (and lack of receipts) makes it next to impossible for me to accurately judge any kind of reciprocity... and i end up eating differently from what i otherwise would out of concern for others (including not making food when i'm hungry and busy because i don't have the time to make food for everyone and have a shared meal so i simply steer clear of the kitchen). so then i feel that i need to get convenience food to tide me over and end up eating sh*t i otherwise wouldn't.
of course if i'd have been better socialised i'm sure there would be way of dealing with all of that that aren't terribly cognitively demanding. but i wasn't. and it is a stress i can really do without...
i'm realising that most people are extroverts. they fly into an absolute panic at the thought of solitude. they need people around them all the time and / or they need to have TV's or radios or (worst case cheesy song lyrics) blaring peoples voices at them 24/7. i guess (horror of horrors) if they didn't get external voices blaring at them they might actually find themselves thinking and reflecting. And if they didn't blare their noises at me I might actually find myself thinking and reflecting. Horror of horrors.
Other people can't handle it when I shut my door. They think knocking before barging into the room is respecting another's privacy. They think it is okay to throw the random thing in with every freaking single load of washing / drying I do (because even washing gets lonely didn't ya know?) and / or hiding items like a single sock or underwear or just something personal of theirs someplace in my room.
It feels... Invasive to me. LIke an assault. People seem to long to get in under my skin and crawl around there. Don't they see me cringe with disgust and withdraw? It just seems to make them worse. More frantic in their efforts to engage my attention. Why can't people just leave me alone? There are so freaking many people in the world. Other people like them. People with no f*ck*ng boundaries. Or people who will enlarge their boundaries so much as to let them in. Oh I see the problem. People who are louder then them so that THEIR random ramblings are heard mostest. People who need to spend even MORE time with others so that they feel barged in on. Whereas me with my fairly constant and predictable need for silence... I'm the easiest target of all for the random blatherer.
Why can't people back the f*ck off when it is obvious that the other person needs that? Shouldn't the need for solitude take priority over the need for company??
And of course money is power and the reason people with money decide to share their house with someone else (which is the only financially feasible way for me to live) is for the company. F*ck*ng yay.
Posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2013, at 11:10:24
In reply to Re: PT » Dinah, posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2013, at 11:03:24
i don't know how i'm going to go with the touch thing.
I'm mostly interested in PT because of biomechanics... Learning about how we are supposed to hold ourselves and how we are supposed to move. Exercises to improve that.
I didn't really think properly about the manual manipulation aspect... Though I think I'll come right with that.
I am absolutely loathing the thought of the massage aspect. I'm really not into it at all. I'm also absolutely loathing the fact that we have to model for each other. I'm not really down with having other people massage me. I'm much more conservative than most with how much clothing I need to feel comfortable. With my need to cover my skin.
(Mostly it is about my need to have people back off - I've learned)
The massage aspect isn't as significant for PT as most people typically think... But it is an aspect, yeah. We do athropomentry, too, and apparently skin fold assessment is a part of that. I'm really not down with that at all... Maybe I can learn to do assessment of others without cringing... I'm fairly certain that I'll need to dissociate / I'll get traumatised modelling that for others.
There is something a bit wrong with me, heh. Because others find this a little odd... But they seem to get a kick out of it, too. ANd I just don't get the kick out of it. Just feels to me like people crawling in under my skin.
I think I've got some kind of sensory processing disorder.
It isn't that I don't like touch. Under the right circumstances I love it. But I have to want it. And I have to not feel like people are crawling in under my skin. And I haven't felt that way about anyone for the longest time...
Posted by alexandra_k on March 24, 2013, at 22:38:25
In reply to Re: PT, posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2013, at 11:10:24
things going pretty good...
thesis enrolment got extended (yay!) for another 16 weeks so i'm just about to be a busy bee working away on that...
finally (finally finally) got recognition of prior learning which excuses me from the first semester of the physiotherapy curriculum...
had to throw several tantrums about that along the way. or, well, perhaps i didn't need to exactly, but if there was another way i couldn't see it for the life of me.
science is a little bit different from philosophy... it is impertinent to question. one is meant to keep ones head down rather than sticking ones neck out etc etc. health professions are a little bit different from philosophy... it is seriously offensive to say things like `wtf?' in emails. a little animated verbal banter is not well received. it will take me some time to get the hang of things...
why can't i... be like house? except a physio version? i mean i know that it is made up and so on and so forth but what i was envisaging was really something more along the lines of that.
sigh.
things will get there eventually...
academia, here i come. again.
:-)
life is good.
Posted by alexandra_k on March 27, 2013, at 22:12:38
In reply to Re: PT, posted by alexandra_k on March 24, 2013, at 22:38:25
i've been reading szasz... that guy is smart... it is too easy to mischaracterise him and ignore him... but i think he is onto something with that malingering business. needing help, yes. but MEDICAL help? not so sure...
the library here is FREAKING INTERESTING. it is bizarre... this was a technical / vocational college... that once upon a time asked the question `what do we have to do in order to become a university?' and so the powers that be told them a whole freaking bunch of stuff and, well, them being all practically minded and all, they got their *ss*s into gear (but don't dare tell them that) and bloody well did it.
then the powers that be went `oh, well, uh, we didn't quite expect...' and then i think they sued or something or other and whatever. the point is that nursing is a degree because people MADE it so... and once upon a time people freaking built this university. now they have very good research centers and very productive researchers. who fought their way forwards while others rested on their history and reputation. me likes. and so the library is interesting because it is very allied health focused and they don't offer medicine and insofar as their is a hierarchy (which of course there isn't because of the whole decentralisation of power etc etc etc business which is actually really quite interesting and most probably right) physio is the most competitive program.
hrm.
so the books are really interesting. a whole bunch of szasz and the like... and a whole bunch of `good luck to you' in finding anything since they haven't gone library of congress and are stuck back with dewey... so walking the shelves is fun and games. i tell you: fun and games.
the curriculum is surprisingly (to my mind) social science-y. i wasn't expecting that. i was expecting a whole lot of anatomy and physiology. not much in the way of `you are a beam of light. describe your journey from the sun to the cortex. marks for creativity'. but, what the hey, life would be fairly boring if we were all the same - yes?
(and what is the alternative - the view from nowhere?)
only... i do miss philosophy sometimes. individualism for the win. learning for learnings sake and no worries about such things as intellectual property and industry and trade secrets... dressing like a hobo and swearing your face off but:
well... szasz had something to say about how arguing with professional colleagues seems to have the feature that if you are wrong in your facts / reasoning they will point that out and win and if you are right in your facts / reasoning they will attack your character and question your mental health.
i guess your character and mental health are important to professional fields. more about the appearance of professionalism than the ethical conduct that sometimes lies behind the hobo appearance and the intellectual honesty to tell your superiors just how much they f*ck*d up.
i wasn't happy with philosophy... i wanted something more.
i got it.
hrm.
fun and games, i say. fun and games.
Posted by alexandra_k on April 28, 2013, at 4:28:09
In reply to Re: PT, posted by alexandra_k on March 27, 2013, at 22:12:38
and...
it's into the pit we go.
it has been a while. not quite the pit. close-ish but not quite the pit not quite yet.
things have been fairly eventful.
we don't have a graduate entry curriculum. and i forgot what first years were like. only that isn't it... first year in philosophy is very different from first year in science. first year in philosophy... we assume that people are literate and capable (even if needing some coaxing sometimes) of reading. of writing. mostly it is about getting them to spend focused time editing. not about basic literacy. mostly people are interested. you don't have to try and relate it to their lives or any sh*t like that. you just teach the stuff and let your enthusiasm shine and hope that people catch some of that...
but here we spend a good week going over the outline. and we get to label parts of the cell in groups. in groups? i can do it by myself in under 2 minutes and you call it a 20 minute group task you have got to be freaking kidding me! it is like i'm back in primary school 'and today let us learn about the letter a'.
i've been writing... working on my thesis. since october last year. been tap tap tapping away. i went to a session on how to use endnote because i have sort of semi taught myself to use LaTeX but my references were a mess and i don't have the ability to use LaTeX for different journals guidelines etc etc so thought I should suck it up and go back to endnote and word and anyway... stuff was said about groups and... i get it. i get it now.
there are my people and my journals and my thesis. and there is a only show stuff published in the last 5 years. and round and round things go and that is how the world goes round. and i'm not sure why this escaped me before. why it escaped me that that is the way things are but now i understand the rules of the game and how the game is supposed to be played and that that is basically the project and that is what hte project is. and i can do that. instead of wandering round and round understanding that people weren't happy with me really and not getting what it was hat i was missing i get it now. i get it. and i can do that. do my best at it. and that is all it is, really. participating in that process. wanting ot participate and participate and it can be quite a nice life.
and i want it thank you very much. only i have trouble working because people won't let me alone. not in the library. not anyplace around campus. i don't get an office. not at home (i'm meant to enteratin them). must... get... funding... to finish. then job. i want it. f*ck helping people. most people would kill me from their stupid. so... much... safer... looking after self. (and there are goo dpeople in the world of course but i'm not seeing many round here where they can't even let something be without stoning different to death).
its not safe round here. too many people who NEED to help/interfere with me... too many of them...
Posted by alexandra_k on June 5, 2013, at 5:35:17
In reply to Re: PT, posted by alexandra_k on April 28, 2013, at 4:28:09
hmm.
okay, well, i bail.
there are research schools around, but they aren't much of anything to do with the teaching faculties and the teaching faculties are more technical college than university.
which is to say there isn't much in the way of intellectual curiosity or independent investigation or anything...i've decided to bail.
take my chances with physics for life sciences, organic chemistry, biochemistry next semester with a university.
it will be hard...
i never did chemistry or physics before...
i have never really done math, either.
went up and met one of the tutors.
he loaned me 'conceptual physics' so i've been plugging away at classical mechanics.
interesting!!!
it is quite a lot like analytic philosophy, really, yeah!
and of course bio-mechanics is just a part of mechanics which is physics really hahaha.so...
will try and take leave from my thesis so i can do more to prepare so i'll have a shot at doing well for classes next semester.
then maybe i'll apply for and go do physio at university (someplace different)
or maybe i won't.
maybe i'll do biochemistry or physics or...
become a pharmacist or... well, who knows.
work for nasa hahaha.
yay.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 5, 2013, at 5:43:32
In reply to Re: PT, posted by alexandra_k on June 5, 2013, at 5:35:17
gymnastics and ballet. if you want to learn about movement... that is where it is at, i'm learning (too).
how's this for feet rehab:
1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvAto6yIGLY
2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e0JQhzLods
i don't suppose i'll actually learn any of this in the physiotherapy curriculum (or presumably my physiotherapist would have done stuff like this with me for my rehab instead of simply massaging and smiling while joints locked up and tendons shrunk resulting in painful clawing. grr)
Posted by alexandra_k on June 5, 2013, at 6:51:29
In reply to Re: PT, posted by alexandra_k on June 5, 2013, at 5:43:32
i can't actually tell just yet if it is that physiotherapy as a field turns out to be a bunch of sh*t (no offense to anyone if that is your field) or if it is more that physiotherapy at the particular institution i'm at is a bunch of sh*t... insofar as they are making it all social science-y and not science-y. hey, here is an idea...
lets cast our net really widely indeed as to who can benefit from physiotherapy. because physiotherapists are licensed to touch patients (if anyone is, apparently, they tell me). and so physiotherapists are massage therapists, basically (and here i was thinking that massage therapy was another profession entirely - one that i explicitly did not intend to sign up for). so since anyone can benefit from massage, anyone can benefit from physiotherapy!
and so... it isn't really a 'sickness' or 'disease' issue. and so... in NZ you don't need a doctors referral to go to see a physio - you can go directly there. but acc doesn't fund it the way it used to (neither does health insurance) because... it is more like getting a hair cut or getting your nails done or getting a personal training session with someone who holds your hand and talks to you about oprah while you walk on the treadmill or get a massage...
so...
thats fine... if that is what they want to do with physiotherapy... but that is not what i meant to sign up for and they can keep that.
IT IS DIFFERENT IN THE US.
seems most directly comperable to the psychology doctor program. which involves a higher standard of knowledge... but still... not really academic. it isn't really an academic field. oh. and, uh, sports science is sorta kinda a little like that too, i'm learning... so... hmm...
not sure what is for me to do...
pharmacy, probably. would be nice to be paid well, for a change. possibly. perhaps.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 5, 2013, at 6:53:50
In reply to Re: PT, posted by alexandra_k on June 5, 2013, at 6:51:29
except with my math i'll probably kill someone.
dammit.
Posted by Deneb on June 6, 2013, at 21:54:10
In reply to Re: PT, posted by alexandra_k on June 5, 2013, at 6:53:50
Hey, a secret about scientists and math....
Most top level scientists are not so great with math if what they do on a daily basis don't require it. LOL
Even organic chemistry doesn't require any high level math. It's more like learning a new language to be honest. It doesn't have much to do with math at all.
Simple math is fine. Things like calculus or whatever is not required.
Of course things are rapidly changing with computers so computer programming is a very useful skill to have now.
But...many mathematicians can't do computer programming...
My sister is a scientist and she can't do calculus to save her life right now lol. She learned it once to pass the classes, but now the work she does doesn't require it at all.
She works more with statistics.
Fields get very specific now, so even though she is doing her PhD in biochemistry, she can't do organic chemistry at all really. She learned it once, but lost it through lack of use.
Really it's just about getting through the hurdles before you can get into any real detail with the specific thing you want to work on.
This is the end of the thread.
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