Student shadowed chronic pain practice

Even though it is lock-down, life must still go on and students still need to register for their future career paths. Lesley has opened her doors to several students in the past to come and see if physiotherapy is the profession for them. 

Melissa shadowed her practice in July 2021 and was exposed to chronic pain patients with a variety of conditions. During the treatments FMS, headaches, Knee replacements, Disc lesions, plantar fasciitis and SIJ were treated. All conditions were explained and shown how to evaluate, treat and provide sound home programs. 

At the end of the week Melissa was quizzed to ensure that she had paid attention. Lesley believes in a hands-on approach to teaching as she finds the information stays in the long term memory. It also gives her the opportunity to see how they work with patients and whether they will be an asset to the physiotherapy profession. 

Melissa had the following to say about her experience. 

Melissa:    "I found my shadowing experience very helpful and eye-opening. Shadowing a physiotherapist like Lesley helped me see all the ways I could help people and reminded me why I wanted to become a physiotherapist in the first place.  Physiotherapy does not only treat muscle aches and joint pains, it can bring to light the necessary healing and treatments the body needs.  I will be the first to admit that before I researched it, all I saw when I thought of physiotherapy was sports and rehabilitation.  I believe that when looking at studying in any field or deciding to follow in any career it is vital to experience all the nitty gritty of that field.    From my time with Lesley I have learnt more about people, healing, and the world of physiotherapy than I could have learnt from any research I could have done. "