ALLEGRA SHANK, PTA Staff Spotlight
I was an avid athlete as a kid. I excelled at many sports but as a preteen, soccer was my favorite and I spent some time playing for a local select team. I had my first major sports injury while playing soccer at a tournament in Kent. I was running full sprint with the ball down the field when my foot got clipped, I started to lose my balance, and I planted my right foot into a shallow hole in the field (I always tell my young soccer playing patients that we had to play on some really rough fields back in the day). Anyway, my knee went pretty far in the wrong direction, made a few pretty loud popping sounds that the people on the sidelines could hear, and I hit the ground. It’s been long enough now that I don’t really remember how painful it was but I guess it was painful enough that I wouldn’t let anyone touch me and they ended up calling an ambulance to get me to a hospital. A week or so after the injury I came to see Dr. Bramwell for an evaluation and an MRI. I remember Dr. Bramwell telling my mom, when I went back to see him to discuss the MRI, that I was very lucky. If I had been maybe 6 months older, I would have torn some of the major ligaments in my knee. Because I was so young when the injury happened, the structures hadn’t fully developed and I had just sprained and strained everything pretty severely. My soccer season was over for the year, as was the start of my select basketball season. I was strapped into a straight leg brace that went from upper thigh to my ankle and I set out to navigate the world, and junior high, on crutches. I’m not
sure when in this process I started physical therapy but that is where I first crossed paths with Mike. My recovery was long and hard but coming to PT and hanging with Mike, who was a pretty fresh PT then, gave me the knowledge and confidence to have a successful recovery.That being said, 6 years later when I had shoulder surgery due to a competitive volleyball injury, I chose to work with Mike again for my rehabilitation. I also like to think I was one of his favorite patients because I was a good patient, but also because I worked at Starbucks in high school and brought in free coffee sometimes.That free coffee also got me on Tami’s good side and you always want to be one of the office manager’s favorites! After a work related injury in my early 20’s I decided to go back to school after a long break (5 years) and study physical therapy. After spending2yearsdoingmyprerequisites Istarted tofilloutmyapplication for thePTAprogramand saw that I needed to have observation hours in multiple PTclinics. So of course I came back to WAPT to hang out with Mike and Tami and get some great insight into what it would be like to work at an outpatient PT clinic. In 2013 I applied, and was accepted, into the Lake Washington Institute of Technology PTA program and started that Summer. After 14 months of class work I had to start my 600 internship hours. When my professors asked what type of clinic I wanted to work in, I asked specifically to do an internship with Mike at
WAPT. Mike accepted my request of course, maybe only because he thought I’d bring in more free coffee, but either way I came to spend six glorious weeks working for Mike and absorbing as much from him and the other PTs as I could. I guess I was a good fit because on the last day of my internship Mike offered me a job! And here I am, almost three years later, working for the very first PT I met almost 18 years ago. I didn’t realize as a teenager that those injuries would help shape me to the person that I am today. I’ve had more injuries since my teenage years and each one has made me a better and more empathetic PTA. I love working at WAPT with a crew that feels like family and a patient base that feels like a community. I thought that was a nice full circle story to share with you and a testament to the impact that this clinic, Mike, and the field of physical therapy had on a young athlete.
SUDOKU PUZZLE
Nutrition Fights Inflammation One of the most powerful tools to combat inflammation comes not from the pharmacy, but from the grocery store. “Many experimental studies have shown that components of foods or beverages may have anti-inflammatory effects,” says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Be sure to include plenty of these anti-inflammatory foods in your diet: • tomatoes • olive oil • green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, kale, and collards • nuts like almonds and walnuts • fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines • fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges
3
8 1 6 3
4
4
7 5 3
6 7
5 9
6 2
7 9
7 5 8
4
2
6 7 1 4
6
http://1sudoku.com
n°318548 - LevelHard
http://
WWW.WAPTREHAB.COM
3 8
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online