It's Getting Physical

Highlight of the day: I can't recall ever waking up to a hailstorm, but today I was taking a nap and woke up to pellets hitting my window. Savannah and I ran around closing windows on our floor to try to stop the water and hail from getting inside. I'm hoping it'll stop soon, or else we'll have to get dinner delivered.

The physical therapy facility was really nice. I would
not mind going to physical therapy appointments here!

     Today we actually spent the day at UDLAP. We went to the Centro Integral de Rehabilitación. We spent most of our time today in the physical therapy portion of the center. They primarily see athletes, but other students and even non-students can come to the facility. On average, they see 30 patients a day. Right now, there are less patients because it is summer. Although there are many athletes still at school training, most of the practices are only for American football and soccer. It is common for other athletes to stay at school over the summer to pick up extra classes, but they are not necessarily training or practicing right now. Many of the patients have common athletic injuries: knee problems from overuse, shin splints, and back pain. One of the physical therapists told me that knee injuries were likely the most common of all the injuries they saw at UDLAP. They also see patients who are recovering from surgeries and need physical therapy to regain their strength and motility.

There was plenty of equipment, and
the space was really clean.

     The facility is relatively new and very spacious. The old facility was much smaller, but now there is room for four examination tables, a treadmill, an area for assisted walking, private examination rooms, and many stationary bikes. The new facilities are top of the line, and they have access to technologically advanced treatments. Physical therapy didn't gain a lot of popularity in Mexico until fairly recently, so there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made for Mexico to become top ranked in physical therapy. Next door to the physical therapy building is a gym specifically for recovering athletes. There are trainers in the gym who help athletes perform exercises correctly to aid in their recovery. (Apparently Alex and DJ tried to work out in the athlete-training-only gym and were told they had to leave!)

LLLT and Electrotherapy
equipment

     The entire Centro Integral de Rehabilitación includes three sections: the clinic, the physical therapy center, and the gym. The communication between the three parts is essential to the functionality of the program at UDLAP and to the timely recovery of the athlete. For example, the doctor will send a patient with muscular pain to receive low level laser therapy (LLLT) to stimulate cell function of the mitochondria. The physical therapist will follow the instructions sent by the doctor, and once the patient has shown improvement, the physical therapist will send the patient to the gym to increase their strength. All three sections use the same computer system to track the patients' progress and monitor changes. By having the doctor so close to the physical therapist and to the athletic trainers, it is easy for a doctor to run over and assess a situation if something occurs. It seems like a great system, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of what the doctors do tomorrow!