Hi all. Final blog regarding my musculo OP placement which has been awesome. This week a lesson about shooting your mouth off. I'm a great believer in the saying "better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt". Unfortunately I don't always (rarely?) stick to my own rules...
Bentley out patients runs a back care ed. session for clients on the waiting list prior to seeing physio. I was with a couple of other students attending the class on friday morning. When any questions came up, the presenter was kind enough to direct the questions to he students. We managed fine until one of the patients said that she had been told that she had Scheurmanns disease and didn't know what that was. True to form, the presenter looked at us for an explanation. Lesson 1) if you don't know, say "I don't know". Anyway I thought i did know so off I went about the condition. The presenter seemed to be reacting positively so I figured my memory had served me well. My explanation seemed to satisfy the patient. After the session I thought I'd look it up to see if I had been correct about Schuermanns disease. I hadn't.
Thankfully, the patient was mostly interested in finding out how she got it and I was correct in my explanation that you are born with the condition and there's not a great deal to be done to prevent it. Had I been correct though, I could have explained to her that it was not a condition that at her time of life (guessing 50?) would be progressing further. Ultimately not a great deal of harm done, but I felt pretty stupid.
Schuermanns disease, BTW, is a condition in which abnormalities or deficiencies occur in the growth plate of the vertebrae during childhood and adolescence. Typically this leads to wedging of the Tx vertebrae and exaggerated kyphosis. Disease process ends when growth does, but effects extend into adulthood. In keeping with my policy of ignoring my own advice, I have typed this simplified explanation from memory, rather than having a look at another book first. Be warned.
M
2 comments:
Very funny Martin!!!! I would think that you felt kind of uncomfortable at the time - but I do believe that one day you will laugh your head off about it!!! I would be encouring to keep on having a go in situations like that beacause I'm sure the presenter was grateful for someone speaking up rather than sitting back not contributing at all!!!!
At least you’ll never forget what Schuermann’s disease is!! Did you see the lady again and get a chance to tell her any more of the details? I agree with Kate in that I’m sure you’re probably already looking back with laughter!!
Mel
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