Finding Clinical Relevance in Class Material
Our first biomechanics course of the program started this semester, and there was an overwhelming sense of dread throughout the class before we began. I think a lot of people, myself included, are intimidated by the mathematics involved. To my surprise, this course has not only been a great review of the musculoskeletal series, but has also managed to put a very clinically relevant spin on all of the material we're learning.
Whether we like it or not, biomechanics is the fundamental science of our profession. It's something that we have to understand in detail, even if we hate doing physics problems. I also think that a solid understanding of the material will provide the tools to problem-solve if presented with a unique patient scenario. By no means do I fully understand biomechanics, but I have really started to appreciate its value. In that light, I find complaints about the material not being clinically relevant to be completely misguided.
I'm excited to see how this course series progresses. I hope we cover functional movement screening, in-depth gait analysis, and other movement-based classifications for strength and function. Although we don't know very much yet, it seems like these would be valuable topics to cover in the future. I also hope that everyone can start to appreciate how important these fundamentals are for our success as future clinicians.