Proof That Educational Content is Included on This Trip

I know by the looks of all my pictures it probably seems like I’m only here on vacation – but there actually is a lot of educational content incorporated into this trip. While in Sydney, we have visited a few different universities, or should I say “uni’s”, where we’ve gotten the opportunity to meet many professionals that have provided us with a background in Australian sports medicine concepts and practices of both athletics and athletically-based sporting events. To be exposed to such a variety of Australian health care professionals, I’ve really gained an appreciation of the cultural differences between Australia and the U.S.

At the University of Sydney, we met with 3 health care professionals – Dr. McKay, Dr. Nightingale, and Dr. Pappas. The first presentation, given by Dr. McKay, focused on sports physiotherapy across different ages and genders, and therefore the different demands of each group. I learned that the management of injuries in Australia is very similar to the U.S. – when assessing an injury in the U.S. we often use the medical acronym HOPS (history, observation, palpation, special tests); in Australia, TOTAPS is used (talk, observe, touch, active movement, passive movement, skills test). Although most of the information that Dr. McKay presented I was already familiar with – S/O to Dr. Mensch !! – she offered some preventive mechanisms of injuries commonly found in women, such as bra education and pelvic floor exercises, that will be beneficial when I’m a PT one day (hopefully).

Dr. Nightingale’s presentation focused on knee and ankle injuries in netball, a female dominated Australian sport similar to basketball … but not really. There’s no dribbling, no running with the ball (which must be passed in 3 seconds), 7 players per team who are designated to specific areas of the court, and no backboard on the basket. If you haven’t seen a netball game in action, you should YouTube it – and then let me know what you think of the “defense.” Dr. Nightingale’s presentation really challenged me to think critically of ways that ankle sprains or knee injuries could be prevented in sports like netball that have higher risks of these types of injuries – maybe some kind of baseline test similar to what applied to concussions? Many athletes are prone to land the wrong way when exercising skills such as running or jumping because of anatomical factors, and if we could study those athletes in and out of practice, I feel like a lot of ankle sprains and knee injuries could be prevented.

In my opinion, the most influential speaker that we’ve gotten the opportunity to meet so far has been Dr. Pappas. His presentation involved the etiology, prevention and rehabilitation of ACL injuries. It was really prevalent to me and my learning experience because physical therapists see torn ACL’s way too often and he got us thinking a lot about ways we could prevent these injuries using biomechanical studies. Not only was he extremely educated on the ACL and the information he presented, but he had so much passion for physiotherapy. I asked him to give his best advice for people like myself who want to pursue physical therapy and he said if you care for others and want to help others, then this is the profession for you. To share the same passion with a successful physiotherapist like Dr. Pappas got me all excited for what the future holds. As difficult as this career path can be sometimes, it’s people like him who remind me why I’m doing it and how it will be completely worth it in the end.