Pro Sports Therapy Internship Report

During my half day internship at Pro Sports Therapy, a physical therapy facility in Westford. Pro Sports Therapy has a large staff of physical therapists who specialize in the treatment of musculoskeletal, orthopedic, and sports related injuries at both the Westford and Waltham locations. It was founded by Donald Worden, Fran Helms, and Ed Lacerte in 1999. Ed is the head physical therapist at the Waltham and Westford branches and is the head physical therapist/athletic trainer for the Boston Celtics since 1987 and was also the strength and conditioning coach for over seven seasons. He worked with the Celtics during the 2008 NBA Championship and 2010 Eastern Conference Championship seasons. His experience in sports medicine is what founded these

He is in charge of day to day running of the building and all the staff. Bill practices physical therapy as well as managing. There is also Katie, Michelle, Kathy, Joe, and Allie that are certified orthopedic physical therapists and Laurie, the spine specialist. The physical therapists come up with treatment plans, stretch patient's, massage injuries, write the notes to insurance companies or doctors on a patient's progress.

The physical therapy assistants read the charts of the patient and get a hot or ice pack ready for their arrival. They are in charge of administrating exercises for the patient to do with equipment at the facility. They will adjust equipment, change weight amounts, and monitor if a patient's using equipment correctly. There is Katie, Brooke, Taren, and Sam, and the athletic trainer Heather.

I got the opportunity to observe many different injuries and how to treat them. I also help around the facility assisting the physical therapists and patients. I always wanted to be a physical therapist since going to physical therapy myself due to a knee injury and my other family member’s careers as physical therapists have made me realize this is something I am truly passionate

We discussed how to strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the foot. These being difficult to strengthen. The study found that spreading the toes apart which is considered abduction of the toes is the most effective. Joe discussed the injuries from activities like Cross Fit through an observational study of people and how the injuries are usual from common injuries seen in physical therapy. We also learned about tai chi and its beneficial effects on the body. It was interesting how they weight shift and breathe to be able to perform these slow and controlled moves. This can be applied to the elderly patients who have trouble with balance. This experience was so important for me to see that health science continues to evolve and Pro Sports makes a large effort to keep all their physical therapists up to date on new things that can help their patients recover faster. I got to see many interesting and unusual injuries like a man that was hit by a kid skiing in France. He had to take blood thinners to be able to travel home. Back in the United States, the MRI showed a torn ACL, strained MCL, damage to his mencius, and two fractures on the non weight bearing portion of his fibula. The damage to the mencius