
people have no idea what its like to be 14 and have everyone telling you that you’re faking and pretending to be ill for attention or to skip art class and the doctor’s telling you you’re ‘just being a teenager’ when you actually had a serious kidney disease
if someone hadn’t eventually listened to me i would have died
Please, please support self-diagnosed teenagers, don’t pretend they’re not really disabled, don’t belittle or mock them, don’t exclude them from disabled spaces and for the love of god don’t pretend you know more about them than they do
i am disabled to this day because when i was a teenage girl, my doctors didn’t take me seriously. when i said i was in extreme pain, they said i just wasn’t trying hard enough at physical therapy to repair a broken ankle. turns out they’d fucked up the surgery to fix it, and their neglect of my months of complaints meant it was damaged beyond repair. i still have mobility issues 8 years later, will have pain and require surgeries throughout my life and will, always, be disabled. because of them. because of the silencing of girls’ voices, in all spheres. because doctors do not value the voices of teenaged girls.
When I was twelve, the knee specialist I had finally convinced my mom to take me to (after years of begging) told me that my knees hurt because of my hips widening.
“No,” I said. “You don’t understand. I can’t walk when it happens, it hurts so bad. It’s been since I was a little kid.”
“It might twinge a bit, sure,” he told me. “Go to physical therapy for a few weeks.” I burst into tears.
My mom then refused to take me to physical therapy, because it was a long drive and the doctor said it wasn’t serious, so why should she bother? That was the start of her not listening to any complaint about my joints I ever had.
As it turns out, my knees were dislocating every couple of days. She and my doctors ignored and taught me to ignore sprains, fractures, cartilage tears, and dislocations until I moved out and learned that it wasn’t normal. I missed out on years of my life because of my doctor not only discounting the experience of a young girl, but fully blaming my pain on the fact of my being a young girl.
Listen to children when they tell you something is wrong with their bodies.
I had stomach pains for years as a kid. Almost daily. I was blamed as a faker.
I have Celiac.
People know what the hell is going on with their own bodies. If they don’t think something is right fucking listen to them.
In their study, “The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain,” researchers Diane E. Hoffmann and Anita J. Tarzian documented the degree to which girl’s and women’s pain is routinely dismissed as the “not real,” “emotional,” response of “fragile” females. Not only are girls and women who experience pain less likely to be taken seriously when they describe it, but they are less likely to be treated by medical professionals.
This is so important.
I complained of back pain for three YEARS before my parents and physicians took it seriously instead of blaming it on “growing pains”. Turns out I had a grade 4 spondylolosthesis (75% slip) and would now need a fusion surgery immediately to repair what could have been fixed with a back brace and a few weeks of PT. One fusion turned into three after a few years. Now I live with pain that ruins most activities that I love to do.
We FUTURE PTs can step up in pediatric health! Listen to girls! Listen to young women! These are preventable situations! We can be better.




Like am I the girl who loses control? The bird who heroically triumphs? The soda explosion? Who knows.



Neuro just doesn’t come easy to some people okay


Cue Nerd fight.




1. Know your weaknesses, but know your strengths better.
2. Don’t forget the bed locks.
3. Each human body - in its uniqueness - is perfect and dignified the way it is.
4. “Normal” doesn’t exist except in textbooks.
5. Crying is okay. Crying in public is okay. Sleeping in public is also okay.
6. Postures can be misleading; don’t believe everything you see.
7. Don’t forget beer.
8. The hardest thing you’ve ever done is always right in front of you; don’t dwell in the past or peek into the future.
9. Plantor flexors matter.
10. This will all be worth it someday.
This has been night time thoughts following a super unproductive study session at the end of the week.

So you just watch Netflix instead. And pray that DPT comes quickly.

Bring on the prompting and point reductions.



During the traction practical

Yeah, sure I’ll take my shirt off so you can measure flexor strength whatever

5 years in and I’m not even sure what I want to do but I know what I don’t want to do


Finals have been conquered, my mental status has been restored to “stable”, and the nightmares of practical exams have kind of subsided. Now if you don’t mind, Im going to go outside and play. And I recommend you do the same.
As such, we will reconvene when classes (unfortunately) resume in September.
AKA HAPPY SUMMER YALL 🙌🏻 for those of you headed out to clinicals, tune back in every once in a while. There may yet be a nugget of physical therapy puns still on this page over the summer 😉
until next year, pt school…




Does anyone else want to force people who try to comfort you by saying “aw, school can’t be that bad!” to sit through one (ONE) exam?
Let me know how you bullshit your way through a pathological gait analysis. It’s not *that* bad!
Anywho, carry on, nerds. Summer is coming.
you never work out because you’re too busy studying the physiologic effects of working out.







You might actually be brilliant, but outsiders don’t quite speak PT..so…

And you aren’t even mad. You just passively understand this is how life will be now.




Hey readers!
My name is Cristina and I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy with my degree from University of Miami (go canes!). I have been practicing for 6 months now in an outpatient orthopedic clinic. University of Miami did an excellent job at instilling the importance of evidence based practice in their students. I enjoy reading recent research because it not only allows you to perform the best possible patient care but it also allows you to answer patient questions with the utmost confidence, and you have the proof to back up your answer.
With a busy work schedule and personal life, I know it can be difficult to be disciplined and stay on top of the current research out there. I created this page, mostly for selfish reasons, to prompt me to read multiple articles a week so I am aware of the current literature in PT. I figured, why not make a page so other clinicians can reference topics and articles quickly?
So here I go……
I am going to attempt to stay on schedule with a different topic each day of the week.
Monday: Knee
Tuesday: Back Pain/Spine
Wednesday: Shoulder
Thursday: Foot and Ankle
Friday: TGIF! Wild CardThis schedule is temporary. Going to try it it to see how it flows and may end up changing the topics once the blog is up and running.
Each entry will have the following information:
1. Type of Research/Level of Evidence
2. Summary of subjects used, methods, results
3. Conclusion/Bottom Line/Clinical Relevance
4. Article Grade: A, B, C (this is strictly based on my opinion and critique of article depending on different aspects such as type of study, sample size, methods etc.)Before wrapping up this entry, I would like to disclose that this blog and it’s contents have absolutely nothing to do with the practice I work for or the company views. This is just for fun and a place for me to write about what I am reading.
I will be kicking off the first entry on Monday April 4th! Thanks for visiting and happy researching!!
HEY FOLLOW THIS KID.
Research is important friends.
