Karen is a 50-year-old female post Left TKA (DOS 2/2/21). Karen is a wife, mother, and is employed as a radiology tech. I believe, Karen had unrealistic expectations for her recovery. She expected recovery to be much easier and compared herself to other patients in this small-town clinic. (small town and most patients knew each other) During the time I worked with Karen, she had difficulty initiating a quad set but was able to engage her quads in short arch quad with out difficulty. She also had difficulty with knee flexion and knee extension. She was compliant with her home exercise program, but I believe she compensated when it was difficult or painful. These compensations were addresses during clinical treatment. Because Karen was in the medical field, she did have a good understanding of the what and why of her interventions. Although patient education was still needed, for example, the best time to ice is after not before her exercise. I was able to educate her with my favorite analogy of heat and ice on muscle compared to a Laffey Taffy. She stated this description really helped her understand why and when to use ice. Being able to talk with and educate patients on their recovery is an important part of being a PTA. This also means earning their trust and maybe calling then out on issues with their recovery. 

Ron is a 46-year-old male with a complaint of right rotator cuff pain. Ron used bilat axillary crutches because of a left hemipelvectomy due to cancer at the age of 20-years-old. He felt a prosthetic was more limiting than his use of an AD. He has a great outlook on life, active, and hard working. His rotator cuff pain was limiting he ability to life and dump 20 pounds of ice in the ice machine at the gas station he works at. Interventions included phonophoresis, passive and active ROM, scapular stabilization, RC strengthening, and taping. Postural education became an important part of his recovery because of how he sits and his use of axillary crutches. Ron needed very little in accommodations with his amputation, although it was important to make sure safety and comfort were addressed at each session. Ron did not see is amputation as a disability, he attitude helped make his treatment stress-free.