Y3S1W10: "Laser Beams"

The week started on May the fourth with pathology lectures on the GI tract and a tutorial on diabetes. The diabetes tutorial had two case studies. The first ended up with gangrene and nephropathy/nephrosclerosis. Our tutor made a Wizard of Oz reference when describing the kidney tubules "I'm shrinking, I'm shrinking" due to coagulative necrosis process (kidney tubules shouldn't be likened to the wicked witch). The second had a diabetes proliferative retinopathy - we could see aneurysm, infarcts "cotton wool spots", haemorrhages and protein/lipid deposits in the retinal scan. Laser is used to destroy the newly formed blood vessels (which are leaky... so, not good!) in the eye  to reduce the ocular pressure - saving your retina from detaching from your eye completely!! ... but as physiotherapists, it's not our job to do laser eye surgery - even if we do use therapeutic laser.

May the fourth, as a Starwars reference was an interesting coincidence because in our physical agents lab that day, we were using therapeutic laser (unfortunately not light sabres). We had our glasses on (no laser eye therapy for us!), laser pointers out and applying laser beams directly on our skin. Like ultrasound, the mechanism of treatment is to pass energy through cells to stimulate healing via a conversion of photons to biochemical energy. It can be used to facilitate the healing of wounds, tendinopathies, inflammation and can be used on acupuncture points. The down side to treatment (from a therapist's perspective) is calculating the energy, depth, intensity, duration and deciding how many points (and which points) to treat. There are a few guidelines (cheat sheets) which make the process easier, but you still need to understand how to use it and how it is affecting the tissues being treated. Laser therapy is unlikely to be used in the physiotherapists ploy for world domination any time soon.

We had another lab on the SI joint (the previous lab was in second year). We were taught five techniques with a clinical prediction rule so we could rule in or rule out the SIJ as a source of symptoms.

At the Otago sports injury clinic I saw a few new conditions including a middle aged male with a complete rupture of the long head of bicep brachialis and a young male with Sever's  disease.