Final Graduation Requirement

KINE-P393: Professional Practice in Kinesiology

For my last semester, I spent 350+ hours in an internship. I interviewed for the position, and started late in August. My internship site was NeuroHope, an outpatient neuro-rehab facility in Carmel, Indiana. It is special because along with the insurance side of treatment options such as physical and occupational therapy, it offers specialized personal training for neurological conditions that doesn't have to operate through insurance. This is important because frequently rehabilitation of neurological conditions requires more visits than insurance provides for, and the ability to continue work on recovery/maintenance makes a big difference for a lot of people.

Because of this personal training side, I was able to be more hands on and gain a lot more experience in my internship. Throughout my internship, I was able to work up to being the primary trainer for several clients. I was able to practice programming, cuing, and learn a lot about training for individuals with neurological conditions.

Summary

I learned a lot in my time at NeuroHope. Below is from a reflection done in one of the final weeks of my internship. Here, I discussed goals I came up with in my first couple weeks and how I progressed in my time.

During my fourteen weeks interning at NeuroHope, I aim to…

1. grow my confidence through going out of my comfort zone, learning new things, and asking questions, in order to be a better professional and person.

I have definitely gained confidence through my internship experience. I did this as I said I would, by asking questions, learning through observation and experience, and by being hands on. The more I learned, the more confident I was able to become in this realm. It often takes practice to be comfortable with a skill, and my internship provided me practice with a lot of hard and soft skills that improved throughout the semester. I know going forward that I have to be patient with myself and allow the time to practice before feeling comfortable with my skills.

2. learn and improve skills applicable to my future career goals by practicing things like transfers, passive range of motion, and electrical stimulation, in order to be better prepared for my career.

I’ve gained experience with all of the skills I mentioned. I was able to observe and be hands on a lot as well. When I saw a tool or technique used that I wasn’t familiar with, I would ask to join and learn about it. These skills and tools are things I will use in graduate school and my career, so I tried to absorb as much as possible. I am much more familiar with a lot in the neuro-PT realm now, and anticipate that being helpful going forward. I still have a lot to learn, but the initial exposure has provided me with unique insight into my future career.

3. increase my knowledge of neurological conditions by connecting what I learn through conversation with what I see in my experiences, in order to better understand my patients in the future.

I have learned of several neurological conditions that I hadn’t heard of before, and deepened my understanding of many more. I explained to a patient once that I knew the physiology of how multiple sclerosis occurred, but I didn’t really get how it would impact people day to day. Having repeated exposure to different individuals with various neurological conditions gave me a good idea of the scope of impact that these conditions can have on individuals. Where a lot of medical fields are pretty cut and dry, neuro is not, and I learned that through my exposure here. I will continue to expand my knowledge of neuro conditions to better understand and help my patients going forward.

4. improve my communication with patients by acknowledging I can’t understand what they are going through but doing my best to support them regardless so I can be a better provider.

Since beginning my internship, I am a lot more comfortable navigating conversations with patients about their condition and how it affects them. A lot of the stories of how injuries or diagnoses came to be can be really tragic, but I have learned generally how to respond in a considerate but not overly emotional way. I have also grown much more comfortable with figuring out when and where to help a patient. At first it was difficult to not immediately offer to help, but I have learned to step back and let the patient try to do something themselves and then decide to offer or not based on what I see or they say/do. It was challenging at first, but a repeated theme of my profession is helping people to find their independence as much as possible, so I have to make sure to allow them to do that even now.

5. form connections with those around me through shared conversations and experiences in order to build my network.

I have had a lot of shared conversations and experiences with the people at my internship site. This includes others that work there, patients, and caregivers. Each person has a unique story and perspective, and I have gained a lot of insight and valuable information from my interactions. I have also made connections that I am sure will be helpful in the future. The people who work at NeuroHope are incredible, and I am really grateful for all that they have taught me and supported me in this learning experience. I will keep these connections as I continue to work there next semester, and have reemphasized the value of networking through the opportunity I have to do so.

Internship Project

For my internship project, I chose to teach yoga to the staff at NeuroHope. I chose this based on a need for increased flexibility and mobility that I saw within those who work there. Each week, I would lead a 30 minute session before work. I focused on hip and back mobility, aiming to improve body mechanics for people who often do a lot of heavy lifting like in transferring people or gait training. Towards the end of my internship, I also led yoga for caregivers, emphasizing relaxation and similar stretching.

Doing this for my project combined what I have learned in my kinesiology degree with what I learned in my yoga teacher training. I was able to contribute to the overall wellbeing of those who work hard to provide care, and that was the goal of my project.