This I Believe: Familial Responsibility

Up until now, my posts have generally been directed toward innovations and advancements in the field of physical therapy. For this week’s entry, I am going to follow the steps taken by thousands of writers that took part in the This I Believe project and share with the world what it is I believe in, and how this belief affected my aspirations to become a physical therapist. This I Believe is a “national media project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives.” Simply stated, my belief in responsibility has led me to my career choice, which, in turn, sparked my interest in the field and led to the creation of this blog and all the posts within. Responsibility can be directed toward anyone or anything, but in this post I am going to concentrate on my belief in responsibility toward family.

Ever since I was a child, my parents have always pointed me in the direction of pursuing a career in medicine. They would always mention how my father (pictured to the left), grandfather, great grandfather, and so on have all been doctors and how it is the best field to go into. This pressure to become a doctor did nothing but push me further away from the profession. Not surprisingly, therefore, with the start of my college career, I majored in business. The subject interested me, and I loved the thought of becoming an entrepreneur. Needless to say, my parents were disappointed, but, at that time, I was too stubborn and immature to realize why exactly they were disappointed in me. It was not until the middle of the first semester of my sophomore year that my belief in responsibility truly formed and propagated.

At this point, my mother had already accepted my career choice outside of medicine. She sat me down to have a talk, and it was this talk that triggered my realization of my belief in responsibility to my family. My mother’s intent was not to convince me to go into medicine; it was just to inform me of the reality of the situation that we were in. She reminded me that we are all living a privileged life because of my father’s physical therapy clinics. She explained that the clinics’ success relies heavily on my father and his reputation. He puts his heart and soul into these clinics, and it has unfortunately taken a toll on his health. The reality of the situation was that my dad was aging, and his health was deteriorating. My mom was unsure of how long he could continue working as hard as he works to maintain these clinics, which are the source of financial support for our family. The reality of the situation was difficult to take in, but it was nothing but the truth. He no longer has the health or energy to continue running the business for much longer. The business would suffer greatly without someone to take it over and I am the only child. It was at this exact point in my life where I truly realized my responsibility and what I had to do. The combination of self-growth (age, maturity) and my mother’s talk allowed me to come to my belief.

I knew that at this point in time, I had to drop my immature and stubborn act and accept the responsibility to my family, specifically the responsibility to my father. I realized that the right thing to do was to pursue a career in physical therapy and ultimately help my father with the clinics. I finally made sense out of all his speeches about how he accomplished everything he did just for me. He started and developed these clinics so that one day I can become a physical therapist and take over from where he left off. I realized how monumental my father’s accomplishments truly were. He is an immigrant who has lived in the United States for only sixteen years. He left behind a surgical degree (and countless years of education to become a surgeon) in Russia to come to the United States in pursuit of a better life for our family. We came here with nothing, and my father had to start his education from scratch. I can only hope to one day comprehend the sacrifice and hardship that my father went through to get to where he is today. He worked very hard throughout the years and took a huge risk when he decided to leave his job and open his own practice. It all paid off in time, and I am thankful for everything that he has done for the better of our family. It is with my strong belief in responsibility toward my family that I made the decision to pursue a career in physical therapy. I feel responsible to help my parents with the business and allow them to rest easily knowing that all their hard work and sacrifice throughout the years to accomplish what they did with these clinics will not go to waste.

Robotics and Physical Therapy: Closer Than You May Think

Robotic technology is slowly making its way into the field of physical therapy. Two recent advancements exhibit the vast potential of robotics in therapy applications. The remarkable technology is offering hope to many patients suffering from spinal injuries and partial nervous system impairment, especially those who are recovering from a recent stroke. Stroke is the number one cause of adult disability; many stroke survivors are left with movement disabilities including weakness in limbs and muscles, partial or full paralysis, and the inability to move or walk. One of the more common disabilities is the loss of movement or the ability to grasp of the hands. A robotic therapy device was developed by a research team at the University of California, Irvine to treat these hand impairments. The device is named HOWARD, which stands for “Hand-Wrist Assisting Robotic Device” (pictured to the left and right). According to a press released just a few weeks ago, the device is designed to “help people regain strength and normal use of affected hands.” The robotic device is designed to wrap around the patients’ hands while they attempt to grasp and release various objects. The device works with a computer program that guides the patients through a physical therapy program. The device does not perform the whole motion for the patient; patients must first initiate the movement and the robot just assists and monitors. As Steven Cramer, a professor at UCI who was involved with this project, stated. “The HOWARD therapy isn’t passive; the patient has to jumpstart the program and initiate the motor command… but if the hand is weak and can only budge one-tenth of an inch, the robot helps to complete the task so the brain relearns what its like to make the full movement.” The studies that have been performed on this robotic device have had positive results. The study was performed on a number of people who recently suffered from a stroke that left their right hand functionally impaired. All patients, after a three week treatment program, improved their abilities to grasp and release objects. Their scores on the Action Research Arm Test (which measures the ability to perform real world tasks) rose by almost ten percent, and their scores on the Box-and-Blocks Test (which assesses skill as the patients move blocks in a given time) improved by twenty percent. The patients also developed a seventeen percent increase in the range of motion of their hands. The research showed that this brilliant application of robotics into physical therapy can be very effective. The device is currently being reworked and is going to be continuously tested, and it may one day become a regular in physical therapy clinics.

Another advance in robotic technology focuses on lower body rehabilitation. Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a robotic exoskeleton that targets lower body motor disabilities. The “exoskeleton” is a robotic device that is attached to patients’ lower limbs to aid them in their motor function (pictured to the left and right). An amazing attribute of this device is that it is controlled by the user’s nervous system. Muscles from patients who suffer from various neurological disorders or spinal injuries do not receive proper signals from the brain that stimulate movement, which causes the motor disabilities. Through the use of electrodes attached to the patient’s leg, the device is able to receive these signals transferred from the brain and translate them into movement by the exoskeleton. The exoskeleton is designed to function like an exterior muscle; when the signals reach the robotic device, it contracts along with the patient’s muscles. Daniel Ferris, a professor in movement science at the University of Michigan, described how the device works; “The artificial muscles are pneumatic. When the computer gets the electrical signal from the wearer’s muscle, it increases the air pressure into the artificial muscle on the brace… the artificial muscle contracts with the person’s muscle.” So far, the device has been tested on healthy subjects to analyze how it affected the movement and function of the lower limbs. Although the researchers do not plan to commercialize the device, their research provides a tiny glimpse to the vast potential of this device in physical therapy applications. The robotic brace can be used directly in physical therapy treatment sessions or indirectly by simply helping patients walk and move more effectively. It is exciting to imagine that this is just the start of advanced technology being applied into the medical field. Due to their proven effectiveness, it would not be much of a surprise to see robotic devices like the two mentioned earlier in physical therapy clinics all across the world within a few years.