I feel as if I learned a lot through the many sessions I had with my mentor. Even though physical therapy cannot eliminate all problems, it is a big recovery factor that makes big differences in a lot of athletes. There is a lot more that involves physical therapy than to learn how to help a body recover from disabilities. It involves creativity, a set of good communication skills, and a set of organization. Firstly, I had to organize my research in not just the history of physical therapy, but how exactly is it used to be one the best recover treatments. While I was working on my hours with my mentor, I had to know how to act really well with a patient just so they could feel comfortable with me. I am not very good when it comes to speaking in front or to people in certain way which had to be something I had to work on a lot. It wasn’t something I was afraid of doing. In fact, it made me push myself into getting used to communicate with people because I know I would have to be using that in the future.
This Capstone experience made me gain a lot of time management, organization, and responsibility. Meeting up with my mentor every work did interfere with my normal schedule. I had to pick a certain to meet with, and at the same time I had to make time for practices and my other school work. It was quite difficult but in the end it prepare me of what is yet to come after high school. I learned that organization comes a long way as too because things can get hectic when becoming a physical therapist. You have to know a variety of muscles, medications, exercises for a patients, and what suits them. Watching my mentor keep up with what he has to do on a daily basis overwhelms me because I would feel more stressed out if I would have to do.
Capstone project opened a lot of doors for me. And at the same time, it made me realize that physical therapy is not something I plan on doing after high school. I’m glad I was able to go through the hours with my mentor because it made me realize that something I considered on doing in the future, is not what I’m fitted for anyway. It did however educate me because I know a lot more about physical therapy more than I ever it. Without this project, I would have been taking classes that would relate to it, when the capstone was a great chance to make me realize that it’s not for me. Even though the capstone project was difficult, I was able to decide early that Physical Therapy isn’t right for me.
