Storm and MMT

Two Fridays ago I was visiting my friend at the nursing home. I had eaten supper with her and we were sitting in her room watching game shows on mute. She always watches TV with the volume turned all the way down so game shows are a good fit. At least she can follow what is going on. Sometimes I turn up the volume enough to hear. At one point she switched the channel to a local station that showed a radar of a large rapidly moving severe thunderstorm. I told her I better head on home before it started pouring. I'm so glad I did. It was sprinkling when I got home but within 10 or 15 minutes the rain was coming in ropes (the French expression for raining cats and dogs) and the power went out. The next morning we were still without power and on my early morning drive to work, traffic lights were completely out and and trees lay across the streets. Nine days later there is still a tree laying across our street a block up. Our power was restored about 11:30 on Saturday morning but it wasn't until late Sunday evening that our internet was restored so I spent part of my Saturday afternoon at a coffee shop finishing up the week's assignments.

This semester has been calmer than last but I have a feeling it will be picking up in the month of July with tests, presentations and 32 hours of field work in a mental health context. This coming Tuesday we have a practical exam on manual muscle testing (MMT). For this test we walk into the room where one of our classmates is acting as the patient. We pick one of 32 cards that have a joint and movement on it (such as wrist extension) and we are to test the "patient's" strength. We begin by placing the patient in the proper position so the joint will be moved against gravity (elbow bent at 90˚, forearm resting on a table with back of hand facing up). If the person isn't able to move the joint through at least 50% of the range of motion, then you have them switch to a gravity-neutral position (turn forearm so the thumb is facing up with the wrist slightly flexed) to see if they have enough strength to move the joint without having to fight gravity. If they can't move the joint at all we need to know where to palpate the muscle or tendon to see if there is a trace of a contraction. Most of the 32 scenarios aren't that difficult, but I do have some studying to do tomorrow so I can be confident going into the practical on Tuesday no matter which card I draw. Elbow flexion would be the easiest choice.