Day 8 in the YHA

Just going to throw it out there that today is my birthday... no big deal. :)

Trayla summed up our morning in one quote: "Dr. McConnell is the shizz!" We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to have Dr. McConnell come and speak to us about knee pain. She taught us a  lot about her speciality and even expanded on information we already knew. She went through an evaluation on a person with knee pain. It was Interesting to see how she goes about her evaluations and her ideas of treatment. We learned that her motto is "tape, tape, tape, tape, tape!" and she actually showed us a knee taping first hand. Something that everyone can take away from her talk is how much of an influence fear, anxiety, and negativity have on pain. So for all of you out there experiencing pain keep a positive attitude and don't be afraid to use the body part in pain! 

Here Todd is examining a knee's fat pad, which is the layer of fat underneath the knee cap, or patella.

Your very own Marietta College Athletic Trainers and Dr. Jenny McConnell

After our lecture with dr. McConnell we made lunch together as a group. Some honest hard work and skills in the kitchen left us with 3 pounds of pasta, homemade garlic bread (courtesy of Chyrsten), crackers and brie, as well as chips and dip.

With full stomaches, we went into another lecture with Dr.Courtney. She is an osteopathic medicine doctor. She spoke to us about breathing dysfunctions. Everything from hyperventilation to asthma and vocal chord disorders. A few of us, myself included, learned that we may actually be suffering from breathing dysfunctions, based upon a questionnaire she had us fill out. The main point to take away is that mouth breathing is bad! ... Even though I am definitely guilty of it... 

For the evening, we went on a show boat to help celebrate my birthday. It was a lot of fun and good food! The dancers put on a great show themed to different places around the world, including Las Vegas, and the singer was very talented as well. Afterwards, we spent some time in Darling Harbor before calling it a night. 

That's all for now folks! Thanks for sharing my birthday we with me!

-Amanda