Post 7: Bonesetters and blog update

As of two weeks ago I passed my National Health Association EKG technician test, officially making me an EKG technician as well as an EMT. I have not been able to post for the past few weeks unfortunately, as my school load has picked up I have not been working as much/not many eventful cases happened while on call. The only obstacle that stood out to me over the past few weeks was the challenges I faced getting my EKG technician license while studying for my university classes. These few weeks reminded me of when I was in EMT school and enrolled full time at my university. It was a struggle, but in the end, I pulled through and was able to secure another certification that I can use and hopefully apply in my journey to medical school

            Last week I worked standby for a sold-out country music show and a rave, alone. Surprisingly I did not receive any calls except for one.  This call was in the middle of the crowd and the patient was seen laying on the floor to the side and was in pain, I immediately realized his knee was dislocated. Unfortunately, this patient was very intoxicated and had trouble understanding us, this frustrated him and led him to be combative. After I took a few slaps to my face and the music hall manager told him to calm down I gave him two options: either we force him on the wheelchair to get him out which, will cause considerable pain or I attempt to realign his knee and life will be easier. The patient eventually came to a decision of allowing me to realign his knee which, I did successfully, and we were able to get him in a safe environment to check him out. Once we left the hall he tried to get up and walk away but, in doing so he just popped his knee right back out. As he struck a similar pain that he felt not too long ago he sat right back down on the wheelchair where, I once again realign his kneecap. He eventually calmed down and let his nephews take him home.

            This isn’t my first patella dislocation; however, it was the first time I had ever realigned a dislocated joint. It was a very fun occasion and I felt very happy with myself to be able to realign the patient’s knee and saved him an ambulance to the hospital. There is a brief history of joint manipulation as there was a job hundreds of years ago known as bonesetters. In history many people would die of shock or aneurysms as dislocated joints had caused both. Bonesetters would manually manipulate joints and place them back in place; their training was relatively easier compared to a doctor at the time. This allowed for many bonesetters to be produced around the world. Eventually by the end of the 19^th century they were replaced by medical licensed doctors as they became a more legitimate force than bonesetters. Finding a bonesetter today is very rare and those who still have that job do not call themselves one and most likely live in tribal areas where holistic medicine rules. 

            I have a busy rest of my February for shifts so, hopefully something interesting to talk about pops up. This summer I will be traveling frequently outside the United States and I will be including my travels in my blog.