Friday, June 21, 2019

Dance Leads SLU Students to Physical Therapy


SLU PT Students Write About How Dance Influenced Their Passion for Physical Therapy

Libby Ramm (SLU DPT Class of 2023)
Like most dancers who go on to study physical therapy, my passion for physical therapy developed the first time I got injured. I never thought that something like snapping hip syndrome could expose me to a lifelong passion and my future career. Most kids don't know what they want to pursue a career when they are 13, so when I proudly told my parents that I wanted to be a PT, I'm sure they thought that was going to change. 5/6 years later when applying to colleges, that never changed. Being a dancer, I was taught to think critically about every movement and every body shape I saw in the mirror. This taught me to see the body as an instrument; a functional system that was capable of incredible things. A bag of skin, bones, and muscles that helps me express emotion and be an artist. I believe that my respect for the incredible things a body can do is what led me to find interest in physical therapy. With the more I learn about all of the things my body is constantly doing to keep me alive and to allow me to exist, I grow more and more fascinated with it. Becoming injured for the first (of many) time brought me to a crossroads between dance and science; exactly where I found my passion in life.

Alexis Ardovitch (SLU DPT Class of 2021)
As a dancer, I feel as though I have an additional perspective to provide to my physical therapy education and future intervention. I believe that dancing has really allowed me to understand my body, and it has allowed me to understand movement. As movement specialists, physical therapists need to have a great knowledge about how people move through space. As a dancer, I have a great understanding for how my body moves in space. This provides me with a perspective that cannot necessarily be taught in the classroom, and I believe it is an advantage when it comes to becoming a movement specialist. Additionally, dance has allowed me to understand my body and the different ways in which I can make it move. Before I became a physical therapy student, it was still in my best interest to understand which muscles performed what action in order to understand a specific movement and or to heal an injury. Now that I am studying physical therapy as a dancer, I already have an understanding of how my body works. Ultimately, my passion for the human body is the common thread that weaves through my love for dance and for physical therapy. As my future career as a physical therapist approaches, I have an increasing desire to work with performing arts athletes. Why not combine my two passions into a career?


Photos submitted by Alexis Ardovitch.

Monday, June 10, 2019

SLU PT Faculty Member Chris Sebelski, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, Presents Scholarly Research in Geneva Switzerland


SLU PT Faculty Member Chris Sebelski, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, presents scholarly research in Geneva Switzerland 

In May, 2019, Dr. Sebelski traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to present scholarly research at the World Confederation of Physical Therapy (WCPT) Congress.  The WCPT is the “sole international voice for physical therapy” (https://www.wcpt.org/what-is).  The Congress is held every two years and is the profession's largest international congress to share the latest findings in research and therapies including advances in education, practice, research and policy.


The research presented, Leadership Competencies for Physiotherapists:  A Delphi determination, is collaborative work with Dr. Barbara Tschoepe of University of Vermont, Dr. Diane Clark of University of Alabama, Birmingham; Dr. Jennifer Green Wilson of College of Brockport, SUNY; and Dr. Stacey Zeigler of Clarkson University.  The purpose of the study was to identify and define leadership competencies essential for PTs and thus guide curricular standards on leadership development for PT education programs.  Results included leadership behaviors and skills perceived by the panelists to be “very” important for the physical therapist who is less than one year from graduation and those leadership behaviors and skills perceived by the panelists to be “very” important for the physical therapist who is greater than one year from graduation.


Photo credits: Dr. Steven Chesebro of the APTA and Dr. Chris Sebelski of Saint Louis University

To learn more about the 2019 WCPT, visit https://www.wcpt.org/congress.