Trying to keep up

The first week of quarter 3 is underway and boy is it trucking right along.  There is lots to do and little time to do it.  As with any educational program you must find a balance after the first couple weeks and jump in.  I finally feel like I am in graduate school.  There for a while I thought I was retaking my undergraduate coursework - leaving me a bit depressed about the whole situation.  

Our new courses are going to be challenging.  We are finally into physiology as well as neuroanatomy.  The third series of gross anatomy (visceral dissection) is also underway.  In fact, today we removed the anterior thoracic wall and took the lungs out!  A welcome back unlike any other.  Having completed the first dissection today has me pretty excited knowing only 9 more dissections are left.  To be done with this course is one of my largest goals.  It is, as I have mentioned previously, a well rounded challenge.  Mentally, physically and emotionally challenging.  It is tough to look at, tough to cut on and tough to block out the sheer disgust of the scene.  Nine more dissections, thank goodness.

I ordered new texts today.  My medical physiology text is coming next week!  This is a weird but happy thought for me.  Physiology is my greatest passion.  It is the explanation of how things operate, how things keep stable and adapt to the environment we subject ourselves to.  Unfortunately, we only get two or three courses in chiropractic school where medical school students get several more.  I will make the best of it and get ahold of all the medically based physiology reads that I can!  ;)  I took the liberty to purchase a medical neuroanatomy book along with a general neuroanatomy book.  Cross referencing is how I learn the best and with an applicable read which is medically based is just more bang for the buck.  Three hundred dollars later I have 4 books rolling my way.  

On another note, we ventured into thoracic adjusting this week.  Our class time thus far has been impulse drills on each other while our patient holds their breath.  Holding ones breath is necessary so we don't 'move' anything that shouldn't be moved or at least minimize excessive movement.  It is interesting to impulse into someone's back or rib with precision.  The skills to be able to rotate a vertebrae to one side or flex it upward or extend it takes time to learn.  And to know how 'deep' to thrust to get the job done is tricky.  Some adjustments block a segment at a lower level to induce rotation or lateral flexion on the other sides segment above.  I take mental notes each time I practice on someone so that good results continue to come.  Just recently I have been able to picture the motion of the bones beneath the soft tissues.  Biomechanics is quite interesting when you put it all together and picture the cause and effect levers and pulleys have on the entire kinetic chain.  Too often we think narrowly and forget that our bodies are delicately interlaced.  Each system balances each other out and is in a constant state of flux.   

Friday looms and it is 10 pm so I will sign off and post at the end of next week.

Thanks for reading.

Nate