Now this may not be an exhaustive list but there are a great deal of things I’ve learned over this past year through just personal reflection, passion, and the outstanding drive to pursue my own excellence that will far surpass anything I learn in a continuing education course. Here’s the part where I tell ya about these few things: 1. You have about 3 minutes to make a first impression on someone – make it a welcoming and charming one. 2. What you say/do is often much less important to a patient than how you say/do things. 3. You can memorize all the statistics and randomized controlled trials you want but if you can’t talk to a patient like they’re a human being, you will go nowhere in your career – patients don’t care about the statistics on the study you read last night. They want a care provider they can trust and enjoy being around, and someone who will go above and beyond for them. 4. Patients don’t care if you have the alphabet soup after your name – they want you to help them and they are looking for someone who genuinely cares. 5. The power of human touch, whether a patient needs aggressive manual therapy or not, can go a long way…I’m not saying massage everyone that comes in your door [far from that] but there are certain patients who benefit from gentle soft tissue work. Make it up if you need to -- there’s actually research out there that shows you can really tap into the nervous system and decrease pain/stress just by putting your hands on someone—doesn’t always have to be a fancy technique you learned in a weekend course. 6. Don't ever underestimate how much patient education you’ll have to provide. 7. You don’t always have to dumb things down for a patient – I know some of us are taught to use layperson terminology – which I agree with to a certain extent—but if you take the time to explain the anatomy briefly to the right patient they might truly appreciate it [notice I said the right patient – that's a different story for a different day]
9. Where ya think it is it ain’t – look at other joints/body parts aside from the site of pain because more often than not, the painful area isn’t the actual cause of the mechanical issue. 10. If you love what you do, your patients will be able to tell – and they’ll love you for it. I hope some of this was helpful - or at least thought provoking to some of you. I could probably name 100 more things but these have been the most prominent in my mind. Shoot me a message/email with any questions, comments, or concerns, and as always --- stay weird.
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Good things come to those who work their asses off. Good things come to people who make goals and work toward them. This doesn’t mean you have to wake up at the crack of dawn every morning and grind all day long until you can’t see straight anymore. It’s all about the power of tiny gains. “Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.” – Jim Rohn If you aim to improve by 1% in your life on a daily basis, these small gains will compound into a remarkable improvement over time. The same works for the reversal of this notion as well – with a 1% decline on a daily/weekly basis, sooner or later you’ll find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place. A 1% change in your daily habits over 1 year results in a 38% improvement…THIRTY EIGHT PERCENT. Rome wasn’t built in a day, guys… These 1% changes are often not noticeable but make a big impact on the outcomes of your life. Think about the times in your life when you were consistently improving and achieving great things, and think about the times when you found yourself in not-so-great situations. You’ll notice those things all didn’t happen overnight. Small choices add up over time and whether they are good or bad will often determine your path. We often overestimate the importance of one single big event/occasion, and underestimate the importance of the things that are continuous and ongoing in our life. If you put more value into making better decisions on a daily basis versus prepping with gusto for one defining moment, I think you’d find more overall success in your life. This goes for work, relationships, diet, nutrition, workouts, and just being a kinder person all around. Challenge yourself every day to make an improvement. Whether that be running an extra half mile, sending a friendly “good morning” text to your significant other, smiling at 10 people you don’t know throughout the day, doing 2 extra burpees, grabbing an apple instead of a cinnamon bun, taking a deep breath every hour on the hour, adding $2 daily to a money jar, etc. I’m guilty of not practicing these beliefs all the time myself. But I do know that I’m much less stressed and in a happier mindset when I put these ideas into practice. For more information on the power of tiny gains and personal development, check out the following articles/podcast channels:
Questions, comments, concerns, just want to chat, reach out to me. Stay weird, folks. I remember one day at the bus stop in the morning waiting for my ride to school, I said to my mom, “I wanna try basketball.” She was surprised and was kind of just like “Well…alright, we’ll sign you up when you get home from school.” From there I slowly started adding in more sports and activities in my life. Basketball was what started it, then I started dancing a few years later, and then field hockey and track came into the picture. Dance and field hockey were the only ones that really stuck with me. In between season sports I would go to the gym intermittently, run outside every now and then, and then kept that up throughout college too. I would run and lift a few times a week but never really had any structure or schedule to my workouts. Fast forward to graduate school when I decided to change my activity level altogether. I joined a challenge on Bodybuilding.com in January of 2014 that was 12 weeks long and thought, “hey, what the heck let’s see what happens here.” I was never overweight, and was always pretty healthy with my eating habits but I guess I just grew a little extra fluff over the years. I remember one day I took a look in the mirror and fully realized that I had gotten “fluffy” and decided this had to change. Actually it went more like…”Oh HELL no, this has got to go.” So, this challenge I joined was coming at a good time. I fished through the pages of apps on my phone and moved MyFitnessPal to the front page, tracked my meals, and typed up a workout schedule that I would stick to religiously. I became more meticulous with which body parts I would focus on during each workout, when I would do longer less intense cardio, and when I would do high-intensity interval training. Long story short, I ended up losing about 17 pounds during that 12-week challenge. Then I kept up with my newly formed eating and workout habits and over the course of that year I lost about 25 pounds total. Jeans started to look baggy, belts started to not have enough holes in them, and I needed to start shopping for clothes that fit again. Ever since I joined that challenge, I’ve made my health and working out regularly a priority. I don't always track my meals anymore because I’m much more confident in knowing my portions. But I continue to workout regularly and have gradually changed my focus from losing weight to just being healthy and active. I’ve never been happier with myself, or my body than I am now. I’m writing this synopsis of my fitness journey because if it helps just one person take a small step toward a healthier life today, then it’s worth it. If I could do it, you can. Motivation, self-discipline, and getting out of your comfort zone in the gym were a big part of why I was successful with this. Questions, comments, concerns, need ideas, or just want to chat about things, reach out to me. Stay weird. I began dancing a little later in life as far as a dancer goes. Most dancers take their first dance class at 2-3 years old. Well...I was about 10 years old when I set foot into my first hip hop class. And boy, did I feel like I did not belong. According to my parents I’ve always danced around the house like I knew what I was doing but it wasn’t until this cloudy day in November that I decided “hey maybe I’ll take a dance class and see if this is cool.” After that first dance class I never turned back. It started out a little rough, as a lot of new endeavors do. See, I missed all those youthful years in training in dance where you’re taught the technique and basic foundations in dance from classes like ballet and tap. And of course being the rambunctious little thing that I was, I jumped right into hip-hop. When I tell most dancers this now I get a funny look like I just put peanut butter on spaghetti. And here’s where the drive, motivation, and goal oriented little girl in me came out. I was determined to get things right, to get the choreography correct, but also enjoy myself doing it. That second part wasn’t very difficult because I loved what I was doing. I stayed after class every day to go over things with my instructors – thanks Heather and Cathy by the way – until I got it right. I practiced at home and it took a lot of mental strength most days to get the more complex choreography correct. Over the years I began training in other genres of dance including contemporary, jazz, modern, and a little sprinkling of tap to fill in for some shows. I fell in love with the artistic, yet athletic nature of dance and was always eager to improve in technique. Performing on stage once you've perfected the choreography is euphoric to me. I minored in Dance while studying at University of Delaware and as fate would have it, I began teaching as an assistant to my first ever dance instructor, Cathy Quigley, in Kennett Square, PA at her performing arts studio Carousel Performing Arts. After graduating from undergrad at UD, dancing kind of fell off the map for me. But I never lost my love for it, and quite frankly wish I could do more of it. I love when I get to treat a dancer as a patient in physical therapy because I already feel a special connection to that patient, just through having one common interest. Having a connection with a patient is incredibly powerful in their rehab. Treating a dancer in physical therapy is unlike treating any other patient. There’s an element of rhythmic musical ability that needs to be incorporated all while maintaining aestheticism. But this is a different discussion for a different day. I’m the perfect example of starting something new at what some would consider a later point in life – but dancing played a huge impact on my physical and mental strength, my health, and the relationships I’ve cultivated over the years. That’s all for now, folks. Questions, comments, concerns, or if ya just wanna chat – shoot me a message! Stay weird. Photo credit: Dan Dunlap My name is Meghan Wieser. You're probably wondering where I went from 'Wieser' to 'Weez.' Well, over time I've slowly accumulated a variety of nicknames ranging from Megaweez, Mega Weezy, Meg Weez, Weez, Schmegs, etc. so that's where that came from. I graduated from University of Delaware in 2013 with my B.S. in Exercise Science. I then graduated with my Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Widener University in 2016. Shortly after passing the licensure exam, I began working at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, NJ. I work in a split position, so I work in two settings, acute care and outpatient. It's through this first job after graduating that I've become enthusiastic about treating motivated individuals who immerse themselves into their goals and plan of care as much as I do. I wholeheartedly believe that if you have the drive, influence, and grit to improve yourself, you can achieve your goals. I'm extremely passionate about the field of physical therapy. Without getting too in depth with my thoughts on this on the first blog post, I strongly believe that physical therapists should be a primary musculoskeletal provider for injuries. Fortunately, I think the rest of the world is starting to catch up to this notion as well. Outside of physical therapy I'm passionate about dance and fitness. A few years ago I lost about 25 pounds over the course of about 4-5 months. Ever since then I have been a huge advocate for health, wellness, nutrition, and physical fitness. I feel that everyone should have some element of this in his or her life because it enhances mental health as well as physical. When I delved into fitness it not only made me happier and more confident about my body, but I became a more happy and confident person all around. More on this topic in a future post, but there's a little taste for ya. What I hope to provide with this website/blog is education, advice, insight, guidance, and motivation, (among other things), for anyone looking to emulate their best self through wellness, fitness, mindfulness, etc. My hope is to become your primary musculoskeletal provider and provide information on prevention and treatment of common injuries. If you made it this far into the post, thank you! More posts to come on these topics. Go 'head and click that contact me button if you have any questions or comments about anything so far – or if there’s something in particular you’d like to see more of! Stay weird, folks. |