Intern Christian King- Bodyworx & ARC Physical Therapy

Hi my name is Christian King.

I will be interning at Bodyworx this semester on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays under Chris Fleming. I will also be splitting time with ARC Physical Therapy with Emily Kittle. As a side note Chris is also the athletic trainer here at Andale High School, and I have gone to him for multiple sports injuries that I have had throughout my career. I am really excited for this opportunity to shadow him, and the opportunities that this internship could open up for me. This will look really good on a resume, and will give me a really good resource when applying to college and for a job. This internship is something that I am a little nervous about, but I am mainly excited for it. I think it helps a lot that I already know my mentor, so that will make the transition into the internship a lot easier than it will be for most of the students in this class.

The first time that I knew that I wanted to do something in the physical therapy field was a couple of weeks after my first patellar subluxation during football boot camp. I was sent to physical therapy at Via Christi, and I needed crutches to get around. After just two weeks, they had me off of the crutches and walking again. I remember thinking how awesome it would be to be able to see the progress that the patient was making on their road to recovery. They had me back on the football field by week 5 of the season. I have been to physical therapy for my knee two times since then, and I am currently in it now. These experiences have given me a first-hand look at how physical therapy can decrease recovery time and improve the daily life of a patient. These are the reasons that I would like to do something in this field.

It now takes a doctorate to become a physical therapist, and I know that will take a lot of hard work and extra years of schooling. I will have to learn how to study more diligently because I haven’t really had to study very much in high school. I believe that is going to be one of the toughest things for me in college. To get through the high level coursework that is required to obtain a physical therapy degree I will need to learn to prepare more in advance for deadlines and tests. School work will have to be my number one priority.

I would like to learn how the methods used by the therapists at Bodyworx differs from the treatment I have received at Via Christi. I would also like to learn about the different programs that they use to keep everything organized. I also think it will be interesting to learn how different injuries are rehabilitated compared to each other, and I think that I should see many examples throughout my internship. The main thing that I would like to learn is if physical therapy continues to be the career path that I am interested in pursuing by the end of my internship.

Right now physical therapy seems like a good job to have. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the physical therapy field has a 34% employment rate, which is higher than the average in most professions. Also, the median salary in 2015 was $84,000, which is nothing to complain about. It also just seems like rewarding work because you get to take someone who is injured and help them to get back to their daily routine. They do this through different stretching, mobility, and strengthening exercises that gets the patient back on the right track at a comfortable pace.

I don’t have any actual experience helping people in this field, but I have been helped by physical therapy on three different occasions. I have seen a lot of the exercises that are done in physical therapy, whether I was doing them or the person next to me. I also am a very hard worker, and I will do whatever it takes to get a job done. Throughout my high school career I have maintained a 4.0 GPA, and I am eager to learn and can pick things up very quickly.

I’m not 100% sure what I would like to do for post-secondary plans, and I am open to many options. I am really hoping that when I go out and do this internship that I will realize whether or not physical therapy is something I will want to do. If it does work out, I would consider going to Hutchinson Community College because they have a PTA program there, and going to Hutch is always a more inexpensive option. KU and WSU have good physical therapy programs, so those might be good options to consider also. I am also considering going to a Junior College like Pitt State or Butler and getting some classes out of the way before I decide what I really want to do.

Bodyworx specializes in physical therapy and also evaluates patients that have suffered concussions. The concussion specialist is Chris Fleming, and he is who I will be shadowing throughout this internship. They use the A.I.M. Patient Treatment Method, which they developed, and it is designed to get athletes back to 100% faster. Bodyworx currently has one location and employs three professionals with degrees in their respected fields.