Nan with the Plan

Last night my OT class had the opportunity to watch a local D-I professional wheelchair basketball team practice.  The Rolling Grizzlies is an athletic group of men who compete in the highest wheelchair basketball division.  What an experience it was getting to watch them play.  Not only did we get to watch, but the players let us take their chairs for a spin!  I played basketball growing up, so I jumped at the opportunity to try out one of the chairs.  Instantly I realized the arm strength required to shoot and pass the ball from a seated position as well as the coordination needed for pushing the chair and dribbling the ball smoothly.  It is much harder than typical basketball.  These men played for an hour and a half with hardly any breaks.  This shows what great physical shape is required to participate in this game. During my undergraduate career, I was fortunate enough to take an adapted athletics course where we learned about all types of adaptive sports.  It was one of the mos

"As ALS kills . . . Transfatty lives" Patrick O'Brien was diagnosed with ALS at a very young age of 30 years old.  Before this diagnosis, Patrick indulged in film making, mixing music, creating art, and drinking beer with his friends.  After his diagnosis he still continued to do just that.  He emerged from behind the lens and put himself and life with ALS in the spotlight.  He very accurately and creatively illustrated the progression of ALS. Watching this film through my "OT lens" helped me understand truly how fast some neurodegenerative diseases can progress and why it is important to always be thinking one step ahead.  One day Patrick was using a walker, and the next he was in a power chair.  This progression is something a practitioner must always consider in order to stay ahead of future obstacles.  I paid close attention to the transfers and bed mobility shown because we just recently learned those techniques in Biomechanics.  It was impacting h