SLU AT Student Focuses on Function at Mercy Sports Medicine

SLU AT Summer Field Experience Spotlight - Mercy Sports Medicine, St. Louis, MO

By: Katie Love (MAT Class of 2017)

For my summer field experience, I had the opportunity to work at Mercy Sports Medicine Clinic.  I was very eager for my first day because I had experienced clinical work in the high school and college settings but never a clinic setting.  There are three athletic trainers that work in the clinic and one athletic trainer/physical therapist.

The clinic is fairly new and has a lot to offer.  They see a wide range of patients of different activity levels, ages, and experience with the rehabilitation. I have really been able to learn a lot about functional movement patterns and fascial lines.  They place a large focus on these two things.  If there is not a structural issue, its most likely caused by a functional deficiency and there are a lot of dysfunctions that can be observed in the clinic by FMS (functional movement screen), SFMA (selective functional movement assessment), range of motion, and other tests.  The SFMA allows the clinician to asses seven specific fundamental movement patterns that are common causes of musculoskeletal pain.  The FMA focuses on movement qualities, limitations or asymmetries in a functional movement pattern.  This helps identify where an individual’s mobility or motor control is not being used properly.  

I have been able to see tremendous progress in the patient’s abilities and attitudes in their rehabilitation while being at Mercy.  Everyone I have gotten to work with at Mercy has been very helpful and explains what they are doing and why.  They focus on manual therapy as well more than relying on modalities.  I think that it is a very important component to therapy and have learned a lot of techniques from them.  Another thing that I have not had the opportunity to work with before were kettlebells.  I have read a text book and watch videos provided by Mercy of Pavel Tsatsouline and his approach to kettlebell training.  

I look forward to the rest of my time at Mercy Sports Medicine Clinic and cant wait to learn new approaches to therapy and continuing my education as an athletic training student at Saint Louis University.

Students in the Saint Louis University Athletic Training Program have a required field experience in the summer between their two professional years in the program.  This blog post details a student's reflection on their experience.