Archive for June, 2006

The first Kinesiology class was today, but first up, the Bones and Muscles test. A 60 question fill in the blanks on the skeleton and musculature drawings. One guess how I did… *yawn*

Boredom really sucks. Today in Kinesiology, we discuss the three types of joints:

• Fibrous (synarthrotic): no or very slight movement, such as the suture joints of the bones of the cranium, or the distal tibialfibula joint. These types of joints have a very fibrous connective tissue between them that keeps them from moving.
• Cartilaginous (amphiarthrotic): slight movement, as the cartilaginous attachements of the ribs to the sternal body, or the pubic symphysis, which opens up for women during childbirth to allow the baby’s head to pass through the pelvis, and the intervertebral joints, which allow for spinal flexion and extension.
• Synovial (diarthrotic): freely moveable. These are the joints of the articulate skeleton, and contain joint capsules with have a bursa, a cushioning sac full of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joint. The six types of Synovial joint:
  • Ball and Socket: The shoulder and hip joints are ball and socket joints. They allow for movement is every direction, called circumduction. The shoulder allows for flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, elevation, depression, rotation.
  • Hinge: the most common joint in the body. The elbows, ankles, knees, toes, fingers, jaw are all hinge joints. They allow for flexion and extension.
  • Ellipsoid: The wrist and the third knuckle of each finger are examples of Ellipitcal joints. They allow for flexion, extention, adduction, and abduction.
  • Saddle: A modified Ellipsoid joint, the second knuckle of the thumb and great toe is a saddle joint. It allows for opposition, the moving of the thumb against the fingers.
  • Gliding: The bones of the base of the hand (carpals) and the foot (tarsals) have gliding joints. This joint allows for slight sliding movements, and in the case of the foot, inversion (turning the sole up to the medial) and eversion (turning the foot up to the lateral).
  • Pivot: In this joint, one bone turns around the axis of the other bone. The Axis and Atlas (C-1 and C-2 verterbrae in the neck), and the Ulna and Radius both have pivot joints. In the neck, this joint allows for rotation of the cervical spine – to turn our heads from side to side, and in the forearm, allows us to pronate and supinate our hand.

Yes, I knew all of this already. I’m just a little bit doubting the wisdom of my decision to come to this school. I know that once we are done with the Swedish segment, there will be other segments that I will be learning, but even in some of those, I have done some studying on my own, and suspect that I am going to know much of the material that will be presented.

I’m hopeful, though, and will continue to attend, empyting my cup to try to take in the information they are teaching.

OK, so maybe I’m not a saint; I knew there would be trouble when I chose the worst student in class to partner with for the Swedish Massage eval next week. And yesterday her casual and sloppy hands across my nipples was more than a little disconcerting. And maybe her sharp long fingernails raking on my rhomboids did draw a little blood. I figured that she’s got to get better as we practice more.

Baby Jeezus needs a tissue now. Today, during our practice, I worked on her just fine, and then it was her turn to work on me. She doesn’t have the sequence memorized, and let out around one third of the strokes, and of the rest, many were in the wrong order, or strokes that aren’t in the sequence, like the deep thumb pressure under the clavicle. Ouch!

At least she cut her nails like I had asked (demanded). She’s going through menopause, and her emotions are all over the place, and I could tell that she was not feeling it for this session. Yet, she needs the practice, so I let her touch me. Poor me. I could feel her frustration building as the session went on, and it was all being transferred to me. When I got off that table, I was so angry and upset that the top of my head could have exploded. But I instead of venting to her, I went outside and took some air, then I came back and calmly discussed it with her.

We have two more practice sessions before next Thursday’s eval. Oh, gawd, but I need a drink! Where’s the gin and tonic when you really need one?