https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog Capstone en-us 2018-09-07 13:34:35 UTC 2019-01-07 01:45:00 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Balance.png gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/278838960 My topic for Capstone is already a well known subject, however, it is not a well known subject to the public as people may think. When they hear the words “ACL tear”, they assume career ending injury for most athletes and for those who choose to have surgery on it, people say they’ll never be what they used to be. However, with modern day science and technology, surgeries on ACL reconstructions have changed immensely since around 50 years ago when they first became a thing. I want to help make known the possibilities of new methods for reconstructions or at least want to learn the evolutionary science behind our bodies, which make these the most common injury for athletes.

]]> 2018-09-07 13:38:06 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/278838960 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/278838980 My guiding principles include putting safety and security of others in front of my own, being happy and appreciating everything I have in my life, obtaining and gathering knowledge that will help me later on in my life. I think that my guiding principles will help me with my education by allowing me to prioritize what I want to accomplish in life first (College, Medical School, Surgeon, etc…) and it will also help me grow as a person by reminding myself that I must be selfless and kind to others because everyone is human and that the world does not revolve around me.]]> 2018-09-07 13:38:07 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/278838980 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/287581967 Some positive takeaways from the presentations are that I was happy with my overall part, I thought I had my material down. What I wished we worked on more was practicing as a group that may have bettered the flow. I am going to work on preparing faster on the material I need to learn to spare some time before presenting to practice with my other group mates.]]> 2018-10-01 13:18:17 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/287581967 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/293285783 I've decided to divide up my secondary research into four parts: ACL, ACL Rupture/Tear, ACL Surgery/Reconstruction, and ACL Rupture Causes. From this I believe I can narrow down my topic, but for now I will have a broad range to start.]]> 2018-10-16 12:41:14 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/293285783 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/295394756 Last Thursday (10/18), I went back to my orthopedic surgeon for a follow-up involving my recently reconstructed left ACL and discussed with him the subject of my Capstone project and he gave me some insight into my topic. He mentioned what may be a cause for the recent rise of ACL tears in the last 20 years and his explanation started by saying that just people 50 years ago didn't know what an ACL tear was and most people lived with them because they essentially don't kill you, but weaken the body over time. So most people never reported them because they didn't feel the need to, but now more and more people are coming to orthopedics to report them.]]> 2018-10-22 12:06:06 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/295394756 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/295397711 I have 8 sources so far and have discovered many new theories on why the tear of the ACL is so common in human beings. But it is extremely likely that it may be one of two very possible theories: evolution or genetics. No one truly knows the real cause, but this could be a start to explanation.]]> 2018-10-22 12:14:23 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/295397711 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/295398578 Most sources are the moment are articles from medical professionals through peer-reviewed journals and articles written up by clinics and hospitals. Many of the sources are quite heavy in the terminology and requires a lot of work to actually understand these medical terms. ]]> 2018-10-22 12:16:25 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/295398578 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/300431626 To make research more simple, I divided up my large idea into multiple different sections that allow me to do work and research individual parts and combine it into something that makes sense as a whole. Referring to Blog #4, I created more sections seeming that I couldn't really capture everything in its specifics. The sections are now: ACL (What is it and its anatomy), ACL rupture (What is it and its immediate effects), ACL Surgeries (Current and future ideas), ACL rupture causes, ACL rise, and ACL tear prevention. ]]> 2018-11-05 13:02:07 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/300431626 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/300434456 So college apps... I have recently sent in my application to Georgetown and now am working to get ready to submit my University of Washington app for the 15th. After this app, there will be four left over for me to focus on. I have put their deadlines on my schedule which is currently located in the project mapping section.]]> 2018-11-05 13:09:46 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/300434456 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/300436796 At this point, you may be starting to wonder why ACLs? So I haven't really explained my reasoning behind this project. This project is actually quite personal to me. I started my research behind this subject over the summer while taking a course at Harvard (Intro to Evolutionary Medicine), where I became intrigued at the idea of ACLs and their origin, but as well as the cause of tears. These tears do not directly kill people, but limit them in their everyday lives. ]]> 2018-11-05 13:15:02 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/300436796 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/300438993 My personal story behind my this project is that I have torn both my ACLs during a 20 month period during high school. When you read the research and see all the effects both short and long term, the pain of surgery and recovery. Know that I've experienced it twice, learning to walk, run, jump, etc... The first tear was in June of 2016 and was the right leg, the surgery was in November of that same year. The second tear was in March of this year (2018) and I had surgery at the end of July. So to summarize I've been burdened by these injuries through my high school career, however I've decided that I don't want them to hold me back longer, which why I've chosen to pursue the field of medicine for my future and hope to be an orthopedic surgeon one day to help others like me. ]]> 2018-11-05 13:20:04 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/300438993 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/301493695 During the summer, I completed a project about ACLs and my essential questions, but in a much scaled down version compared to my current Capstone project. For that project, I had already completed 8 annotated bibliographies. As of yesterday, I had completed 24 more which consist of 6 about ACLs in general (name, origin, anatomy, etc...), 4 about ACL ruptures (tears), 4 about ACL surgeries (current and potential ideas), 3 about how an ACL rupture can occur, 4 about the rise of ACL injuries, and 3 about ACL injury prevention. ]]> 2018-11-07 14:08:25 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/301493695 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/301498164 Who here knows what the ACL is? For those who don’t it stands for the anterior cruciate ligament, and its what connects your femur to your tibia, or in layman's terms your thigh bone to your shinbone. My Capstone project is about ACLs, ACL tears, and ACL reconstructions. The reason why I have decided to do my project on ACLs is because I, myself, have torn both mine in the course of 20 months. I want to know why is there a rise in ACL related injuries, what can be done to prevent them, and if nothing can be done what methods can be used to speed up recovery. So far into my research, I’ve learned about the ACLs anatomy, what an ACL rupture is, the causes of ACL ruptures, prevention of ACL injuries, the rise of ACL injuries, and the current method of ACL reconstructions as well new potential methods. To talk about the rise of ACL injuries, I am not alone, it is roughly estimated that in the United States 250,000 people affected by ACL injuries annually, and that number has been increasing as of 20 years ago by 2-3% each year. But with my research there are also positives, many orthopedic specialists have tested and recommend that athletes do certain stretches and maintain well balanced diets that will in turn, help lead to prevention of ACL related injuries. With further research, I hope to create awareness and allow for that number I mentioned to decrease in the future. ]]> 2018-11-07 14:15:19 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/301498164 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/305882964 Reached out to my orthopedic surgeon as well as my physical therapists for information and feedback on the idea for my tangible. I was told to focus on middle to high school students because young adolescents are not recommended to have surgery until they are almost done growing in the knee area. Also was given resources from the both of them to help with my primary research:
"Warrior Girls" and "Examination of Orthopedic and Athletic Injuries". ]]> 2018-11-19 12:45:55 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/305882964 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/305883867 The story of why I chose this topics is real simple to be honest. I've torn both of my ACLs over the course of 20 months, the first time was at the end of freshman year, where I happened to be running and stopped suddenly causing my body to go in two directions at the same, resulting in a pop in my knee and next thing I knew I was collapsing on the ground and could not feel my right leg. The healing process was a pain as I was limited in movement and activities that I could do or participate in. Surgery was even worse as, I was limited to crutches and a leg brace for the first two months. My second tear occurred during March of my junior year at a practice for volleyball, it was my first season back since recovery and I had been playing all fall and winter in preparations for tryouts. During the practice, I had jumped up and landed awkwardly on my left leg as it gave out when the rest of my body came down. I knew right at that moment, what had happened and I kept thinking to myself "Oh god, how could this happen again?" Athletes in their lifetimes may tear or sprain their ACL once, but I had it happen to me twice. No one ever thinks "I'm going to tear an ACL", but when it happens you feel the struggle that others have in pain of the tear and recovery.]]> 2018-11-19 12:48:38 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/305883867 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/305884160 To readdress my essential questions: Why is there a rise in ACL related injuries? What can be done to prevent them? And if nothing can be done what methods can be used to speed up recovery? The answers I want to find lie in these questions. Over the last 20 years, there has been a rise in ACL injuries among young children and adolescents, on a larger scale in the United States the number per year has been increasing by 2-3%. With my research that I've done, I want to create a protocol for elementary and middle school students that warns them of the risk of ACL tears, ways to prevent them, and to acknowledge the fact that it is possible for one of them to tear one]]> 2018-11-19 12:49:34 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/305884160 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/317714574 Just completed Part One of the research paper. Explained the backstory behind my project as well as the starting point of my tangible, but I will discuss the later parts of that in the near future. The feedback I received from my peers really helped out in what I needed to fix in the paper as well as the feedback I got on what I did well on was incredibly helpful. ]]> 2019-01-07 00:55:13 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/317714574 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/317714607 5 out of 9 schools applied to. 2 more deadlines on the 15th of January and the last 2 on the 1st of February. Already one decision back and one more soon. ]]> 2019-01-07 00:55:36 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/317714607 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/317714653 The rough draft for the Review of Lit is complete. I have 7 subtopics that fall under the main topics of rise of ACL injuries, ACL tear prevention, and recovery. I think that I need to go back, however, and take good look at each source on more time to see what is missing and what is needed.]]> 2019-01-07 00:56:08 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/317714653 gtruong2019 https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/317714676 With the help of my physical therapist, I will soon head out to high schools and middle schools to find statistics on ACL tears in adolescents/teenagers. With these statistics, it will help me create a protocol with real numbers from the area to show kids that these injuries can affect anyone. ]]> 2019-01-07 00:56:19 UTC https://padlet.com/gtruong2019/capstone_blog/wish/317714676