I'm a Book Nerd

I really love to read.  I don't think anyone who knows me would be surprised to hear this, and I've written a bit about this in the past.  I've written a few book reviews (you can search the blog for those easily if it interests you), and I wrote about my anti-library here.  I constantly have a book in my bag, an audio book in the car, a creased journal that I'm mid-way through reading usually on the back seat of the car, on the side table in the living room, and in my laptop bag.  There are things to read everywhere!  I even occasionally have an audio book on my phone to listen to, now that I figured out how easy it is to connect an app on my phone to my library account.  The ways to access knowledge continue to skyrocket and I feel like I just keep devouring more and more, but each thing I read just shows me multiple new sources I can add to my list.  I remember fondly the days when I only read fiction, many years ago, and I'm embracing the transition that I've gone through to make it so I'm about 60% non-fiction and 40% fiction reader now.  I love getting lost in a tale of unique characters or far away places and won't really ever stop reading fiction entirely, but the non-fiction and the science are so fascinating, too!  I read about a huge variety of topics  But I also like reading things that help me grow as a physical therapist and as a person.

Last week I was working with a teenage patient in the clinic who I have had the opportunity to work with over more than two years following multiple surgeries.  She was telling me about her most recent Netflix binge and asked what I was watching.  When I told her that I didn't have a TV or a Netflix account, her jaw hit the floor.  It's not like I don't waste plenty of time on Facebook or goofing off on my phone or watching movies or occasional shows.  For certain, I do. Some days I want to go back to my old flip phone so I could have less access to all the distractions my Smartphone provides.  When I told her I read books, she called me a nerd.  And I wear that title with pride.

Until now, I've kept a running list of books I want to read on Goodreads and as I get close to finishing one, I just pick the next one. Sometimes a friend or coworker recommends a book and I pick it instead of what's been on my list for a while. I'm a regular at the local library and when they don't have something I'm interested in getting, I can use the Seattle Children's Hospital Inter-Library Loan System to get my more sciency books.  I've had a list of the "Top Five To Read Next" books on my list for years... but some of those books have never moved off the list because I read others first.  I've never really wanted to commit to making a plan of topics or books to read and sticking to it because I liked the flexibility, because I don't want reading to feel like an obligation, and because I have been reading so much, that I didn't think it really mattered.  But I'm not reading some of the things I really want to get to, so I'm going to try a plan this time.

For 2020, I'm picking a few work-related topics ahead of time with the goal of reading at least one book for each of those topics.  The books have all been on my list, some for years.  They've been recommended by people I respect.  Some match my personal beliefs and some are a bit more contrary. They seem interesting from their descriptions.  They're bound to help me grow as a physical therapist, and also likely as a human being.  Though I've written them as if they are in some sort of order, that may change.

Graded Motor Imagery Handbook + Mocha = JOY

The first book is "The Graded Motor Imagery Handbook" by Lorimer Moseley, David Butler, Timothy Beames, and Thomas Giles. You may have read my previous post about when I met Lorimer Moseley as his team studies pain extensively and he's written several books, which I've also written about here and here.  I don't actually know what topic this specifically falls under.  Maybe pain, maybe physical therapy treatment, maybe neuroscience.  Either way, this book has been on my list for a long time.  I just started it and can already tell it's going to be a journey. I expect this experience will be like climbing the mountain that "Explain Pain Supercharged" was.  In the event I decide to dig even deeper into this topic, I'll read some of the resources or books recommended within it, such as "Phantoms in the Brain" by V.S. Ramachandran, or one of his other books.  This is how I start to fall down the rabbit hole.  Speaking of which, I hope to read "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" in 2020, also.

The second topic will be pain.  Shocker, right?  The pain saga continues.  I've been wanting to read "Gift of Injury" by Stuart McGill which is about recovery from lower back injury and if I'm able to get access to it, I'll also read his book "Back Mechanic" to make a more focused reading cluster about low back pain.  And I also have "The Gift of Pain" by Dr. Paul Brand and Phillip Yancey on my list.

The final subject will bring me back to the basics: a look at Anatomy by reading "Anatomy Trains" by Thomas Myers.  Hopefully a refresher on the basics of anatomy with new learning about the fascial system.  I think this book is going to go against some of my biases, but I'm not sure yet. The list of these six books is now at the right side of the blog and I'll be checking them off as I complete them throughout the year.

In addition to these books, I recently launched the Seattle Children's Hospital Sports Physical Therapy Journal Club.  After recommendations from many of the physical therapists I met at the AASPT Fellowship I wrote about here, a few editions have already gone out looking at the "Linking Evidence to Practice" series in JOSPT written by Dr. Stephen J. Kemper that teach readers how to critically evaluate scientific literature.  I won't lie... those papers were a bit dry, but they're important. Too often we read a journal article and take every word of it like it's gospel when in reality there are other papers that share opposing views or the methodology is not really sound.  I'm guilty of this myself, and hope to learn more about the biases I fail to recognize in my own treatment methods. I'm really looking forward to getting into some more interesting papers that have been recommended and I hope to share some of those here on the blog, also.  Specific topics I'm looking forward to reading about in the scientific literature include: the basics of tendon structure and healing, more about evaluation and treatment for concussions, therapeutic alliance, the mechanisms of manual therapy (this will be the next paper, thanks for the recommendation Jarod Hall), and looking at different conditions we treat in the clinic.  Anybody who wants to join in on our journal club emails, just say the word and I'm happy to share.

I guess I've been blogging more and more about PT-related topics, though once the WNBA season starts back up, I'll still write about basketball... or maybe about things that interest people that are not physical therapists.  Until then, I'm loving all this PT learning and personal growth and want to know what others are reading to help grow their clinical practice.  Or just books you liked.  There's always room for more on my list.