BU students massage Dorset locals to beach volleyball success

Second year BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy students volunteered their massage and physiotherapy services at the annual Sandbanks Beach Volleyball Festival.

A team of four students, Milly Abduallah, Charlie Jones, Luke Lymbourides and Sam Coleman, gave sports massages and treatments to athletes competing in the national tournament. The event on 6 July, boasted 140 junior teams across 19 competitions.

Susanna Bentman, lecturer in physiotherapy, commented,

“It’s great for our students to be involved at the volleyball event, it really helps build their skill base by volunteering their services at sporting events throughout the South Coast and they really value and enjoy the experience.”

The national volleyball event is one of a number of opportunities for BU’s physiotherapy students to practice their skills in real life situations. They have also volunteered their services at other sporting events including Bournemouth Sevens Festival and Yeovil half marathon, where they also raised money for a special care baby unit.

Charlie Jones, one of the students involved, said,

“Opportunities like this allow us to recap our skills from our first year at uni, as on the day we did a lot of taping of ankles, shoulders, wrists and knees.

“As many of our placements are in hospitals or in a community setting, it is interesting to experience acute injuries; especially with under 16 (paediatrics) as the opportunity to have a paediatrics placement is rare. These opportunities will help when looking for jobs as we now all have experience working with paediatric patients.”

Geoff Allen, Wessex Volleyball chairman and one of the event organisers, said,

“I would like to thank our team of volunteers whose dedication in preparing everything ensured everybody had an enjoyable time.

“So many people came together to make it possible including free water donated by Asda and Fitness First, free sun cream donated by Boots and free physiotherapy and massage services provided by Bournemouth University.”

Poole Grammar School student, Harry Jones, 16, partnered 15-year-old Ryan Poole (Hertfordshire) to win the British under 18’s championship with a victory over Sam Allen and Nathan Fullerton from Bournemouth’s LeAF Academy.

Students’ ‘Big Idea’ gives power to children

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Bournemouth University students used teddy bears and a comic book ‘super hero’ theme to win a Dragons Den-style ‘Big Idea’ competition run by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

The scheme is part of a new physiotherapy programme aiming to increase involvement child cystic fibrosis patients can have in their care.

Students Gary Whiting and Luke Rockett, both studying Physiotherapy at Bournemouth University, worked alongside other students from the South West and created the ‘Teddies for Toddlers’ scheme as their ‘Big Idea’. The scheme aims to increase children’s engagement with their treatment of Cystic Fibrosis, a life-long condition affecting the lungs.

The idea for ‘Teddies for Toddlers’ came during a work placement at a pediatric physiotherapy unit where they discovered that children and their parents would benefit from having a better understanding of treatments.

Gary Whiting worked with student Dave Progl, from the University of Southampton, to create a system where children can choose how to care for their own teddy bear with help from a comic book giving instructions.

The idea is for children to care for the teddy bear and subsequently learn about their own care. The students said, “Research shows that it’s important for a child to have some say and choose what they would like to do in their care. We would give the initial comic to the child and they would choose their treatment plan from that”.

Children aged 6 to 10 are targeted through a super hero comic book character and games which can later be used to gain feedback.

Dr Helena Johnson, honorary student president said, “We liked the concept of needing to incorporate fun into physiotherapy to promote self-management. It was thoroughly investigated and you then went on to fully develop the product with your comic book and characters.”

Enhancing physiotherapy student experience

On Sunday 20 October 2013 a group of third year physiotherapy students volunteered to provide massage to the 5K, 10K and Kids K runners in support of Lewis-Manning Hospice in Poole. The students did a fantastic job demonstrating their skills and expertise in a challenging environment at Bournemouth Pier. Their efforts were appreciated by all and the fundraising team at Lewis-Manning Hospice following the event said:

‘Do pass our thanks on to the students who were all FAB and it would be a pleasure to work with them again.’

Thank you to Christopher Dorey, Stephan Moehrke, Hayden Brunt and Matthew Maher for giving up their time between placement commitments, on our intensive  programme at Bournemouth University.

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Physiotherapy students volunteer during charity run

Third year Physiotherapy students volunteered to provide massages during a charity fun run in Bournemouth.

Christopher Dorey, Stephan Moehrke, Hayden Brunt and Matthew Maher, who are on the BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy degree course, gave up their time between placement commitments and studying to volunteer during the Lewis Manning Time to Care run.

They provided massage to the 5K, 10K and Kids K runners in support of Lewis-Manning Hospice in Poole.

The run took place on Sunday 20th October, and the students did a fantastic job demonstrating their skills and expertise in a challenging environment at Bournemouth Pier.

Their efforts were appreciated by all, and, following the event, the fundraising team at Lewis Manning Hospice said: “Do pass our thanks on to the students who were all FAB and it would be a pleasure to work with them again.”