°®¶¹´«Ã½ÊÓƵ

05/31/2016 11:00 AM

By Maddie Gehling ‘17

°®¶¹´«Ã½ÊÓƵ graduate student Ryan Lynch DPT ’16 lived his dream as an Army physical therapist during the Spring 2016 semester. He spent his final months as a °®¶¹´«Ã½ÊÓƵ student interning at Evans Army Community Hospital in Fort Carson, Colorado.

“After four months of serving soldiers, family members and veterans, I can say that being an Army physical therapist is undoubtedly the greatest profession in the world,” Lynch said. “The skills I have will shape my military career and the decisions I will make going forth. I am grateful for all the mentorship I was given in Colorado.”

While working on his clinical, Lynch dealt with a broad sampling of military physical therapy health issues. Calling Army physical therapy one of the most diverse fields, he noted chances to work with walk-in patients with injuries and other patients as they recovered from surgeries. Many injuries were job or stress-related, with frequent ankle, knee and back issues.

Lynch said one thing he learned while at Evans Army Community Hospital was that nothing could top hands-on experience.

“Sometimes wisdom is found outside the conventional classroom PowerPoint presentation,” he said. “However, there is absolutely no question that °®¶¹´«Ã½ÊÓƵ did more than enough to prepare me for this highly challenging, yet most-rewarding clinical experience.”