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Physical Therapist Personal Statement

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While I was shadowing a physical therapist over the summer, I helped with hippotherapy, horseback riding as a means of therapeutic treatment, and met a young girl with Rett syndrome named McKenna. She can’t speak, walk, use her hands, or understand much, but she has the best smile and laugh that I have ever heard. As I helped McKenna ride her horse, Dixie, every week, I began to see her balance and coordination improve. While at her first few sessions her parents had to carry her over to the horse, by the end of the fourth week she would run over the best she could while holding her mom’s hand. My experience made me realize how much a little help can make a huge difference in a child’s life, not limited to physical changes, but emotional as well. …show more content…

To be able help these children, I need to understand how their bodies work and move. The classes that I would take as a Movement Science major would help me learn the mechanics behind the movements I am noticing. My love of biology, psychology, and human anatomy classes makes me even more confident that I will love the coursework. After visiting the Kinesiology department and speaking with a few professors, I realized that I would be able to work with many people who share this interest and have the opportunity to conduct research in the field. For example, the research conducted by Dr. Dale Ulrich in the Center on Physical Activity and Health in Pediatric Disabilities is right up my alley, as I am familiar with children who have Down syndrome or Autism and would love to help enhance their

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