Campus Connection

UWL research measures validity of rehabilitation test that could save on healthcare costs

[caption id="attachment_45924" align="alignright" width="309"] UWL students studied the validity of a test used by allied-healthcare providers to measure whether a patient’s upper body is rehabilitated. Here a student performs the test that involves being in plank position with hands 36 inches apart. Patients are instructed to touch the opposite piece of tape and count touches for 30 seconds.[/caption] Healthcare practitioners have a simple test they use to evaluate if a patient’s upper body is rehabilitated. It doesn’t require any fancy equipment, so using it in place of other tests can save on healthcare costs. But no one has ever measured its validity. That is until UWL student researchers did last spring. With a $2,000 course-embedded research grant from UWL’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Creativity, students in Cordial Gillette’s exercise and sport science class got down in push up position and actually completed the test many times. They compared it to four other tests considered valid. [caption id="attachment_45922" align="alignleft" width="261"] Students compared the upper body rehabilitation test to four other tests that are considered valid.[/caption] Their research, which showed the test is indeed valid, was presented at the Wisconsin Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meeting and Symposium in March where it earned first place. McKenzi Wermund, a senior and athletic training major, says she used the test nearly every day during an internship in the Sports Medicine Department at Gundersen Health System last summer. She plans to also use it regularly in her future career as an athletic trainer. “It’s been an eye-opening experience to look into why we do some of the things we do that are embedded in the profession,” she says. Gillette says this particular project made sense because of the push in athletic training to move toward more evidenced-based medicine and practice. Having research-backed evidence that this test is just as valid as more expensive tests will help practitioners make decisions that can reduce healthcare costs, she says. But Gillette and her students need to tell others about the results. Enter Naoko Aminaka, assistant professor of Exercise and Sport Science, who wanted to take on Gillette’s class research as her own class project in “Readings and Research for Athletic Trainers.” That class took the project full circle this semester by writing a manuscript about the methods, data and results in hopes it will be published in an exercise and sport science journal. [caption id="attachment_45920" align="aligncenter" width="685"] Cordial Gillette, assistant professor of Exercise and Sport Science, pictured with her Exercise and Sport Science class.[/caption] Gillette and Aminaka aim to continue the research and writing collaboration between the two classes into the future. Gillette’s students have already started another research project this year that will go to Aminaka’s class for manuscript writing next year. Wermund and Senior Hannah Johnson, also an athletic training major, say they feel more invested in the manuscript writing class this semester since it was research they conducted last spring. “It’s been exciting to see the project from start to finish,” says Johnson. Wermund and Johnson, who both aim to earn master’s degrees in athletic training, also are proud to potentially have some of their own research published before they set out to earn their advanced degrees and apply for careers in their field. “This is great experience to have under our belts going forward,” says Johnson, who wants to work with professional baseball players. “It’s something we can continue to use for the rest of our lives.” — Gillette’s class project was one of 20 UWL faculty projects funded through an Undergraduate Research and Discovery Grant from the UW System Board of Regents’ Research, Economic Development and Innovation (REDI) Committee. Gillette received it through UWL’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Creativity.