The spirit of the enterprise excludes nothing. Students could investigate a martial art, a novel approach to group exercise, a commercially available piece of exercise equipment, or a kitchen gadget that enhances aerobic power. For example, Dave Thompson would probably bring in a broomstick and hold forth on how people can use it for anything from high-repetition, unloaded restrengthening of injured rotator cuff muscles, to stretching of the posterior glenohumeral capsule. Ken Randall would show up with a gallon jug of milk, and demonstrate its role in a program to retrain balance in a person who lives at home but is at risk of falling and losing his or her independence.
Out of concern not just with clinical education but with our labs' laundry problems, Prof. Sharp threatens to bring sheets and towels, not to mention a clothes line and a bag of clothes pins. These are all the equipment necessary to address range of motion and strength impairments in the muscles and joints associated with any combination of shoulder elevation, thoracic extension, upward scapular rotation, wrist extension, and either tripod or lateral prehension.
Each student group has ten minutes during the lab to demonstrate and discuss those features of the activity whose contribution to improving function they find especially interesting. They may bring materials or "props" to enhance their presentations.
Following each group demonstration, students will answer questions from the faculty and peers who attend.