[Physical Therapist Career] The story of going to graduate school (Master of Public Health course) at age 37

Public healthI am Jiro, a physical therapistwho wants to apply knowledge of a healthy societyto create.

The other day, I turned 39. One last year until my 40s. I am the type of person who
hates standing still, so I want to continue taking on new challenges this year as well.

As for me, I completed a master's program in rehabilitation science in my mid-20s. However, at age 37, I went back to graduate school for a new field, 'Public Health and Epidemiology'.

In this article, I will write about
'Why I became interested in public health and went back to graduate school' and 'What do you learn in a public health graduate school?'
.

‖ Rehabilitation staff and public health?

I am usually in the field of rehabilitation medicine.

In the rehabilitation field, various patients come to us, such as those who ignored high blood pressure and had a stroke, those who neglected diabetes and had a leg amputated, and those who fell and fractured their femur.

Rehabilitation medicine is also called the 'medicine of hope' for patients, but I don't think anyone wants to do it from the start, and if possible, they would want to avoid it.

Most readers have probably never seen the field, but
how hard it is to exercise and practice movements to rebuild one's life with a body weakened by illness (immobile or missing parts).
How much time is needed to return to one's original life.

To be honest, I think it would be best if we (physical therapists) were free (that would mean everyone is healthy and well).

‖ Is there anything a physical therapist can do in preventive medicine?

Physical therapistsare professionals who specialize in exercise guidance.

Since exercise is highly effective for the prevention and improvement of lifestyle-related diseases, I began to think, from a more preventive perspective, is there a way for everyone to avoid having to go through the doors of rehabilitation?

The world is overflowing with various health information. Especially things like eating XX can prevent cancer, or doing ▲▲ exercises reduces the risk of needing long-term care by 15%, etc...

Every time I hear such stories, I think, 'After all, preventive medicine is just fortune-telling' or 'it's hindsight'.

I have a friend who passed away from cancer even though they were more careful about their health than anyone else, and there are people like my grandfather (who I didn't live with) who lived until nearly 90 without illness even though he smoked several packs of cigarettes a day.

I want to be involved in disease prevention, but it is impossible to prove whether something was prevented or not, making it a futile argument.As I thought, I became convinced that preventive medicine is nothing more than fortune-telling or playing rock-paper-scissors after the fact—I was certain of it.

And so, I started wanting to challenge someone with this fact.

Since people around me wouldn't give me a serious answer, I went to a graduate school information session for the field of public health—the field that talks most about the 'importance of prevention'—with a mindset half like a dojo breaker.

At the graduate school information session, I heard a wonderful presentation by a professor from the department I eventually joined, and I decided to take the entrance exam. ↓↓

‖ What did you learn about preventive medicine at the School of Public Health?

In graduate school, I spent a considerable amount of time on epidemiology training. I learned after enrolling that epidemiology is
a discipline that approaches the causality of occurrences through investigation, measurement, and comparison targeting human populations.

I hadn't expected to study epidemiology so thoroughly as a physical therapist, so I was initially confused (I had only ever looked at the patient in front of me. Can physical therapists evaluate populations?).

“Individual causality (this was the cause of the illness or this prevented it) cannot be measured”

See, I knew it...

However, I realized that
“by carefully evaluating and comparing populations, there are factors that become visible”

things.

“A new perspective is born by having the perspective of looking at the patient in front of you, and then being conscious of the population that includes that patient”

Knowing this while still in my 30s should be useful for my future career.

Also, by knowing epidemiology deeply, I realized once again that health information on TV and the internet is often quite arbitrary (there was a terrible TV program just the other day).

Now is an era where anyone can disseminate information, and since there are no information gatekeepers, I feel it is even more difficult to obtain correct information
(this is also a self-admonition for me as someone who disseminates information...).

To evaluate populations and determine effects,
at the School of Public Health, you also study statistics until you are sick of it.

It is especially recommended for those (like my past self) who would skip over the parts of academic conferences or papers the moment someone said, “Statistics are...”.

You will have a hard time not understanding it at first, but once you understand even a little, you've got it!

My own allergy to statistics has also eased considerably (though I don't think it will ever be completely cured...).

■ Summary

I wanted to practice preventive medicine from the perspective of a physical therapist, so I jumped into a new field.

At first, I thought preventive medicine was just a reactive measure, but I learned that by carefully analyzing populations rather than focusing on individuals, it is possible to measure and estimate the effects of prevention.

In graduate school, I spent a significant amount of time mastering epidemiology and biostatistics. I feel that mastering these has been quite beneficial not only for working as a physical therapist but also in my daily life.

Why not consider "Public Health" or "Epidemiology" as options for your future graduate school studies? I especially recommend them to physical therapists.

#MyReskilling