Healing Soldiers

By Maddie Gehling ‘17

Bradley physical therapy 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 Bradley 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 Bradley University did more than enough to prepare me for this highly challenging, yet most-rewarding clinical experience.”