“Having done an LLM at a French university, I thought that I knew what a university was. Then I came to the Â鶹´«Ã½ and I was so pleased with the entire infrastructure that was available.â€
Tell us what you have been doing since completing your studies.
After graduation, I decided to start my career as a locum physiotherapist so I could gain work experience in different settings before settling in. The institutions I worked at were various: rehabilitation centres in orthopaedics and neurology, physio practices based in the community with some domiciliary visits mostly to the geriatrics population, a sports-orientated practice, and a mental health hospital. I also moved a lot geographically, treating patients in Paris as well as little villages in rural areas, and also a more exotic location in the Indian Ocean.
Has your career path changed since graduation?
When I first graduated in 2011, in my mind I was ready to settle into the career of a physiotherapist for the next five years. However, in 2013 golf became like a virus for me. It was a sport that I had been practising as a hobby since I was 15 years old, but I was good at it. I was a scratch-score player – the best level for an amateur. So I turned professional in the spring of 2013. I now hold a conditional card of the Ladies European Tour and my physiotherapist workload only represents 20 weeks a year.
What is the most difficult thing which you have faced in your career?
Dealing with patients that are at the end of their life is always a challenge for me. I still remember vividly a patient I was taking care of in a small village in Mayotte, a French island in the Indian Ocean. She was under the ‘hospital at home’ scheme for end-stage cancer and my intervention consisted mainly of positioning, passive mobilisation, and massage. She was so frail that she was more bone than flesh. One day, as I entered the room, her family told me she had passed away in the last hour or so. I was emotional for having lost a patient, but also for seeing how the mystery of death was dealt with by the community. That day I felt that my white uniform protected me because I cried later at night.
What is the best, most exciting or fun thing that you have done in your career?
I worked a full night as a physiotherapist during the ‘Telethon’ in 2013. It's a very popular event in France where people all over the country will raise about 130 million euros over a weekend in December for rare diseases and medical research in gene therapy. I provided physio care during a 24-hour charity run, but I felt like I was taking part in something way bigger than just a run. That sense of collective euphoria for a great cause was memorable.
What, if anything, would you do differently if you could?
I would have liked to have completed a university diploma in sports physiotherapy in one of the French leading universities by now, having graduated five years ago with a First Class Honours degree. It has not happened yet, because managing a sports career as well as a physiotherapist career is very challenging. It does put a toll on your social life and on your finances.
How did studying at Â鶹´«Ã½ help you?
Our studies were very much orientated towards a problem-based approach and an evidence-based practice incorporating a reflective philosophy. Now that I work in a physiotherapy practice, I feel that I have been equipped to manage any patient who appears on my case-load. If I h
