Sonora Snook Reflection – Application and assessment of mobile play station to implement play-based physical therapy with young children in Uganda

Sonora Snook, a College of Health Professions student, was awarded a Center for Global Health Student & Trainee Travel Grant to pursue a global health project in Masindi, Uganda. View more photos of her time in country in this Flickr photo gallery.

Rehabilitation across the world has been recognized as being “profoundly unmet.”1 Typically, when individuals imagine global health, they picture a nurse providing a vaccination or a doctor performing a surgery. They rarely envision rehabilitation, and specifically physical therapy, in my case. This reflection aims to highlight how physical therapy impacted Ugandans during a OneWorld Health mission trip in May of 2025.

With the help of the MUSC Center for Global Health, I traveled to Masindi, Uganda, for a two-week interprofessional medical mission trip with One World Health. As movement experts, we are skilled in managing a variety of musculoskeletal and neurological conditions from a holistic perspective, often for hour-long sessions over weeks and months, depending on the injury or illness. As a third-year physical therapy student, I understood the role of a physical therapist in the United States, but learned that this role is different in Uganda. Below are a few accounts of my experiences.

Monday morning, the team boarded the bus for our first day of clinical outreach. As our caravan pulled into the church where the clinic would be held, we waved at the line of patients patiently waiting along the road. Once all the bins had been unloaded and the clinic flow was established, patients were ushered through the services. Before leaving the clinic, some patients were brought to physical therapy. After gathering a history and performing a short screen, we developed a treatment plan. To my surprise, we quickly found ourselves busy. Patients with back pain were given stretches, education on body mechanics, and shoes or an assistive device if needed. Patients with wounds were cleaned, bandaged, and educated on wound care. Children with developmental delays were given engagement toys and positioning devices. Throughout the week, we saw many patients who, with the right resources, gained a better quality of life.

Bright and early the following week, the physical therapy team put on our backpacks and started walking down the road. Fifteen minutes later, we reached Masindi-Kitara Medical Center, the site of our wheelchair clinic for the next week. As our first patients arrived for clinic, some were wheeled in on hospital transport chairs, some were carried by family, and most surprisingly, some crawled and scooted across the cement path into the clinic. A young girl in an orange dress scooted into the clinic on her knees. We soon discovered she was non-verbal and deaf. The team got to work taking measurements and building her a brand-new donated wheelchair. Once settled in the chair, her family was educated on proper use and wound prevention. As the team talked with the family, she snuck off, for the first time in her life, she could explore her environment on her own terms! The quiet girl who crawled in the door was gone in an instant. In her place, a confident girl rolled around the clinic with a grin from ear to ear and a passion for mischief. Her new wheelchair gave her the opportunity to explore the world around her. She can now learn, engage, and even get into some much-needed trouble like her peers.

My time in Uganda taught me much more than I would have ever learned in a classroom. This trip proved to me that global health is a setting where physical therapists can provide meaningful care, create connections, and improve someone’s quality of life. I am grateful to the Center for Global Health and OneWorld Health for the space to learn and grow.

1. World Health Organization. (n.d.). Rehabilitation 2030. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/initiatives/rehabilitation-2030