Advances in prosthetics give soldier amputees hope

Advances in prosthetics give soldier amputees hope

Steven L. Fries, CPO

Submitted by Steven Fries, LPO
_HoustonChronicle.com - Advances in prosthetics give soldier amputees _
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May 13, 2006, 2:05AM

ADVANCES IN PROSTHETICS
For amputees, a chance to run
Soldiers who lost legs or feet in Iraq can now do more than ever before.
By JOHN W. GONZALEZ
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle San Antonio Bureau
FORT SAM HOUSTON - Of the nearly 400 soldiers who have lost limbs in the
Iraq war, only a few dozen have been able to return to combat. Most simply
aspire to resume a normal life, to be able to play with their kids or take a
stroll with their spouse.
    
Now the Department of Defense andVeterans Affairs are collaborating to
enable wounded soldiers with limb loss to achieve rising expectations for being
highly active, with help from the new generation of prosthetic legs and feet.
In a demonstration Friday for VA workers, several high-performing athletes
who lost limbs showed how prosthetic devices with microprocessors and
Bluetooth wireless technology have helped their performance and provided inspiration
to wounded troops and the therapists.
Chang Wong, a recently retired Army sergeant who lost both legs to a
roadside bomb in Iraq a year ago, jumped and pivoted sharply on his two prosthetic
feet, which work like springs and are shaped like a 'C.' Though the feet
hardly look normal, they help him do what he wants — play basketball like I used
to, and play all sports like I used to, Wong said.
VA health science researcher Bob Gailey said such ambitions, while difficult
to achieve, are typical and the government is striving to help fulfill them.
The goal is that they will return to a normal life. The military has
invested a lot of time, energy, money and technology to ensure that those soldiers
who served us are able to return to the life that they once had, Gailey
said.
Although it's nothing new for the military and VA to provide prosthetics,
what's changed is the sophistication of the devices, he said.
What we're seeing are the advances in computerized technology and carbon
graphite composite technology. These soldiers once expected only to be able to
walk. Now the expectation is they can run, Gailey said.
Mark Benveniste, staff prosthetist at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans
Affairs Medical Center in Houston, came to see the latest devices demonstrated by
Wong and other war veterans and athletes.
It's been very inspiring to be here, and I'm particularly excited that the
VA Hospital will strive to meet these kinds of standards, he said.
I've worked with some guys who are capable of jogging, but never this
level, he said, adding that many of the veterans helped in Houston had limb loss
from diabetes, trauma and other noncombat causes. Vietnam war-era veterans
are among those seeking updated devices, he added.
The most advanced devices include power knees with artificial intelligence
and feet that communicate to each other using Bluetooth technology to
coordinate gait, said John Fergason, lead prosthetist at Brooke Army Medical Center,
one of only two military amputee treatment centers in the U.S.
A lot of what you're seeing now are ways to integrate sensation back into
the prosthetic devices, so you can feel where your foot is on the ground,
Fergason said.
Some of the advanced devices, made of superstrong yet light materials,
including titan- ium, are meant for a subpopulation of very high activity
levels, Fergason said. Among them are the Paralympic and Ironman world-class
competitors who demonstrated some of the devices Friday.
The legs don't make them run. They make those legs run, Fergason said.
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