Bionics

bi-on-ics
Etymology: from bi (as in “life”) + onics (as in “electronics”); the study of mechanical systems that function like living organisms or parts of living organisms
By Josh Fischman
Photograph by Mark Thiessen

Amanda Kitts is mobbed by four- and five-year-olds as she enters the classroom at the Kiddie Kottage Learning Center near Knoxville, Tennessee. "Hey kids, how're my babies today?" she says, patting shoulders and ruffling hair. Slender and energetic, she has operated this day-care center and two others for almost 20 years. She crouches down to talk to a small girl, putting her hands on her knees.

"The robot arm!" several kids cry.

"You remember this, huh?" says Kitts, holding out her left arm. She turns her hand palm up. There is a soft whirring sound. If you weren't paying close attention, you'd miss it. She bends her elbow, accompanied by more whirring.

Continue....

Athlete, cancer survivor takes it one step at a time

By Bill Lohmann
Published: March 27, 2011
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Late on a cool, gray afternoon, Robin Pugh Yoder ducked into an office, changed into a T-shirt and shorts, and headed for a little exercise — in a hospital parking lot.

She walked steadily yet cautiously, conscious not only of moving cars but also speed bumps, potholes and a persistent breeze that could, if she lost her balance, blow her over.

You notice things like that when you're 49 and learning to walk again.

"This whole process is slow and tedious and hard," said Yoder, who lost her right leg to cancer last August and is taking baby steps, literally, as she grows accustomed to a prosthetic leg. "Not just on a physical level, but mentally.

"My life has changed forever."

Some things, however, never change.

Yoder, an accomplished athlete, has regularly competed in the Monument Avenue 10K, and this year will be no different, other than she will be walking, not running. Her goal Saturday is not to finish in a specific time, but simply to finish, even if she has to use crutches.

This time last year, she was preparing for the 10K, the first race of the season, by running three days a week and swimming, lifting weights or exercising on elliptical machines three other days. Today, she's walking in parking lots and in her neighborhood, sweating through strenuous rehab sessions, and building her proficiency and endurance with an artificial leg. She prefers not to compare last year with today.

"I try not to think about that because … if I think about where I was a year ago it gets depressing and frustrating," she said. "But if I think about where I was in August, I'm really proud of myself.

"That's life before, and now there's my new life. My new life is just trying to live in my old world with my new body, and realizing I can still do the same things, but I'm going to have to learn to do them in a slightly different way."

Yoder, who lives in Chesterfield County and works as an oncology social worker at CJW Medical Center helping others through difficult periods in their lives, has a long history of athletic achievement and overcoming obstacles.

She was a high school basketball star headed to college on an athletic scholarship when she was diagnosed with bone cancer in her right leg. Doctors saved the leg, but her college basketball career was over. After graduating from East Carolina University, she served two years in the Peace Corps.

Through the years, Yoder competed in triathlons and was training for one last summer in honor of a friend, Lanie Evans, who was battling brain cancer, when she noticed an odd heaviness in her right leg. Soon after, she was diagnosed with cancer again — she believes it was caused by the radiation treatment from her first bout with cancer — but this time, circumstances made amputation the prudent course of action.

A month after surgery, she was walking on a prosthetic leg. A month after that, she was swimming. Soon, she was sitting on a bicycle.

She went full-bore into rehabilitation even while she was going through the grieving process that is normal when a limb is lost. She still dreams of her missing leg.

But patience is not something that comes easily to someone as driven, direct and goal-oriented as Yoder. Not long after she began walking on her artificial leg, a therapist casually mentioned shopping malls are good places to practice walking.

The therapist never suggested she go soon or alone, which is precisely what Yoder did. After creeping along the storefronts, hanging on to the walls and doorways, an overwhelmed Yoder managed to get to a bench, where she called a friend who offered to come pick her up.

After reading an online description of how she might run with a prosthetic leg, she decided it would be a good idea to practice, alone, in a narrow hallway in her home so that if she lost her balance, she could fall against one wall or another.

Unafraid to challenge herself, she has fallen numerous times in therapy and at home. She once strained her shoulder muscles catching herself awkwardly, so she has been in physical therapy for that, too.

Physical therapist David Lawrence, who sometimes has to push hard to get patients with new artificial legs to take the next step, has to encourage Yoder to slow down.

"With Robin, one of the challenges has been, how do you keep her motivated and working while at the same point holding back the reins so she doesn't hurt herself?" said Lawrence, founder of Lawrence Rehabilitation Specialists and The Gait Center. "I just try to keep her a little grounded."

Yoder's plan to walk the Monument Avenue 10K, a distance of more than 6 miles, less than eight months removed from amputation is "a little bit lofty," Lawrence said, but for Yoder, it's realistic.

"This is her coming-out party," he said.

And it will be a party. Yoder will be accompanied by a small army of more than 100 supporters sporting royal blue T-shirts emblazoned with the images of high-kicking dancers and the phrase, "Because We Can-Can, Robin Can-Can."

"She is stubborn and will dig in and do whatever it takes to meet her goal," said Amber Williams, a friend who has trained with Yoder for triathlons and will be among the blue-shirted supporters. "She's just the most honest, thoughtful, insightful person I've ever had the pleasure of spending time with.

"She's been a complete inspiration for me."

Everyone sees the determined Yoder, a woman with the seemingly relentless spirit who expects to run and ride a bicycle. What they don't necessarily see are the almost imperceptible strides she makes from one grueling therapy session to the next. They don't see her struggles with a poor-fitting socket of her artificial leg — what's left of her right leg above the knee has been shrinking since surgery — that complicate the already challenging walking process in which, as she put it, you're trying to make your hip think it's an ankle.

They can't see Yoder grieving for her friend Lanie, who died a few weeks ago and was her inspiration as she recovered from her own surgery. They don't see her fretting over her next set of scans, which are scheduled every few months, to make sure the cancer that was in her leg hasn't spread.

It's impossible for people to know just how many mornings Yoder would rather pull the covers over her head and pretend this didn't happen.

But she won't do that because of the people who encourage and inspire her — family, friends, co-workers and patients, physicians and therapists — and because as an athlete she knows only she can put in the work to make things better.

As daylight faded, she finished her long loop around the parking lot of the Thomas Johns Cancer Hospital, where she is co-founder and director of The Hawthorne Cancer Resource Center, past the garden for patients she started by digging in the dirt, past other hospital workers heading home for the day (she still had an evening support group of breast cancer survivors to lead). Many offered good wishes and encouragement.

"What everyone wants is for me to have a good ending, and it's going to be, I think," she said. "But people have to be patient and let me get there."

But patience is in the mind of the beholder. Yoder is already looking beyond the Monument Avenue 10K. She has been invited to participate in a mini-triathlon — running, biking and swimming — in Maryland in August. She can't help herself. She's making plans.

"I might can do it by then," she said. "It gives me a goal."

Giant steps forward for brave Bianca

TAYISSA BARONE, The West Australian
March 28, 2011, 3:00 am
Wendie Fowler was more than happy to follow her daughter Bianca across the finish line at yesterday's Centre for Cerebral Palsy 1km Walk Wheel Run.

That's because the seven-year-old's triumphant finish at the event on the Burswood foreshore marked the longest distance she has travelled in one go in her revolutionary prosthetic Cheetah legs.

The state-of-the-art $23,000 legs were funded by the Centre for Cerebral Palsy and were on full display at the annual event which saw 28 of the charity's champions participate.

Bianca is now faced with her biggest challenge, learning how to run.

The centre has not been able to find anyone in Australia to provide the specialised coaching needed to train her to use her legs to their full potential.

She currently relies on Skype sessions with fellow amputees in the US for advice.

Bianca was left with cerebral palsy and a range of heart, leg and bowel complications after her premature birth at 26 weeks. Both of her legs were amputated below the knee when she was three years old.

Mrs Fowler said Bianca's confidence had grown but there was still a long way to go. "Her confidence in her walking has come up quite a bit," she said.

Tortoise Loses Leg, Learns to Walk With a Wheel

By Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 03.16.11

Tortoises are among the oldest species on the planet, remaining virtually unchanged for millions of years -- but sometimes they too need a replacement part every now and then. When a severely injured red-footed tortoise was discovered recently in Uberaba, Brazil, it seemed to be on the verge of death. A team of surgeon from the local veterinary hospital succeeded in saving the animal's life, but injuries forced to amputate one of its front legs. Just when it looked certain that the tortoise would never walk again, one of the vets had an ingenious idea -- to reinvent the wheel, tortoise style.

One of the surgeon responsible for saving the tortoise, wildlife expert Cláudio Yudi of the Veterinary Hospital of Uberaba, suspects that the animal injured its foot on an electric fence. By the time the tortoise was discovered, an infection had overtaken its leg to the point that the appendage could not be salvaged -- leaving the team with no choice but to amputate it.

Yudi told Brazilian media that he then devised a plan to help the tortoise walk again. Using a bit of plastic resin, he secured a common furniture caster to the underside of its shell where the leg had been, returning to the tortoise some semblance of its former locomotion.

Amazingly, the tortoise is said to be recovering well and has even learned to walk with its replacement wheel. Unfortunately, the limitations of the improvised prosthetic leg on rough terrain mean the animal cannot survive in the wild.

Red-footed tortoises are native to the forests of South America where they face a variety of threats from human interaction. They are a prime target for hunters looking to ship them throughout the continent to be made into pets or eaten as a food source. But perhaps more pressingly, the encroachment of development within their habitats means a higher likelihood the tortoises will be injured or killed by industrial equipment and infrastructure -- in this case, an electrified fences.

Their close genetic cousins, South American yellow-footed tortoises, have already been driven to near extinction from similar threats in their habitat, earning them the designation as an endangered species. It may be only a matter of time until red-footed tortoises are granted similar protections.

Granted, persistence and stubborn determination have long been counted among the tortoise's chief strengths, but sometimes they too need a helping hand along the way to ensure their preservation -- regardless of the form that hand may take.

One of the surgeon responsible for saving the tortoise, wildlife expert Cláudio Yudi of the Veterinary Hospital of Uberaba, suspects that the animal injured its foot on an electric fence. By the time the tortoise was discovered, an infection had overtaken its leg to the point that the appendage could not be salvaged -- leaving the team with no choice but to amputate it.

Yudi told Brazilian media that he then devised a plan to help the tortoise walk again. Using a bit of plastic resin, he secured a common furniture caster to the underside of its shell where the leg had been, returning to the tortoise some semblance of its former locomotion.

Amazingly, the tortoise is said to be recovering well and has even learned to walk with its replacement wheel. Unfortunately, the limitations of the improvised prosthetic leg on rough terrain mean the animal cannot survive in the wild.

Red-footed tortoises are native to the forests of South America where they face a variety of threats from human interaction. They are a prime target for hunters looking to ship them throughout the continent to be made into pets or eaten as a food source. But perhaps more pressingly, the encroachment of development within their habitats means a higher likelihood the tortoises will be injured or killed by industrial equipment and infrastructure -- in this case, an electrified fences.

Their close genetic cousins, South American yellow-footed tortoises, have already been driven to near extinction from similar threats in their habitat, earning them the designation as an endangered species. It may be only a matter of time until red-footed tortoises are granted similar protections.

Granted, persistence and stubborn determination have long been counted among the tortoise's chief strengths, but sometimes they too need a helping hand along the way to ensure their preservation -- regardless of the form that hand may take.

‘Gimps on Ice’

by Luke Mehall
Reaching new heights at the annual climbing rendezvous

The Ouray Ice Park provided the backdrop for a recent rendezvous of rebirth. The 4th annual “Gimps on Ice” festival brought amputee and disabled ice climbers together for a weekend of renewal beginning March 5.

For Mike Reddy, “Gimps on Ice” felt like a homecoming to the San Juan Mountains, where his life was forever changed two years ago. Reddy was one of 38 participants in the event, organized by Paradox Sports, a nonprofit out of Boulder that provides opportunities and adaptive equipment to people with disabilities. Reddy, now a PhD student at Yale University, took a 150-foot fall while climbing Mount Sneffels in 2009. He was rescued by his climbing partner, a nearby party and the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team. The fall left him with a spinal cord injury, a fractured right ankle and a diagnosis that he would never climb again.

“It was an experience that changed my life forever,” Reddy said. “I was left feeling truly broken, defeated and lost.”

Even with his injuries, Reddy felt the overwhelming desire to return to climbing so he connected with Paradox Sports. He received visits, first from co-founder and wounded veteran DJ Skelton, and then from Malcolm Daly, an amputee climber and executive director of the organization. Flying in from Colorado, Daly took Reddy climbing for the first time since his accident in a Connecticut climbing gym.

“Malcolm is a really special guy,” Reddy said. “Paradox Sports is an organization that really reached out to help me.”

The weekend of March 5-6 was the second time Reddy had climbed ice. “I don’t climb as eloquently or as hard as I used to, but that doesn’t matter, it is the feeling that I’m after,” he said.

Alongside Reddy, on the ice walls that Ouray is famous for, were other disabled climbers: one missing an arm; others missing a foot; some without both feet. A look up to the wall revealed climbers using artificial feet with crampons made for ice climbing. Nearby, Daly had a bucket of crampons labeled, “Daly Bucket of Feet.”

Although the event has doubled in size since last year’s event, the ice climbing site was well managed by the Paradox Sports crew. Some climbers aren’t able to hike in themselves, and Chad Butrick, director of operations for Paradox, carried a couple participants in on his back to a point where they could be lowered into the canyon by a carefully rigged rope system.

Heidi Duce, a 20-year-old climber who grew up in Ouray, climbs with a prosthetic for her right foot. A below-the-knee amputee, she was born with a congenital defect that resulted in her not having a fibula, foot or ankle bones.

Growing up next to the Ouray Ice Park, Duce always wanted to climb the icefalls and even had a family friend, Chris Folsom, who would have taken her climbing. The problem was her parents wouldn’t let her go.

“Chris would tell my parents that he would take me ice climbing,” Duce said. “But, they never relayed the message to me. When I turned 18, I finally got to go and was immediately hooked.”


Chad Jukes, left, helps Kate Sawford tackle her first lead in the Ouray Ice Park. /Photo by Claudia Lopez
“Chris would tell my parents that he would take me ice climbing,” Duce said. “But, they never relayed the message to me. When I turned 18, I finally got to go and was immediately hooked.”

Folsom, and his wife, Deb, are passionate supporters of the community and have their own organization called Amped Outdoors, with a similar mission as Paradox. A man of many trades, Chris even makes special crampons that Duce and others use.

Duce now attends Mesa State College in Grand Junction, where she studies adaptive physical education. She enjoys helping others climb as much as she enjoys it herself, and her favorite thing about the Gimps on Ice weekend is being around other amputee climbers.

“Ice climbing opened the doors to what is now my passion in life,” Duce noted. “The outdoors are very important to me, and I hope to work in the field of recreation therapy once I graduate college.”

Duce received the illustrious “Got Stump” award two years ago, a storied T-shirt that is awarded by Paradox every year at the Ouray Ice Festival to a disabled climber who embodies the spirit of the organization. The shirts are also sold as a fund-raiser for the park and have raised more than $50,000 thus far. Duce’s award, which is worn at various climbing endeavors, comes with one important rule: it can’t be washed.

“Yes, it smells,” she joked.

Pete Davis, a 31-year-old amputee climber from Ridgway, received the “Got Stump” award this year. Another congenital amputee, whose right arm was formed only to his elbow at birth, Davis, lived in Durango for 10 years and is a Fort Lewis College graduate with 20 years of climbing experience. He now works as an ice farmer at the park, maintaining the drip systems that create the waterfalls.

Davis has always felt a need to reach out to other amputees, and enjoys the sense of community that Gimps on Ice and other Paradox events bring. “This is a celebration of ability, whatever ability you have,” Davis said. “It’s about getting people from our community together. Not often as an amputee do you get to hang and climb with people that are similar to you.”

Gimps on Ice enjoys an abundance of support from the Ouray community. Restaurants, coffee shops and breweries host the group. One establishment, Mouse’s Chocolates and Coffee, catered to the group by opening two hours early. A special batch of coffee, called “Gimps on Ice Blend,” was created by Kristopher’s Culinaire and a “One Arm, One Leg IPA” was brewed up by the Ourayle House Brewery.

Claudia López, a photographer from Boulder, makes the annual trek to Gimps on Ice. She said it is her favorite event of the year. “It centers me and sets the mood for the rest of the year,” López said. “It is important for me to be here.”

López also noted that every year there is a “rock star,” an individual who wins over the hearts of the entire group. This year, it was Austin Bushnell.

Austin lives in Buena Vista and has an undiagnosed medical condition. He requires assistance walking, and has many mental and physical issues. Still, his father, Robert, tries to expose him to as much as he can. He’s climbed an artificial wall once before, and has even hiked a 13,000 foot mountain near Buena Vista. His brother Nathan was there climbing and supporting, as well as a family friend, Tom Moody.

Hanging off an adjacent rope, Folsom was by Austin’s side the entire way as he inched up the frozen wall. Austin’s balance issues were evident, and the basic motion of kicking the crampons into the ice and swinging the ice tools were difficult. Folsom improvised every move to cater to Austin’s needs, at one point even swinging his own tools into the ice so that Austin could stand on them for an inch of progress. Austin completed one climb and made a heroic attempt at another, with cheers from the crowd for both efforts.

His father was inspired and impressed by the event. “My pride to see Austin have this experience is hard to explain, you have to live it,” he said. “The people of Paradox Sports express the most genuine interest in helping everyone succeed, with an overwhelming openness and friendliness. This event was full of people who are truly living.”

Gretchen Wegrich, Stoked & Broke: Hollywood highlights Hamilton's tragic story

Posted: 03/13/2011 01:30:15 AM PST

Click photo to enlarge«1»Bethany Hamilton and Alana Blanchard are two of the hardest ripping young female professional surfers to hit the water, surf magazines, and now, theaters near you.

"Soul Surfer," a Hollywood movie based on Hamilton's life, will debut in mainstream theaters April 8, sharing the inspiring story of Hamilton's return to competitive surfing after a shark attack left the young surfer girl from Kauai without an arm.

The real Hamilton and Blanchard play themselves in the water as the movie's surfing stunt doubles, which means the film has potential to showcase the talent of these two real life professional surfers.

Hamilton and Blanchard's friendship is central to the story portrayed in "Soul Surfer." In the film, Hamilton is played by AnnaSophia Robb, the blonde pixie-like girl from Bridge To Terabithia, and Blanchard is played by Lorraine Nicholson, Jack Nicholson's daughter. The film's cast is rounded out with Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt and Carrie Underwood.

As a Hollywood film about young, female surfers in Hawaii, "Soul Surfer" will undoubtedly draw comparison to "Blue Crush," which also featured professional surfers doubling for actors in relatively unrealistic surf scenes. While "Blue Crush" was about girl power, "Soul Surfer" is the story of an athlete's personal journey of overcoming the loss of her arm with inner strength, courage and faith as she follows her dream of becoming a professional surfer.

Hamilton definitely deserves the bravest

female surfer award.

In 2003, when she was 13 and considered one of the up-and-coming young surfers in Kauai, Hamilton had her left arm chomped off by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing Tunnels with best friend Blanchard and Blanchard's father. Less than a month after loosing 60 percent of her blood and undergoing three surgeries, Hamilton paddled back out into the ocean, caught a wave and stood up. Her miraculous, courageous return to the sea was only the beginning of a successful competitive career.

Set apart from many of her peers, Hamilton is unquestionably a power surfer, excelling in barrels and big surf. Besides Blanchard, Hamilton is the only other female surfer on the Rip Curl pro international surf team. Though she has fallen short of qualifying for the Women's World Championship Tour, Hamilton competes in Women's star and qualifying events and has participated in Women's World Tour contests as a wildcard entry.

Hamilton is a focused competitor and will undoubtedly earn her place on the Women's World Tour before long.

Blanchard -- as any male or female surfer who hasn't been stranded on a remote coral atoll for the past few years will undoubtedly tell you -- is the hottest female surfer.

Blanchard has recently dominated the image of women's professional surfing, stealing the spotlight away from surfing and turning it toward the smallness of her bikini bottoms. Her message? Female professional surfers can be sexy and surf better than you.

It's hard to argue after Blanchard won the Women's Pipe Master's twice, once in 2005 and again in 2007, then ripped her way to the Women's World Tour. Blanchard finished 13th in the world in 2009 and re-qualified for the Women's World Tour for this year. She also recently released her signature bikini line through surf sponsor Rip Curl.

Blanchard is the premier face of Rip Curl, dominating the company's ad campaigns with sultry come-hither looks, the popular sandy swimsuit modeling shot and revealing bottom turns.

In the water and out, both girls represent femininity and athleticism, but they do it in ways that are dramatically different.

Hamilton has chosen not to use a prosthetic and speaks publicly about loving who you are and the importance of inner beauty. She takes her job as a role model seriously, finding time to graciously respond to the many Facebook comments she receives from adoring little girls.

Now at age 20, she successfully manages her professional surf career and position as the face of the many charities she supports, including the Friends of Bethany Foundation, which supports shark attack survivors and traumatic amputees.

Bethany's faith has been central to her life and she has publicly spoken and published books about her Christian faith as a source of inspiration. For Hamilton, the answer to the question "Why me?" lies in her faith, and in the opportunity for her to use her story to inspire others to overcome challenges and find inspiration and inner strength as they pursued their dreams.

Don't go see "Soul Surfer" expecting authenticity -- or 90 minutes of Blanchard surfing in an itty bitty, teeny weenie bikini. But do go see this movie with a young girl or athlete, to be inspired, or to imagine what if? What if it was you who had to ask, as Hamilton did, "Why me?"

How would you answer?

West Deptford man among amputees to receive new prosthetic

Published: Thursday, March 10, 2011, 10:01 AM Updated: Thursday, March 10, 2011, 10:17 AM
By Bob Shryock/Gloucester County Times

View full sizeLou Namm, a Vietnam veteran who lost both legs in 1969 when he stepped on a booby-trapped land mine, is the world’s first veteran, and one of 10 amputees overall, to receive the new prosthetic “Power Knee,” the only motor-powered device designed to function as an integrated extension of its user.

It’s also the first such knee prosthesis approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“I tested it all last summer relative to how it affects the heart,” says Namm, 63, a West Deptford resident who has been a counseling psychologist at the VA Medical Center in Germantown for 37 years. “It has its own motor that works the leg and is triggered by pressure. It’s robotic, and quite a knee.

“Being a double amputee (right transfemoral and left transtibial) certainly has had its challenges, but the progression in technology over the past 40 years has brought my life back. I plan to use it permanently just getting up and down.”

Eddystone, Pa.-based Prosthetic Innovations, LLC, a pacesetter in progressive care for upper and lower extremity prosthetic clients, is one of five facilities in the U.S. certified for Power Knee, which is manufactured by Ossur.

“The new Power Knee provides the strength and safety which every above-knee amputee deserves,” says Timothy Rayer, a partner of Prosthetic Innovations. “We’re thrilled to be one of only a handful of prosthetic practices in the country certified for Ossur’s entire line of bionic technology prostheses.”



View full sizePhotos courtesy of Prosthetic InnovationsTop, Timothy Rayer, a partner of Prosthetic Innovations, LLC (in scrubs) is pictured with Lou Namm. Rayer is adjusting the new prosthetic 'Power Knee,' the only motor-powered device designed to function as an integrated extension of its user. Above, Michael Rayer, also a partner of Prosthetic Innovations, discusses the prosthetic knee with Namm. Below, Rayer assists Namm as he tries out the new knee.
It’s not surprising that Namm is a trailblazer for Power Knee. In 2007, he earned certification from the United States Golf Teachers Federation (USGTF) as a teaching professional, giving him license to teach the frustrating game to golfers without physical handicaps. He already had been certified to instruct other amputee golfers in the First Swing Program.

“Learning to play golf has been a challenge,” says Namm, who will not able to use the Power Knee when he plays because it’s still being tested for more challenging uses. “But in life there should always be challenges. People have asked why an amputee would take up golf, then become an instructor, and I’ve responded, ‘Why not?’ Helping others is a great way to live your life.

“It makes me feel good, helping other amputees who may feel they can’t do anything. It’s gratifying to see them succeed when they’ve had a tendency to hold back.”

Introduced to the game in 1989 when he and a supervisor were hitting a plastic ball, Namm’s golf game is “much better,” he says. He’s been scoring in the mid-80s, meaning that he plays much better than the average golfer, and has set a goal of breaking 80 this year. He hopes to begin teaching golf more and devote more time to teaching and playing when he retires from his full-time job in a few years.

An all-around athlete at Camden’s Woodrow Wilson High School, Sgt. Namm was assigned to the 82nd Airborne on May 8, 1969 when he stepped on a mine, losing his left leg immediately. Despite efforts to save his right leg, he lost that one, too.



View full size“Doctors in the states weren’t convinced I’d make it, but I got through surgery and started to put my life together,” Namm says.

He entered college, earning undergraduate and masters degrees from Long Island University and then taking a job with VA. Today, he counsels disabled veterans and their families, noting “it’s been a good way of giving something back.”

Patients learn to walk again with help from technology

By Tammie Smith
Published: March 09, 2011

Anthony Monroe had one question for the physical therapist at Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation Center helping him relearn to walk after having a stroke in September.

"If I fall, who's going to catch me?" he recalled asking.

He didn't think the therapist, whom he towered over, could catch him.

The therapist told him not to worry.

Still Monroe, 55, who lives in Church Hill, said he felt a lot better when his walking therapy integrated a new piece of equipment called ZeroG that supported most of his weight while he took steps. Wearing a harness suspended from a ceiling-mounted track that folded like an accordion as he moved forward, he said he felt new confidence.

"The machine catches you when you buckle," Monroe said.

A hand-held control lets the physical therapist change the level of support provided by the device so that patients bear more of their own weight over time.

The ZeroG is one of the new pieces of high-tech rehabilitation equipment in the new iWalk Recovery Center at Sheltering Arms' location on the Memorial Regional Medical Center campus in Hanover County.

Sheltering Arms spent $1.2 million on the center, which it is touting as a collection of some of the most advanced walking recovery equipment in the region and the United States.

"iWalk is state-of-the-art care for people who need help learning to walk again," said Matt Wilks,a physical therapist and director of inpatient therapy services at Sheltering Arms.

"It really brings to bear the best technology and expert-trained clinicians to apply the latest principles and scientific research."

Stroke patients and people with neuromuscular diseases, with spinal injuries and with brain injury are among those prescribed therapy with the devices.

Sheltering Arms patient Anita Crean, 53, is improving, her husband, John Crean, said. Crean observed his wife last week as she used the Lokomat Pro, a robotic walking trainer.

"It's not clear exactly specifically what the diagnosis was," Crean said of the illness that struck his wife last year.

"But it's a demyelinating condition where you get lesions on your spine, and it's akin to [multiple sclerosis], but an aggressive form of MS. It came on all of a sudden in August to the point where she was intubated on a ventilator and had to go to Atlanta because there's nowhere in Virginia that takes patients for rehab on ventilators."

She was at the Shepherd Center rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta for three months and has been at Sheltering Arms since January.

Research has examined what works best to help patients re-learn to walk.

About 4 million stroke survivors, for instance, experience problems with walking, according to federal experts.

One of the largest studies to date on stroke survivors, which enrolled more than 400 people, seemed to downplay technology. The study, which released results in February, suggested that intensive physical therapy at home worked equally well as therapy with use of a body-weight supported treadmill device followed by walking practice.

The study was a "big deal in rehabilitation," Wilks said.

"They were looking at one specific intervention, applying it to a broad group of patients, but still only looking at patients who had a stroke," Wilks said.

"We were actually aware of the trial as we were planning our walking program. The fact is … technology is only as good as it is useful. It is only going to be useful if you use the right intervention on the right patient at the right time and not take a one-size-fits-all approach."

The study also showed improvements can continue after six months, previously considered a cutoff point.

Soldier who lost his legs introduces prosthetic bill in MN House

Written by
Scott Seroka
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- State Representative John Kriesel has introduced House File No. 847, a measure he hopes will help other people who have lost limbs.

"It's fair, it's not asking for a heck of a lot, but it's (about) helping people get back to life," he said. Kriesel, you may recall, lost his legs after a roadside blast while serving in Iraq.

A group of amputees rallied in the rotunda at the state capitol. "This is about access and providing at least a baseline level care," Kevin Hines, President of the MN Society of Orthotists, Prosthetists, and Pedorthists said.

Hines says the bill asks for legislation basically guaranteeing that anyone who loses a limb is given coverage comparable to state or federal medical plans. He says some plans cap coverage at $2,500 or restrict patients to one limb for a lifetime.

Lisa Bodine, Manger of Health and Transportation Police for the MN Chamber of Commerce says in the state, all health plans and insurers currently cover prostheses. The chamber hopes a cost-benefit analysis on the file will be required.

"The cost of state-mandated benefits, beyond the essential benefits set, will result in additional financial costs for any individual that purchases care through a state health insurance exchange," Bodine writes.

Perhaps the star of the rally at the rotunda was 5th grader Nick Nelson, who made the difficult decision to sacrifice his legs a few years ago; He suffers from popliteal pterygium. Webbing on the back of his legs prevented him from straightening them.


"I think this bill is very important," he told the crowd from his wheelchair.

Nick's mother Greta says the medical coverage he gets now is adequate, but she worries about the future.

"As he grows, he's going to need more and more legs and at some point he's going to be a young man going off his parent's insurance plan."

Rep. Kriesel hopes his bill will make its way into a committee soon. The Minnesota senate is also considering a comparable measure. Hines says 19 states have adopted similar legislation while another 15 are debating it right now.

Bodine says Minnesota consistently falls within the top five states requiring the most coverage mandates to providers.

Heroes having a ball in Vail

Vail Veterans Program welcomes wounded vets to town
Randy Wyrick
rwyrick@vaildaily.com
Vail, CO Colorado

VAIL, Colorado — They don't struggle, they adapt and overcome.

More than two dozen wounded Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans are in town for the Vail Veterans Program.

They're easy to spot; they're aglow and terminally alive, because they almost weren't.

They have all sorts of things in common. For example, most of this week's crew were hit in the last year. Also, they have a healthy sense of irony. Most smiled as they filled out a bunch of “what-happens-if-I-get-hurt” forms. These people have been blown to hell and are fighting their way back.

“While it looks like just a nice ski vacation, it's much more,” said Harvey Naranjo, an occupational therapist with Walter Reed Army Medical Center. “It gives them a pretty clear picture about how they'll have to adapt for the rest of their lives.”

The physical injuries are fresh. The mental and emotional issues are just settling in for some.

“How do you get through airport security? Do you check your prosthetics or carry them with you?” said Naranjo, the sports program coordinator at Walter Reed's Department of Orthotics and Rehab. “I believe that mental health is 90 percent of the recovery process.”


Tales of tragedy and triumph
Twenty-eight veterans, 28 stories of tragedy and triumph.

Fred Simpson, 31, was 499 yards from the Pakistan border when his unit was ambushed from four directions. Their attackers were hiding just inches into Pakistan, raining down all manner of destruction on Simpson's unit.

Nick Binnington, 33, is a former ski racer and competed for the British Army. He was a tactical air coordinator when his unit was sent in to clear an area in Afghanistan.

The Taliban was prepared and they walked into what the military euphemistically calls a “complex ambush.” A rocket propelled grenade went off over his head.

He smiles when he recalls that his commanding officer made sure he was OK — or as OK as a man could be who just had a bunch of shrapnel imbedded in his spine during an ambush — but was asking whether Binnington would be able to ski. He can.

He was headed up to Vail Mountain Wednesday morning. He's headed back to Afghanistan soon because, he says, he needs to.

“Walter Reed can fix you physically, but you have to get back on the bike. For me, I need to go back to Afghanistan,” Binnington said.

Simpson and Binnington got to Vail the same way most of these people did; they knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy, and started asking around.

“It's sheer networking,” Simpson said.

“There is only one Vail Veterans Program,” said Naranjo, who coordinated this week's trip. “There are many sports programs, but this is one of the standouts. Lots of people want to be part of it and there's a waiting list. Everybody wants to be my friend.”


Driven to keep on
Cheryl Jensen helped launch the program eight years ago and has seen hundreds of wounded veterans roll through. She says she never gets over what war does to the human body.

“When I started this eight years ago, participation spiked two or three years in, like we thought it would,” she said. “I thought it was get better, but when I got the list for this group, the injuries and age were worse than they ever have been. And the numbers are increasing because of the type of conflict it is.”

Where most mere mortals would see despair, Jensen sees more and more people who need this program.

“I can't believe it's still happening, and it rejuvenated the drive to organize these programs,” she said.

The number of wounded warriors and their injuries are increasing.

“Vets are returning with multiple limb losses and secondary medical issues,” Naranjo said. “The Vail Veterans Program improves their physical abilities, of course, but also their social skills and self-esteem.”

They are all adapting and overcoming.

Binnington will go back to skiing and Afghanistan. He'll serve as an ambassador for the Wounded Warriors program. Simpson and others are moving on to whatever is next in their lives. Tyler Anderson launched a jiu jujitsu program.

“Opportunities like the Vail Veterans Program broadens their horizons. It gets them out to the mountains,” Binnington said, looking around the room where two dozen wounded vets were gearing up for a ski day. “All this leaves them with altered horizons, but horizons nonetheless.”

Kyle Maynard Splits Dis From Able

By TRANG HO, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 03/02/2011 02:07 PM ET

Kyle Maynard has no feet, no hands and, to him, no limitations.

Born with a condition called congenital amputation, he has limbs that end at the knees and elbows.

Despite his physical anomalies, his parents never let him believe he was disabled. As a devout Protestant with an unabated can-do attitude, Maynard made himself into a nationally recognized wrestler, best-selling author, fashion model, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and documentary film star.

Maynard's condition stunned his parents, Scott and Anita, when he was born on March 24, 1986.

He tried wearing prosthetic limbs when he was little, but found they just caused more trouble.

Scott and Anita always expected as much from him as with their three daughters. They taught him to eat with a special spoon and use a zipper puller to close his pants and dress himself.

He eats with a knife and fork, bathes and gets dressed without anyone's help. He drives a Dodge Durango with raised pedals and his wheelchair in the trunk.

The Doer
Maynard’s Keys•Despite having no hands or feet, he’s a nationally recognized athlete, a best-selling author, fashion model, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and star of a documentary film.

•“You can know your limits, but never stop trying to break them.”
He types 50 to 60 words a minute, uses a cell phone and works out several times a week. Weighing 145 pounds, he can bench-press more than 400 pounds.

The past three years he's lived on the top floor of a three-story house with two other bachelors in Suwanee, Ga., north of Atlanta.

The house has no special equipment other than a bathroom stool so he can reach the counter. To reach kitchen cabinets, he hoists himself onto the counter as though he were doing a pull-up.

"It ruins the illusions that I go through a lot of challenges, because I don't," Maynard told IBD. "I don't think about not having arms and legs every day. It doesn't really register. I am not impaired in any way."

In middle school, Maynard played football as defensive lineman. In high school, he took after his dad and hit the wrestling mat.

The start was inauspicious. The teen lost 35 matches in a row but bounced back with a vengeance, winning 36 matches as a senior. From there he earned national recognition, including ESPN's Espy Award for best athlete with a disability, the President's Award from the Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame, induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame with the Medal of Courage, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the secretary of health and human services in 2008 for being a role model and motivational speaker.

Video: 'Hi, I'm Jarem. I built my own leg. I make the impossible possible

I am Jarem Fry. I am the founder and president of SymBiotechs USA, a prosthetics design and manufacturing company. I am a cancer survivor and an AKA (Above Knee Amputee).
I design and manufacture products that allow for snowboarding, wake boarding, skiing, rock climbing, and other activities that were previously considered impossible for AK amputees. The hardest part about cancer for me was the loss of "normal." That ability to do things that were already an important part of life to me. The ability to live a normal life again is my cure to the worst parts of cancer. I like to think it's just as important to the patients who tell us we've given them their lives back as well. These patients include other cancer survivors, soldiers injured in the line of duty, extreme athletes who have suffered amputation, and others around the world.

Physical therapy can heal your aches and pains

by Natalie Rivers
azfamily.com
Posted on February 28, 2011 at 12:29 PM

Updated yesterday at 12:34 PM

PHOENIX - Chronic aches and pains can lead to further complications if not treated early. We all get very busy ignoring those little aches and pains.

360 Physical Therapy and Aquatic Centers encourages people to listen to the shoulder pain that might be waking you up at night.

Without early intervention it is only going to get worse.

Most often people don't seek a physical therapist right after a back injury, but seeing someone right after could be a way to prevent further pain.

Putting off seeking care could lead to more damage that could lead to a tear which would need surgery.

Physical therapy is covered by most insurance plans. You can see a physical therapist for less than a personal trainer at a gym.

360 Physical Therapy has a therapist-only philosophy, meaning one therapist is going to be with you throughout your treatment period.

The first step in getting treatment is calling and asking about the process, who you are going to be with and for how long. As a patient you don't want to be handed off to technicians who might not understand your pain needs.

They have seven locations throughout the Phoenix-metro, with 33 therapists to treat patients.

360 Physical Therapy believes you get more out of your time and your money from start to finish, by seeing one physical therapist each time you have an appointment.

The therapist gets to know you and understand your pain, which could help you get better faster.

At 360 Physical Therapy water therapy is one type of exercise they employ. There are different types of exercises used to heal the pain problem and be appropriate for the age of a patient.

The first step in seeking therapy is to make an appointment. The first meeting is 75 minutes. Some insurances require a doctor's order, but 360 Physical Therapy can help you with all of that.

Don't put it off any more, e-mail askapt@360ptaz.com to inquire about treatment.