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Severely Injured Soldiers Will Require More Rehabilitation
Author: | Sunday June 15, 2008
Rehabilitation Nurses meeting in Orlando were educated on the rehabilitation needs of returning soldiers who have sustained limb loss. Shown are past presidents of FSARN.
Rehab Wars: Working with Returning Amputees
Kevin Carroll, is a prosthetist and researcher who has worked closely with returning injured soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. He is Vice President of Prosthetics for the Hanger Corporation and shared his knowledge and experience with attendees at the annual Florida State Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (FSARN) recently.
Carroll said that the war in Iraq is fought with roadside bombs that result in blasts that cause multiple amputations and brain injury. Returning soldiers with those types of injuries can require several years of rehabilitation to function well in society on prosthetic limbs.
"We have had soldiers who were blown up who spent two years in their power chair," Carroll said, noting that often the high end and expensive prosthetic limbs remain in a closet, unused. "We asked them, are you willing to move away from the chair," Carroll said.
If the person who has multiple amputations is willing, there is a commitment that has to be made that includes using low-tech, short legs to build up muscle strength, coordination and balance. "Then we start using longer prostheses and at the same time, we teach them how to fall, because they will," Carroll noted.
He included video of some of his patients learning to walk up and down stairs, on grass, an escalator and on a hilly golf course. There are also lessons in how to fall and how to get up.... and how to get used to the stares when going out in public.
"The military wants to spend money to help the soldiers," Carroll pointed out, but he added that a $120,000 limb doesn't do any good if the individual is not taught how to use it correctly. When the individual does learn, the results can be amazing.
Rehabilitation nurses at the conference expressed awe at seeing young soldiers playing golf, driving manual shift sports cars and running races on their above-the-knee prostheses.
When asked what they could do, Carroll told the rehab nurses to let the insurance companies know the time and dedication it will take to rehabilitate individuals with multiple limb loss and medical complications from bomb blasts. "These young men and women just need to know there is someone in their corner," he told the audience.
Ed. Note: Kevin Carroll, MS, CP, FAAOP is Vice President of Prosthetics at Hanger, an author and researcher. He is based in Oklahoma City, OK.
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