New hope for war victims
The Natick Soldier Center (NSC) has high hopes for a new program to help military amputees regain an active lifestyle.
The program aims to develop better prosthetics allowing for amputees to return to active duty or civilian life. The goal: matching the capabilities of non-amputee soldiers."The soldiers will get the best prosthetic technology available," says Dr. John Obusek, Ergonomics Team Leader at Natick Soldier Center.
NSC’s biomechanical research team intends to study the forces and impacts on a soldier’s body to gauge what enhancements are needed to current prosthetic devices. Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Military Research Program (MARP) in Washington, D.C will collaborate with Natick in this effort. The research team will use a dual force-plate treadmill, an NSC patented device, to measure soldiers’ movements, such as running with an 80-pound military backpack.
The NSC program will use volunteers in two groups, each with 12 members. One group will consist of able-bodied soldiers from NSC, while the other 12 will be below-the-knee amputees from Walter Reed. Researchers are awaiting approval from the Surgeon General’s office on whether the risks posed to the volunteers are within bounds.
Collaboration enhances amputee research
The MARP program at Walter Reed and research conducted at NSC is not only for soldiers who wish to return to active duty, but those who want civilian life as well. By using a standard of combat duty for both, future prosthetics will be able to handle a larger variety of activities.
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center operates a mock apartment on site for returning amputee soldiers. By having soldiers cook, clean, and sit in a recliner, the therapy program allows them to regain their senses for everyday tasks after losing a limb. The collaboration with NSC helps to build on that, by furthering research to give soldiers even more capability.
Many amputees want to stay on active duty, says Obusek, and rehabilitation means more than being able to walk. While the physical development of these devices is still an on-going process, research conducted at NSC will help raise the standards to how future prosthetics should function. New technology, such as prosthetics with actuators and devices that receive impulses from nerves coming down a neural pathway, will provide greater capabilities after rehab. The prosthetic device’s actuators in turn need power. Electrical batteries lack efficiency, but by using a fuel cell, the device could burn hydrogen to create power.
The technology is on the horizon, Obusek says, but the bottom line remains getting the technology to the soldiers. "We want to give them this capability to do things consistent with staying on active duty," says Obusek.
The advances made in prosthetics typically slow down in peacetime, says Obusek. Senior citizens most commonly need prosthetic care, due largely to vascular disease. Those prosthetics fail to meet the need of active young soldiers who lose limbs, he says.
When the $145,000 research program kicks off, it will last approximately six months. Obusek hopes to get started by mid-summer, once approval is granted by the Surgeon General.
"When you have war, you create amputees," he says. "They’re young, they’re active, and this creates state-of-the-art technology for everyone."
Jeff Lavery can be reached at jlavery@wbjournal.com
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