|
 BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 10, 2012 – A sophisticated prosthetic knee
with a newly designed microprocessor is giving many wounded warriors
with above-the-knee amputations the chance to return to active duty,
military medical officials here reported.
Wounded warriors
who had such severe limb loss in the early days of the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars were fitted with a prosthetic, rehabilitated and
medically retired in most cases, amputee services officials at
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said.
That was
before 2004, when the Defense Department contracted with a
prosthetics company to design a “military grade”
microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee to return these skilled
veterans to duty when possible, officials said.
As a result,
troops who have returned to duty wearing the Genium X2 prosthetic
knee during the past three years include members of the Navy's
SEALS, the Army's Golden Knights parachute team and infantrymen on
the front lines, said David Laufer, chief of orthotics and
prosthetics services.
“We wanted to enable any wounded
soldier who has the willingness and ability to go back on active
duty,” he said. “We're not trying to force soldiers, Marines or
sailors to go back on active duty after an amputation. We want to
give them the opportunity to stay on active duty, and not be limited
by their prostheses.”
The impact of these service members
returning to the combat theater is more far-reaching than the
extensive skills and experience they bring with them, clinic staff
members said, noting that other service members can gain a new
perspective on wounded warriors when they fight side-by-side with
those wearing the newly designed prosthetic knee.
“They see
them bring forward what they already know and realize they can do
the jobs they were doing before they were injured,” said Charles
Scoville, chief of amputee services in the medical center's
orthopedics and rehabilitation department.
“They learn to
respect [those wearing the prosthetic knee], and realize, ‘He's not
going to hold us back or get us killed,'” he said. “It also shows
them if they are injured, they will be taken care of.”
Laufer
said the new devices are on back order, because the company that
manufacturers them can't keep up with growing demand.
One,
the X2, was an instant hit when the first few patients got the
opportunity to try it out as a prototype three years ago, Scoville
said. At the time, the next-generation knee, the X3 that is
scheduled to debut this summer, was still in the design phase.
“We were so impressed by the X2 prototype,” Scoville said. “We
told the company, ‘We need these now.'”
At first considered
“impossible” to design, the X2 has provided a new way of life for
above-the-knee amputees, Scoville said. The new microprocessor has
five sensors, compared with the original C-Leg, which had two, said
Zachary Harvey, a certified prosthetic orthotist.
A
combination of gyroscopes, accelerators and hydraulics form the
knee's greater stability, mobility and its versatility by
“recognizing” actions, Harvey said.
Multiple sensors
recognize when the wearer wants to sit down or go up and down ramps
and stairs, he explained, all without being preset with a remote
device, as required by former technology.
Harvey said the X2
is intuitive to learn. “It feels natural to walk on, in comparison
to some other knees,” he said.
The X2 also enables wearers to
rapidly switch from a walk mode into a run without changing
settings, he said. “The X2 knee picks up on the change, kicks in and
swings out a little faster into a run,” he explained.
In
addition, the X2 features a protective cover in the event of falls
and other minor accidents. “It's a qualitative and quantitative
leap,” Laufer said, comparing it to the two-sensor unit on the
C-Leg.
Marine Corps 1st Lt. James Byler, a 26-year-old
infantryman who was wounded in Afghanistan more than a year ago,
said he got used to the X2 almost immediately. A double amputee
above the knees, Byler was fitted with a C-Leg for several months
before receiving an X2 for one leg and a power knee on the other leg
for his own comparison.
Unlike the X2, the power knee
propelled him forward and was complicated because he had to focus on
the knee, which was hard to do while walking, he said.
When
Byler went to the X2 model on both knees, “the feeling was pretty
immediate,” he said.
“I don't think there's any knee that
compares to the X2,” Byler added. “It feels more natural than the
others.”
The effect on his rehabilitation, Byler said, has
been dramatic.
“It was only recently that guys like me with
the really high amputations [realized] we could walk at all,” he
said. “It took a lot of time and effort just to get up and walk.”
Byler said he's decided to retire from the military, because as
a double above-the-knee amputee, he doesn't want to be a liability.
But that doesn't stop him and some of his fellow patients from
putting on their X2 knees prostheses to visit newly injured patients
who are bedbound. He and his friends tell the new patients it's the
X2 they want to get, and not anything else.
“I can walk on
the X2 and not even think about it,” Byler said. “That's the goal.”
By Terri Moon Cronk
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2012
Comment on this article |
