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| First âbionic soldierâ takes one step at a time |
| 2003-09-04 |
| By Michael E. Dukes September 3, 2003 WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 3, 2003)-- Changes in body armor have reduced the number of American service members dying on the battlefield for about a decade â although it still happens, a majority of combat wounds military doctors treat involve the extremities. While participating in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan last year, Staff Sgt. Michael McNaughton, took a step that would change his life forever. While walking through an area at Bagram Air Base believed to be cleared and safe, McNaughton, a 31-year-old National Guardsman from the Louisianaâs 769th Engineer Battalion, stepped on a land mine. The blast took off his right foot, tore into his right leg in several places, took a chunk out of his left calf and blew off a couple of fingers on his right hand. With extensive damage to his right leg and significant debris in the wounds, doctors had to amputate the combat engineerâs destroyed limb just above his knee. After he spent several months in a hospital bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington McNaughtonâs doctors believed it was ready to take the healing process to the next level and fit him with a conventional prosthetic leg. McNaughton worked with physical therapy specialists for several hours each day. âI pretty much had to learn how to walk again,â he said. He spent most of his therapy time learning to put weight on the prosthetic and walking. âI thought I would put the leg on and go. But there is a lot more to it" he said. He knew he needed the therapy, but at times it seemed like he was fighting a losing battle. "The first time I tried to walk with a cane it felt like I could just walk, but unfortunately you canât do that. Itâs definitely frustrating. I just wanted to pick the leg up and throw it.â A few months later, Walter Reed prosthetist Joseph Miller offered McNaughton an option that would make walking and returning to a normal life much easier â a microprocessor controlled knee called a C-Leg. Unlike a traditional prosthetic leg requiring an amputee to swing it with each step, the C-Leg has hydraulic pneumatic controls enabling amputee the closest possible approximation to their natural walk, Miller said. The $43,000 bionic leg, complete with microprocessor knee and force-sensing pylon -- metal support rod between the knee and the prosthetic foot -- reads feedback data 50 times per second and evaluates it to determine the appropriate movement for the computer aided leg. The C-Leg takes much less energy when McNaughton walks. âSometimes itâs hard to explain, because you have to be an amputee to know the difference. But [the C-Leg] is so much smoother. It tries to imitate exactly what the left leg is doing,â McNaughton said. âI can take more natural steps. With this one you can go down ramps a lot easier. With the [conventional prosthetic] you have to go down sideways.â McNaughton feels that while it is true he faces challenges in the road ahead, he is no less of a person since the amputation. He said he has the same hopes and dreams as anybody else and he looks forward to returning to a normal life â something he believes will be much easier with the C-Leg. Itâs our job to help out guys like Staff Sgt.McNaughton as much as we can. |
| Posted by:Penguin |
| #1 SSgt McNaughton does, indeed, deserve the best we can give him - and I'm impressed with the tech. From his remarks, it has come a long way for the better. |
| Posted by: .com 2003-9-4 9:25:01 AM |