High-tech rehab, old-fashioned fortitude

[unhappycamper]

Army Staff Sgt. William Corp balances on a boogie board in the Flowrider at the Center for the Intrepid at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Corp lost his right leg in an IED attack in Iraq earlier this year. The wave machine creates 25 mph currents and is used as a core-strengthening exercise for patients.


High-tech rehab, old-fashioned fortitude
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, December 2, 2007

WASHINGTON — Since he got his new prosthetic leg, Staff Sgt. William Corp doesn’t spend as much time on the climbing wall.

Not that he has trouble with the 30-foot tower: He can still do it in under two minutes. But the new leg fits better in his kayak, so he’s been spending more time swimming laps and in the wave pool, honing his skills there.

“I never did this kind of stuff before,” the 27-year- old said. “But here I can try it. And it’s a good workout.”

Corp is one of several dozen wounded troops who visit the new Center for the Intrepid on Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio every day. He lost his leg 18 months ago in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq; today, he splits his time between his own rehabilitation and coaching other amputees using the center’s aquatic complex.

Next month, he’ll return to active duty.

Center officials believe he’s just one early example of what the new facility can help wounded warriors achieve.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50657