Diabetes Services for Horry County

Conway Medical Center

Grand Strand Regional Medical Center
 
Loris Community Hospital

Waccamaw Community Hospital

***************************************************************************

Pieter Hugo for The New York Times

New York Times

Pistorius preparing to train at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa.

By MICHAEL SOKOLOVE

Oscar Pistorius trains inside a converted garage at the home of his personal trainer, a former professional rugby player. Iron pull-up bars and a variety of ropes and pulleys are bolted to brick walls. Free weights are lined up on the floor, along with hammered-together wooden boxes that serve as platforms for step-ups and standing jumps. Some of the equipment is clamped to an exterior wall of the garage, opposite an uncovered patio; when it rains, athletes just carry on and get soaked. "It's old-school," Pistorius said as we drove up to the place early one morning. "Some of the guys who train here, they bang it so hard, they often get sick in the garden. Nobody judges them."

READ MORE

The University of Washington has been funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to develop a new measure of mobility for persons who use lower limb prostheses to be called the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey (PLUS). 

Existing measures of prosthetic outcomes have serious shortcomings including considerable floor and/or ceiling effects and no solid evidence that the scores are responsive to clinically meaningful changes.  As you can imagine, it takes a considerable amount of work to develop a new outcome measure that will provide valid, clinically-meaningful scores that are sensitive to change, yet are brief and easy to administer.  Most importantly it cannot be accomplished without the assistance of prosthetists, physicians, and persons who use lower limb prostheses!

As one step in the development process, UW researchers need volunteers who use lower limb prostheses to fill out an online survey about themselves, their health, and things that they can do with their prosthesis.


You can find out more about this ambitious project in the following articles:
The EDGE

 
SeaWorld Orlando's Animal Rescue Team is using custom-designed back brace to care for a once-stranded pilot whale. SeaWorld's experts reached out to Dr. Philip Meinhardt, an orthopedic spine surgeon with Orlando-based Jewett Orthopaedic Clinic to develop a custom-fitted brace for the whale.

Q. Alex, I've had my prosthesis for several years now. How long is it supposed to last?

A. The useful lifespan of your prosthesis depends on several factors. Changes in the residual limb volume (size) often necessitate modifying or replacing the socket to maintain a proper and comfortable fit. Changes in activity level, body weight, component fatigue and general wear and tear are all factors that determine the lifespan of the rest of the prosthesis. It is critical that your prosthesis fit properly and be in sound physical condition to withstand the forces placed on it daily. I recommend that prostheses be evaluated and safety-checked at least every 6 months by a certified prosthetist. Often, major problems can be prevented by early detection.