By CHRISTINE UMBRELL
INTO
Diving O&P RESEARCH
The University of Hartford takes to the water to study prosthetic use and optimization among wounded warriors
NEED TO KNOW • The University of Hartford Department of Rehabilitation Sciences has partnered with the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge (CWVC) in carrying out a research project centered around studying amputees’ performance with and without their prostheses in an underwater scuba-diving setting. • Each year, veterans and wounded service members with amputations take part in a week-long CWVC Scuba Challenge below the coast of Looe Key, Florida; for the past three years, researchers Duffy Felmlee, MSPO, CPO, and Michael McCauley, MSPO, CPO, have joined the dives.
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OCTOBER 2018 | O&P ALMANAC
• To date, CWVC and University of Hartford have seen “overwhelming positive results” and are finding that most divers prefer to wear their prostheses while diving. The team plans to increase the sample size in the coming year; they hope to triple the trials in 2019. • The ultimate goal of the research is to be able to recommend best practices related to suspension, knee, foot/ankle, and fin combinations—information that prosthetists could share when assisting patients who want to participate in scuba.
PHOTO: Idee Belau/CWVC
• The research methodology relies on an array of inertial sensors and video recording, which allow the researchers to evaluate kinematic data in real time during the data collection and also review the data more thoroughly, with the assistance of other University of Hartford researchers, in the lab.
• Working with the wounded warrior population in an underwater setting poses some challenges, such as ensuring electronic sensors are not damaged in the water, assisting participants in achieving neutral buoyancy while using their prosthesis, and communicating with subjects while submerged.