Opinion: Program shows injured soldiers the benefits of sports rehabilitation

A dozen men lay in various stages of sleep, each sprawled on his own section of the high jump pit at the indoor track at the Air Force Academy’s Cadet Field House.

With their stomachs satiated from a sack lunch, these members of the U.S. Paralympic Military Program showed exhaustion from a morning of athletic drills.

Just 30 minutes before sitting down to eat, 37-year-old John Gierke, one of 16 Iraq veterans in the program, pushed through the pain and awkwardness of a three-week-old prosthetic leg. Justin Laferrier of San Antonio’s Center for the Intrepid, a military rehabilitation hospital, and Troy Engle, the U.S. Paralympic track and field coach, showed little mercy in taking Gierke and his comrades through the rigors of improving their sprinting techniques.

The program introduces injured soldiers to a multitude of activities. It shows the soldiers the benefits of sports in helping rehabilitation.

“These guys, they’re not going to sit back and wait for you to open the door for them — whether that’s a physical door or an opportunity,” program director John Register said. “They’re going to get up and do it themselves and then challenge other people.”

And inspire other people.

“Drive! Drive! Drive!” Laferrier yelled while pushing the chest of a soldier. “Drive through! Now sprint!”

The drill was a resistance running exercise, designed to help athletes run with more power. For the amputee, the exercise also helped them trust their prosthetic — trust it was going to be where it was supposed to be when it needed to be there.

Like infants learning to walk, these adults must learn how to move with their prosthetics. A new neuromuscular transfer has to take place, meaning the brain and the muscles have to re-learn how to work together.

“OK! All the way to the other side, John!” Engle said. “Don’t cross ’em! Don’t cross ’em, John!”

Gierke was supposed to sprint forward 10 yards, then shuffle — no crossing his legs — 5 yards to the right, back 10 yards to the left, back 5 yards to the right, then shuffle straight back for 10 yards.

All the athletes who could walk performed the drill. Some had legs amputated from just below the knee. Others were higher. One soldier did the drills with one arm and one arm amputated just above the biceps muscles.

“This takes you out of your security zone,” said Gierke, who lost his lower right leg while serving in Iraq and is going through rehab in San Antonio. “Back there you have everything. You’ve got that security blanket, protection for everything. Here, you get nothing. You’re on your own. Everything is on you. It’s a confidence-builder.”

Hospitals deal with the trauma of an injury and, Register said, often create a false sense of reality.

Outside the hospital, these soldiers will not have 24/7 support. In the real world, the injured have to reach the cups, open the door, cook the meal and change their clothes. Programs such as this one take the soldiers beyond those everyday activities.

What the hospital must take away, getting involved in sports, even after an injury, goes a long way to giving it back.

Scott Winkler, injured in 2003 while serving in Iraq, is paralyzed from the waist down, yet that hasn’t stopped him from diving from a 1-meter springboard. It hasn’t stopped him from skiing or leading his wheelchair basketball team in rebounds.

“You only live once, man,” Winkler said. “So do everything you can. Do it all. Live it to the fullest.”

Programs such as this break many mental and physical barriers to allow soldiers to do just that.

“It exposes them to more of an athletic, fitness-oriented lifestyle that’s going to help them for years to come,” Laferrier said. “A lot of these guys are 19, 20 years old. They’re going to have these disabilities for another 60 years — give or take a few.

“Everybody I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with conquered their adversity. They conquered their disability. Some are doing much more than they did before their disability. I’ve actually had patients say it was a wake-up call, and now they’re going to do everything they possibly can with their lives so they don’t waste one minute of it. It’s a pretty motivating group to work with.”

Columnist Milo F. Bryant can be reached at 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazette.com. Check out Milo’s blog, The Extra Milo, at http://milobryant.blogspot.com/