Open AccessThe United States Armed Forces Amputee Patient Care Program
Author(s) -
D. A. Gajewski,
Robert Granville
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of the american academy of orthopaedic surgeons
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.343
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1095-8762
pISSN - 1067-151X
DOI - 10.5435/00124635-200600001-00040
Subject(s) - medicine , rehabilitation , military medicine , military personnel , heterotopic ossification , dozen , multidisciplinary approach , medical emergency , physical therapy , surgery , arithmetic , mathematics , political science , law , social science , sociology
United States military amputees are treated at either Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Washington, DC) or Brooke Army Medical Center (Fort Sam Houston, TX). At each center, a multidisciplinary team from more than a dozen specialties works together to address the psychological, social, vocational, and spiritual needs of our soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen, as well as their physical rehabilitation. Excellent outcomes are being achieved with the current practices of the Armed Forces Amputee Care Program, but a great deal of evidence-based research must be done to determine the optimal time to close the wound, the etiology of heterotopic ossification in blast injury, the factors determining optimal socket design, and the best sequence and timing for introduction of different prosthetic technologies in the rehabilitation process.