Computerized leg gives Army veteran, amputee new lease on life

Army veteran and amputee Peter Connell, age 54, bikes, kayaks and teaches skiing and Nautilus, thanks to a revolutionary prosthetic leg. Peter's space-age prosthesis contains a microprocessor-controlled hydraulic knee that takes readings 50 times per second to adjust to walking speed and terrain. Next Step O&P prosthetist Art Graham works with Peter to keep him as active as he wants to be.

QUINCY, MA (PRWEB) May 11, 2004 --Peter Connell spent a year in combat during the Vietnam War as a U.S. Army scout. When he returned to the United States in 1969, he thought the worst was over. He had made it home alive and unharmed.

"I got back and said, 'Nothing can happen to me now,' and then wham, it did," Connell recalls. In May, 1969, just two months after his return from Vietnam, he was involved in an Army Jeep accident while on duty at Fort Knox that resulted in the amputation of his right leg above the knee. His entire life changed in the blink of an eye.

As part of his recovery, the Boston native received his first prosthetic leg in 1970. It was flesh-colored, "big and heavy," he remembers, and weighed over 13 pounds. It wasn't comfortable, but Connell knew he'd have to make it work.

Now 54 years old, Connell calls himself "semi-retired" after working for 30 years as a contract negotiator for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. EPA. Living in Quincy, Mass., with his wife, Elaine, he works part-time as a Nautilus instructor for the South Shore YMCA, and in the winter, he's an Adaptive Ski Instructor.

Today, adaptive skiing is a major focus in Connell's life, but that wasn't always the case. The sport didn't interest him until he was 27, eight years after becoming an amputee. He remembers vividly a 1977 news story about the New England Handicapped Sportsmen's Association's adaptive ski program, including film footage of adaptive skiers. Something clicked for Connell. "I said, 'Wow, one leg. I can do that.'"

He recalls his first lesson with more than a little humor. "I actually thought my name had changed from Peter to Get Up," he chuckles, and says his opening run down the beginner slope took nearly two hours. Even if it didn't come naturally, he never considered giving up. Sore but determined, he went back again and again, eventually mastering the sport.

Connell spends most of his slope side time at Mt. Sunapee in New Hampshire, and skis and teaches at other mountains like Loon, Bretton Woods and Cannon Mountain, all in New Hampshire as well. He uses a ski technique called "three-tracking," named for the number of tracks left in the snow. He wears a ski on his left foot and what he calls a "peg leg" on his residual limb, a prosthesis specifically designed for three-tracking. Specialized poles called outriggers help him keep his balance. Since tackling this physical challenge, he has gone on to become an adaptive ski instructor, and was a member of the New England Handicapped Sports Association at Mt. Sunapee for many years. During that time, Connell's performance and attitude as a ski instructor and mentor earned him the association's Rising Star Award, Ben Allen Cup Award and the John Hurst Lifetime Achievement Award.

In April 2004, Connell traveled to Snowmass, Colo., to work as an adaptive ski instructor at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, a Veterans' Association event that involved more than 300 disabled vets. He has also participated in local and regional ski races, including the Slush Cup at Mt. Sunapee -- where he was one of three adaptive skiers among 300 other contestants trying to ski their way across a 70-foot pond.

As active as Connell is, he hasn't always had a prosthesis that could hold up to his demands, and admits that sometimes his prosthetic could be downright painful. Realizing that "good enough wasn't good enough," he wanted to find an orthotics and prosthetics firm that would provide him with the best leg possible. That search led him to Next Step Orthotics and Prosthetics, headquartered in Manchester, N.H.

"For years, I had been interested in going to Next Step," he says, "but their distant location prevented me from choosing them." When the company opened an additional office in Newton, Mass., in late 2002, Connell was eager to make his first appointment.

Next Step specializes in prosthetic limbs for amputees, as well as custom orthotic products. It's at Next Step that Connell and Arthur Graham, CP, CPO (UK), primary prosthetist in the firm's Newton office, began working together. For the last year and a half, Connell and Graham have continued their relationship to improve the socket, its fit and comfort, for all-day use and all activity levels.

Once he began working with Graham, Connell was fitted with the Otto Bock C-leg, a revolutionary computerized prosthesis. This space-age leg contains a microprocessor-controlled hydraulic knee that takes measurements 50 times per second, in order to match his walking speed or terrain changes. Additionally, the C-leg is much lighter -- approximately 7 pounds, about half the weight of his old prosthesis. The new technology took some getting used to, he says, but was worth it. The C-leg's technology gives him a level of both comfort and mobility he never thought possible. "It's the best thing I've ever used," says Connell. 'Without it, I probably wouldn't be as active as I am right now. I'm doing something physical every day."

Besides skiing and working out at the YMCA, Connell enjoys bike riding and racing, kayaking and swimming, as well as keeping up with his two young grandsons. He says the key to staying healthy is to keep moving.

What advice would he offer to new amputees? "The best advice that I can provide someone who just had their leg amputated is to believe that things are going to get better, to get into rehab and get hooked up with the best prosthetic provider, ASAP," a strategy that has certainly worked for Connell.

For more information about Next Step Orthotics & Prosthetics, Inc., contact president and clinical director Peter Couture, CP, at (800) 572-7938 or visit www.nextstepoandp.com.