Page 22 - UD Research Magazine Vol5-No1

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As Ashly Ash walks on an embed- ded treadmill in the BADER lab, her movements are recorded by surrounding high-speed cameras. This motion capture analysis will help prosthetists and clinicians to assess her gait and alignment and make any needed changes to improve her function and comfort.
“It’s really a one-stop shop. I think it will really make a precedent for the way health care is handled for amputees.”—Ashly Ash
The need for ways to treat new war injuries
Despite the national reach of BADER, there have been some recent additions
in Delaware that offer the potential to strengthen an already robust program.
One is the recent hire of David Tulsky in UD’s College of Health Sciences. Tulsky, an expert in outcomes assessment research, joined UD’s Department of Physical Therapy and is working with
the Center for Translational Research ACCEL program.
Tulsky already serves as director of
the Rehabilitation Outcomes Measure- ment (ROM) Core for BADER. He works with principal investigators to recommend outcome measures for their projects, provide training in the use of these measures and develop new measure- ment platforms for research.
Among the BADER-funded projects Tulsky is currently working on is an outcomes toolbox to identify common data elements at multiple military treatment facilities.
“There are new injuries with these wars that have surprised the medical commu- nity. One thing we have to do is develop ways to treat these signature injuries, which include traumatic brain injuries and amputations,” Tulsky said.
A collaborative approach can help drill down on some of these challenges, said Wyatt, who is working with Tulsky on the toolbox project. In many cases, though, it’s a guessing game, particularly when it comes to the long-term effects of using these prostheses.
“We’re all concerned about and don’t know the secondary effects,” Wyatt said. “For the opposite limb, we know there’s
increased forces. Is there also osteoarthritis and back pain? These new prosthetics are allowing our patients to be more active and is that increased activity leading to second- ary effects or, in fact, preventing them? We don’t know the answer.”
A clinic for civilian patients
The opening of the BADER Clinic at STAR Campus also offers an opportunity for civilian patients to access interventions and collaborations that can help them reach individual goals, whether it’s to be faster, feel more secure or get around more easily with their prosthetic device.
“Patients enter the clinic by expressing a goal. The goal is to get a higher level of function,” Stanhope said. “The ticket to this specialty clinic is that they have to express and demand this. The want to
be better.”
20 | UD RESEARCH
LANE MCLAUGHLIN