Analysis:

Hockey proves to be effective form of therapy for amputees

Date: 03-09-2001; Publication: All Things Considered (NPR);
Author: ROBERT SIEGEL, LINDA WERTHEIMER

Host: ROBERT SIEGEL, LINDA WERTHEIMER Time: 8:00-9:00 PM

ROBERT SIEGEL, host: From NPR News, this is All Things Considered. I'm Robert Siegel.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: And I'm Linda Wertheimer. Some doctors and therapists are prescribing a rather rough sport as a means of physical therapy. They've discovered ice hockey can help amputees re-learn physical skills and regain a sense of well- being. North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann reports.

BRIAN MANN reporting: Donny Wade(ph) was working on a farm in Brooklyn, Ontario, near Toronto, when a machine mangled his arm and part of his chest.

Mr. DONNY WADE: The sleeve of my jacket was caught in a PTO shaft and I went for a 1,600-revolution-per-minute ride, and then they untangled me from the machinery and got me to the hospital.

MANN: That fast, Wade was socked into a bleak world of surgeries and reconstructive therapy. The accident left him deeply depressed. He wasn't doing the exercises that would help him get better. For inspiration, Wade and his doctors turned to an old passion.

Mr. WADE: I played summer hockey, ball hockey, winter hockey, boot hockey. Hardly had time to watch hockey.

MANN: This idea, using hockey as a form of physical therapy, got its start in Russia. Doctors there were working with land mine survivors, veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Dr. Mark Pitkin(Ph.D.) is from St. Petersburg, Russia. He now designs prosthetic limbs at Tufts University.

Dr. MARK PITKIN (Tufts University): That social integration of amputees in Russia required something additional, and hockey was chosen as a very natural continuation of their rehabilitation progress.

MANN: Most of the amputees who sign up for this kind of therapy have skated since they were kids. They come from small northern towns where playing hockey is a way of life. At a recent training match in Lake Placid, New York, a team of American amputees faced off against the Canadians. Ralph Marsh(ph) is a therapist with the Department of Veterans Affairs and he coaches the American team. Before the game, he prowls the crowded locker room.

Mr. RALPH MARSH (Therapist, Department of Veterans Affairs): I hate to point out the obvious, but they've got speed on us because they' ve got a number of arm amputees or they don't hold the stick quite as well as you guys. You got to lift sticks, and you got to use your advantages out there. So you got to use...

MANN: If that sounds ruthless it's because this therapy is designed to make the players feel like athletes instead of patients. Dr. David Krandell(ph) is a rehabilitation specialist who heads the American Amputee Hockey Association(ph).

Dr. DAVID KRANDELL (American Amputee Hockey Association): It looks and smells like a regular hockey locker room, but there's some extra parts, so, I mean, it is a little bit unique.

MANN: The transformation, Krandell says, comes when the players skate out into the arena.

Dr. KRANDELL: You might not even know they're amputees. You know, they got the hockey pads, they got the socks, you know, and they got hockey skates on. You can't tell. The upper extremities you can usually tell. (Soundbite of skating)

MANN: The players move fast, passing and checking and hurling themselves against the boards. Three years have passed since his injury, and Donny Wade is back on the ice for the first time. He says having fun again and feeling whole is a huge step as he restarts his life.

Mr. WADE: I was a shooter before, and now I got to look for the shooter on the open ice and feed the puck to him. As long as everybody can do something out there, it'll all come together.

MANN: This weekend, amputees from the US, Canada and Russia will play a tournament near Washington, DC. The event is part of a conference designed to push a worldwide ban on land mines. Organizers say they hope this high-profile event will lead to the creation of other national squads. Talks are now under way to form a hockey team in Sarajevo made up of athletes injured in the Balkan War. For NPR News, I'm Brian Mann in Lake Placid, New York.

Copyright All Things Considered (NPR), 03-09-2001.