Transcript of
Military rehab at Headley Court
Alright, keep your arms on the bars to start with
and just a nice slow-pace technique first, yes?
Good.
What we're trying to do today is to get Brett back on his feet, really.
Get him going. Back on his feet!
- That's harsh. - That's harsh.
Got to stop there. Start again.
Essentially, what we're doing today
is getting Brett back on the road to recovery
and start working with his new prosthetic limb
he's been fitted with this week
and start re-educating him on his gait
and get him walking in a normal-gait pattern again.
But we've just only started walking two days ago.
Good.
There's a hell of a lot of improvement.
I'm actually moving now, using gym equipment, walking.
I didn't expect to walk for four or five months. It's been three weeks.
To be honest, I have more problems with this leg than this leg.
- In what way? - Pain and discomfort more in this leg.
- You mean the scars on the back? - Yes.
- That's looking good. - Yes, it's a lot better.
- That's shrunk a hell of a lot. - Loads.
Is it still feeling tight in there?
The prosthetics guys are the experts. From a physio point of view,
we're looking for something to bring to their attention.
If, for example, he says he's got pain at any point, any pressures,
is anything breaking down, the scars?
We'll bring that to the prosthetist's attention, then he can fix it.
With the guys that we see here,
most of them have gone through quite a traumatic experience.
Their stumps will actually change hugely.
Now, in the normal-type patient that we'd see outside of Headley Court,
you would expect to replace the socket within the first six months.
What we find is that we do it within three to four weeks
because they're working so hard.
Then they'll probably go through
this constant reduction and altering of volume.
We're having to chase that by making new sockets.
It's not one of those services where you provide an artificial leg
and they disappear and we don't see them for 20 years.
It's something that will be ongoing for the rest of his life.
The treatment that we have in here, it's awesome.
And the team in Headley Court, the whole team,
that consists of the people who do the legs and the physio department,
the doctors, the nurses upstairs,
they all work as a team and they're quite helpful in looking after us
and try to motivate us to get back into life again.
(new speaker) All patients who attend Headley Court
will undertake five hours of exercise-based rehab every day
for five days a week, ordinarily for four weeks.
They will attend for four-week residential admissions.
The instructors who manage the exercise
will work very closely with the physiotherapists
and the occupational therapists as an interdisciplinary team
and utilise their combined expertise to manage that patient group.
Occupational therapy as a broad-brush statement
is looking at function, essentially.
Function is obviously everything that people need or want to do.
It covers everything that we do in life, including the psychological aspects.
As far as Headley Court is concerned,
we are lucky in that we do look at the physical and psychological implications
of illness and injury, which most centres don't do;
they're physically or psychologically biased.
We're fortunate in that we can do the whole thing.
It was two of my lads that had FA1 training for first aid
where they go away and work in an A&E department.
They literally saved my life
with the techniques that they were taught,
and it was absolutely fantastic.
I don't remember much about...
In fact, I don't remember the incident itself whatsoever.
What they've done is basically give me a chance to lead another life.
Where I also want to start is,
at the moment, your thigh is turning outwards
and so when you rest on the footrest,
you're getting contact here with your donor sites and this.
Basically, I came in two days ago.
I've transferred from a manual wheelchair
where people push me around.
I'm now getting fitted, well, sized up, with an electric wheelchair.
So I'm more independent.
Having that slight little twist on there is better.
I'll tighten that up then.
It'll be really good to get started
and get used to all the different movements it can do,
and speeds probably.
Even though I've lost both of my legs,
from the day that I realised I'd lost my legs until today,
I never complained, I never regretted,
because I see every day comes as a new day. And enjoy.
