Sweating is a natural part of life. For prosthesis users, however, it presents a set of unique challenges that go well beyond discomfort. Excessive moisture trapped inside a prosthetic socket can cause skin breakdown, increase infection risk, affect socket fit, and limit daily activity.
Sweating is a natural part of life. For prosthesis users, however, it presents a set of unique challenges that go well beyond discomfort. Excessive moisture trapped inside a prosthetic socket can cause skin breakdown, increase infection risk, affect socket fit, and limit daily activity.
A successful worker with a full-time job and a part-time business of his own, Lerselle Howard’s life was drastically changed in November 1990 by a terrible accident. As a relay driver in waste management, he had just hoisted an 8,000-pound trash compactor upward when a malfunctioning cable dropped it on his right hand.
As a Lawall Team member, Prosthetic-Orthotic Technician Justin Salvaterra has had plenty of opportunities to test and compare a variety of lower limb prosthetic types and designs.
A high-energy, cut-to-the-chase problem solver, Rubio was active as trial advocate, litigator and negotiator on behalf of clients at his law practice in Upper Darby, PA. He was physically active, too, with his favorite activities including rock climbing, skydiving, whitewater rafting, and cycling. Just-married (17 days), he was on his way to his obstetrician/gynecologist wife’s graduation ceremony when everything changed in an instant: A negligent driver strayed from her lane and crashed into Rubio’s motorcycle (then into another car and the guardrail), sending him airborne. He sustained multiple serious injuries that left him in a coma for 13 days, awakening with virtually no memory of the accident or its aftermath.
It’s a possibility most of us can’t even begin to imagine: You go to bed feeling unwell, and awaken 2 ½ months later to discover that all four of your limbs have been amputated: that your life as an active husband, parent, coach and neighbor is forever changed.
This is the reality that faced 36-year-old Clark Deardorff of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, when he regained awareness in September 2017 at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, following an induced coma.
