CLEVELAND — It’s been 54 years since Vietnam War veteran Danny Werner lost his leg while fighting for his country in the Vietnam War, and he’s gone through more prosthetic legs than he can count.
“I could kind of judge where my foot was, but it was always a guessing game,” said Werner.
“The original had a wooden block on the bottom, back in ’69,” he said.
Along with having to deal with the challenges that come with having a prosthetic, he’s also had to deal with a second loss, having lost feeling of his foot. Five decades later, incredible advances are being made to try to change that.
For the past seven years, Werner has been taking part in a research study at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center that is attempting to give feeling back to those who have lost lower limbs.
Werner is the very first patient to undergo a trial that attempts to give a lower limb amputee the sensation of having a foot.
“To feel touch for the first time, (it) was amazing. I didn’t think I’d ever feel that again,” Werner said. “It allows me to feel a depression in lawn, it allows me to feel a crack in concrete,” he said.
The first step in the research study was a four-hour surgery to implant sensors on along Werner’s sciatic nerve. He has wires that exit his skin that are then connected to a device that transmits signals from a device in his shoe. That device senses pressure from his prosthetic foot. He can adjust the sensitivity as needed via a specialized phone.
The devices are still in a testing phase and researchers are looking for a way to replace a bulky device that currently transmits the signals. It’s currently the size of an adult shoe and worn inside a fanny pack around the waist. Researchers are working on creating a smaller unit, about the size of a pacemaker, that would eventually be implanted into a patient.
A participant in the study for upper limbs recently had a device implanted to allow for sensation from his prosthetic arm. He is now able to feel a person holding his hand and the grip of a handshake all through his prosthetic arm.
Research Nurse Melissa Schmitt first asked Werner to join the project in 2015. She has been with him every step of the way.
One of the main reasons for the study is amputees tend to overcompensate using their intact limb.
“We see a lot of overuse injuries. You’re putting more work on a body that’s supposed to be equal,” Schmitt said. She said when the body is out of alignment, people have back, arm and neck pain.
One method used during the study to help with balance and symmetry is a simulator that projects different environments in a dome. One is a grocery store simulator that has patients walk through grocery aisles and avoid obstacles.
In addition to helping patients feel more confident when they’re walking, the goal is to also help decrease the chance of arthritis and lower back pain commonly seen in individuals with lower limb loss.
Although no longer active military, Werner continues to give back by helping others regain something that was once lost - the gift of feeling.
“I may never see the day when I have an implant, but the whole purpose of this research was to help people down the road, coming up behind me,” Werner said.