Photo By Lance Cpl. Franco Lewis | U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Pabalo Pellecer, a native of Grandville,...... read more read more
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Dear Doc: My husband lost an arm in Iraq, and I’m his full-time caregiver. He’s fully recovered, and we’re grateful to the staff at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth for his excellent care. But we’re back at our duty station now, and I want to keep up with the latest information on care for amputees. During one of his recent doctor visits, another wounded warrior mentioned the EACE. I’ve never heard of it, so I’d like to find out how EACE could help improve my husband’s life.
Sincerely,
Justine Case
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Hi Justine,
The Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence, otherwise known as EACE, leads the advancement of extremity trauma-related research and clinical practice in the Military Health System—aiming to ensure a better future for those with extremity trauma. The center is run by the Defense Health Agency.
For answers, we turned to Andrea Crunkhorn, who applies her doctorate in physical therapy and status as the chief of clinical programs for EACE to support our injured warfighters and the clinicians who care for them. She had this to say.
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EACE serves as the Defense Health Agency’s center of excellence for limb trauma and limb loss. We focus on the best-supported scientific and medical data and health care for service members and other Department of Defense community members with these injuries. We foster clinical practice and provide support tools to clinicians, patients, families, and caregivers. We help the clinicians who work with these patients be as efficient and effective as possible.
EACE assists our providers as they rehabilitate our wounded warriors and create a new normal for all patients with extremity trauma and amputation. Our specialists and staff work with the Department of Veterans Affairs to create internationally recognized clinical practice guidelines, so all limb rehabilitation follows the same best evidence.
The DOD and VA published the current upper limb amputation clinical practice guideline in 2022. These documents are regularly reviewed and updated to add new treatments and programs that improve patient care. DOD-VA published our revised clinical practice guideline for lower limb amputation rehabilitation in January 2025.
EACE offers every patient like your husband a guide called “Within Reach: The Journey After Upper Limb Amputation.” The guide provides information on coping skills, pain management, caring for your remaining limb, physical rehabilitation, and artificial limbs. The guide is available digitally on the EACE website under clinical affairs.
For soon-to-be parents, parents, families, and caregivers, we have a helpful handout, “Pregnancy, Childcare and Parenting after Upper Limb Amputation Rehabilitation.” It includes tips such as how to manage child care tasks.
The DOD Amputation Prosthetics Clearinghouse is a new portal for advice, discussion, and referral to one of the three Advanced Rehabilitation Centers in the DHA. The three ARCs are located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where I work; Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas; and Naval Medical Center San Diego, in San Diego, California.
These programs lead to advances in treating and restoring function after limb trauma and amputation. The centers are the only military hospitals that fabricate and modify artificial limbs. They also provide high-quality care from before surgery until you can return to your community.
You and your military hospital or clinic providers can reach out to me and my staff with questions at either of these emails: dha.ncr.Medical-Affairs.mbx.amputation-prosth-coe@health.mil. Additionally, phone numbers for contacts at each ARC are available on the fact sheets.
Other resources include the VA’s Amputation System of Care or its Polytrauma/TBI System of Care.
EACE also has information on surgeries such as directly attaching an artificial limb to the patient’s bone. This surgery can help patients who have difficulty tolerating a socket.
EACE focuses on research that can save injured limbs, avoid amputations, and preserve and restore injured limb function. We work to make our patients return to the highest possible level of physical, mental, and emotional function. Our warfighters deserve no less. We truly appreciate all that you do.
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Justine,
As you can tell, you and your husband have a lot of support in this recovery. Stay safe out there.
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2025 11:43 |
| Story ID: | 498051 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Ask the Doc: What Advances in Military Medicine Help my Amputee Husband?, by Janet A. Aker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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