For many veterans, the pain of their injuries continues long after leaving the hospital, especially those with injuries to nerves who have pain from amputations and the use of prosthetics.
Surgeons with the Military Medicine Program at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center have found ways to alleviate nerve pain.
Dr. Amy Moore is a nerve surgeon and head of plastic surgery at Wexner.
“It has allowed me to treat many service members who have painful limbs or residual limbs after amputation such that they’re able to wear their prosthetic and walk around,” she said, “so we’re talking about improvement in quality of life.”
A survey by the Wounded Warrior Project found that almost two thirds of vets with nerve injuries rate their health as poor or fair.
Moore says this program goes even farther than just performing the surgery.
“If a patient comes and has multiple problems as they would as you can imagine from an IUD device that blew up that they do have needs from multiple disciplines and so we often are the quarterback and able to coordinate the care,” she said.
And she says her relationships with patients continue long after surgery because nerve problems can take years to fully heal.
“I tell them we’re gonna be good friends because nerve pain and nerve procedures it just requires years of following and nerves grow really slowly,” she said, “so we’ll be saying, ‘ok we’ll see you back in 3 months 6 months a year,’ and so the interaction and relationships are able to build.”