Rethinking patient care: GVSU students join amputees at adaptive soccer clinic

During the clinic, amputees and students practiced moving around with the forearm crutches before introducing the soccer ball and learning how to dribble with one foot and the crutches. After the practice drills, the students and amputees played together in short scrimmages.

"We get to try it, and we get to kind of learn about how they function in everyday life," said Christian Helmkamp, a second-year physical therapy student.

Andrew Seelhoff, an amputee who participated in clinics Jones volunteered at in Ann Arbor, said events like the adaptive soccer clinic are a great way for amputees to get involved in their community.

"Getting to know amputees and other people with limb loss and see that they're able to play sports and do other things too…It's a great way for me to stay involved with the amputee community," Seelhoff said.

For Darcy Traxler, an amputee and one of Jones' patients, seeing so many Grand Valley students attending the event was gratifying.

"It's super refreshing to me to see so many students out here wanting to make sure they understand how we live as amputees," Traxler said. "That's going to provide better quality of physical therapy for the amputee community."

Traxler is three months out from osseointegration surgery, anchoring an implant for her prosthesis with the bone. She said attending the clinic and seeing other amputees all at different stages of physical therapy and experience gave her perspective on what is possible.

"You get to see the full spectrum and kind of see where you can soar to," she said.

Griffith said the group hopes to run adaptive soccer clinics in Grand Rapids two or three times a year and continue bringing more physical therapy and recreational therapy students in to participate

"If it grows, we'll see where it takes us," Griffith said. "Let's come out and learn, and also just enjoy a different facet of patient advocacy and patient care."