This short article is author's experiences during the war on the rehabilitation of the amputees from the viewpoint of orthopedic surgery.
The author first deals with amputees' training in the use of the prosthesis and then describes the importance of proper guidance and encouragement. Long hospitalization without any fixed scheme and activity and to let the will to work remain dormant, is far more harmful to the patient than the amputation itself. The stronger the will power to work and for recovery, the quicker is the resumption of activitey and the development of the compensatory function of extremities. In such case the speed of attaining vocational skill is phenomenal too and he will soon resume his activity in the community to which he once belonged.
According to the author's investigation on 409 war injured veterans, he found among them 12%, whose will for labor is very insufficient.
The causes of this lack are classified as follows:
1. site of amputation 51.9%
2. character 48.7%
3. short stump 13.4%
4. severity of the disability 13.4%
5. bad fitting of. prosthesis 30.8%
6. insufficient vocational guidance 44.2%
According to the author's investigation on 652 war injured veterans in 1943, the distribution of occupation was as following tables.
