KickChick
08-Oct-2003, 12:50 PM
I saw this story this morning on television and found it truly amazing ... and brings up a new area of discussion for beginning martial arts for rehabilitational purposes.
While playing "hide-n-seek" during a national holiday in his native South Korea, the then three-year-old Woosik Chung reached out to catch the whirring fan of a tractor engine, and completely severed both of his hands.
Luckily, his parents... a surgeon and a nurse... were there and rushed him to a hospital. When they arrived, they found only a skeleton health care staff because of the holiday. Although Chung's father had never attempted this type of operation before, with his wife and a surgical team assisting, the youngster's hands were re-attached. Because the procedure had rarely been performed, no one was quite sure if Chung would ever regain the use of his hands or what the best approach for rehabilitation was.
His maternal grandfather, a Tae Kwon Do master, stepped forward with a unique approach. He began training the youngster in the martial arts as a form of rehabilitation. The blocking, striking and grabbing techniques while training helped in rehabilitatating the musculature of both Chung's hands.
Not only did it help Chung gain strength in his hands, he mastered the techniques so well that several years after moving with his family to the United States, he qualified for the U.S. national Tae Kwon Do team. He would have competed for a spot on the 2002 U.S. Olympic team if the allure of medicine hadn't drawn him to enroll at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.
Dr. Chung now 27 will pursue a residency in orthopedic surgery at Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital. He plans to specialize in hand surgery because, he says, "The best way I can thank my dad is to help someone else in a similar situation."
While playing "hide-n-seek" during a national holiday in his native South Korea, the then three-year-old Woosik Chung reached out to catch the whirring fan of a tractor engine, and completely severed both of his hands.
Luckily, his parents... a surgeon and a nurse... were there and rushed him to a hospital. When they arrived, they found only a skeleton health care staff because of the holiday. Although Chung's father had never attempted this type of operation before, with his wife and a surgical team assisting, the youngster's hands were re-attached. Because the procedure had rarely been performed, no one was quite sure if Chung would ever regain the use of his hands or what the best approach for rehabilitation was.
His maternal grandfather, a Tae Kwon Do master, stepped forward with a unique approach. He began training the youngster in the martial arts as a form of rehabilitation. The blocking, striking and grabbing techniques while training helped in rehabilitatating the musculature of both Chung's hands.
Not only did it help Chung gain strength in his hands, he mastered the techniques so well that several years after moving with his family to the United States, he qualified for the U.S. national Tae Kwon Do team. He would have competed for a spot on the 2002 U.S. Olympic team if the allure of medicine hadn't drawn him to enroll at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.
Dr. Chung now 27 will pursue a residency in orthopedic surgery at Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital. He plans to specialize in hand surgery because, he says, "The best way I can thank my dad is to help someone else in a similar situation."