University of Louisville Magazine

FALL 2013

The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.

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News & Impact California-bound Students work on Phoenix House this summer before disassembling and reconstructing it for the U.S. Department of Energy's 20-team Solar Decathlon contest in Irvine, Calif., Oct. 3–13. UofL, Ball State University and University of Kentucky students and faculty members collaborated on the twobedroom, energy-efficient residence designed for disaster relief. Program helps soldiers heal through exercise Spc. Zack Talmadge, an Army helicopter mechanic, had to undergo shoulder surgery. Staff Sgt. Chris Schwab, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has struggled with herniated disks in his neck and back. Soon, they both will return 12|LOUISVILLE.EDU to active duty thanks to a College of Education and Human Development initiative that helps injured Fort Knox soldiers heal through exercise. Chelsey Franz, a doctoral student working through the exercise physiology program, created the Soldier-Athlete In Training program that was frst offered at the Army base last spring. The initiative is one of more than a dozen launched through a UofL-Fort Knox partnership to tackle the challenges that today's soldiers and military veterans face. Exercises in Franz's class are modifed to take each participant's injuries into account, said Capt. Nate Kenworthy, who oversees the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Knox. "She's a master at adapting workouts to challenge each soldier, even if that soldier is missing a leg," Kenworthy said. Talmadge said the class helped him move from doing push-ups on the wall to doing them on the foor. "She wears us out," he added with a grin. "Most soldiers carry an average 70 pounds on their back and that takes a toll over time," said Schwab, who's been in the Army for 13 years. "This helped me bridge the gap between physical therapy and active duty." According to Franz, offering the class has been the most satisfying thing she's done in her career. Soldiers taking part are experiencing less pain, losing weight, gaining strength and fexibility and boosting their cardiovascular endurance, she said. "We started with a core group of seven soldiers and in just a few months our attendance tripled," she said. "This isn't just helping them become more physically ft — it's also raising their confdence."

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