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CHAPTER 37
Work therapy in later stages
As soon as the paraplegic or tetraplegic is up in a wheelchair, he has to attend regularly
either the occupational therapy department or workshops. The former Ministry of
Pensions, who administered Stoke Mandeville Hospital until it was taken over in 1950
by the Health Service, agreed to put pre-vocational training in hospital, as part of the
medical rehabilitation, on a wider basis by providing workshops for woodwork, cobbling,
precision engineering with hand operated lathes (Fig. 264), clock assembly (Fig. 265),
FIG. 266.
engraving (Fig. 266), draughtsmanship and typing. Pre-vocational training in hospital
has been particularly useful for tetraplegics with partial or complete paralysis of their
finger muscles. Fig. 267 shows a tetraplegic below C6/y using both hands to carry out
woodwork with a handsaw and Fig. 268 shows a tetraplegic with complete paralysis of
all fingers—the only wrist muscles working being the extensor carpi radialis longus and
brevis—engaged in inlay work, producing beautiful wooden bowls. He attained such
skill that after discharge from the Centre he took this work up as a home occupation
earning good money. Fig. 266 shows a young boy of 16 being trained in the use of an
engraving machine. In more recent years, training in computor and teleprinting was
