IDEO brace gives troops, vets new life

Gunnery Sgt. Mark Novello is among a handful of active-duty service members and veterans at three military hospitals across the United States who are testing a new kind of carbon fiber leg brace designed to alleviate the debilitating chronic pain of traumatic lower leg injuries.


 

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Daryel Kasinger does strength conditioning exercises at the San Diego Naval Medical Center while participating in a clinical trial for the IDEO brace. / photo by Misael Virgen * U-T San Diego

 

San Diego - For 11 years, since a piece of shrapnel from a roadside bomb tore through his right ankle, Gunnery Sgt. Mark Novello has struggled with pain that made him question his goal of a 20-year-career in the Marine Corps.

With 13 years already served, the broad-shouldered resident of Camp Pendleton said he was not sure he could last seven more years in an active job that has him training young Marines.

Click here to read the full in The San Diego Union-Tribune article by Paul Sisson.