x
Breaking News
More () »

A Paralympian's perfect fit

Not a lot of people in life can say that winning gold medals is all they've ever known, which is why Josh Pauls still finds it hard to put the U.S. men's Paralympic sled hockey team's overtime win against Canada into words.
Credit: Martin Rose
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - Ben Delaney #10 of Canada battles for the puck with Josh Pauls of United States in the Ice Hockey gold medal game between Canada (Photo by Martin Rose/Getty Images)

OLIVETTE, Mo. – "On the outside I'm still rubbing a little bit sometimes," Josh Pauls said at his first prosthetic follow-up appointment after returning home from the Paralympic Games.

"I wish I could tell you what happened," added the 25-year-old St. Louis resident. "I woke up the next morning, I looked over, and I was like, 'I don't know where the other one went."

From the moment Fred Schaumburg met Pauls, he said the two just "clicked."

Brought together over seven years ago, when Pauls moved to St. Louis from New Jersey, the two have a candid relationship.

They're open. They're frank. And according to Schaumburg, who's Pauls' prosthetist at the Hanger Clinic, that's key.

"When you have problems you have to communicate," said Schaumburg. "You know get those problems fixed and every amputee has fit problems."

Born without tibia bones, Pauls had to have his legs amputated above the knee at 10-months-old, which means he's had to see a prosthetist for most of his life.

"A perfect pair of fitting legs can make all the difference because then I can be that more active," said Pauls.

Schaumburg has helped Pauls transition from mechanical legs to his current prosthetic C-Legs.

"My job is to make basically what's a piece of plastic, the socket for their limbs to go into," said Schaumburg. "What they choose to do with that object that I make really determines whether they're successful or not. Most of it really is up in your head."

"When we were training for the Paralympics I was doing different things where I had to go into a squat and these legs actually allow me to go into a squat and do a one-armed row, or pull down, or something like that," added Pauls.

The two of them truly are a team and undoubtedly a perfect fit.

"I'm just so proud of not only what he's done with the Paralympics, but what he does in his everyday life," said Schaumburg. "He's chosen to not dwell on his prosthetic limbs, but live life as normal."

"I mean he totally revolutionized the way I walk and just the comfort level of my prostethics because I was able to get into direct suction," said Pauls. "That really worked out for me and I was able to move around that much easier. That just made a total difference."

Before You Leave, Check This Out