Patient Education Meet Amanda Lyons
Listening to Your Body During the Rehab Process
Amanda Lyons and physical therapist, Andrew Stamatelos, prepare for a therapy session using the stim bike at Magee’s Riverfront outpatient facility.
“I Pushed Myself Too Hard.”
heard gunshots. Amanda tried to take cover, but within seconds realized she could no longer feel below her waist. The bullet had severed her spinal cord. It also meant the life that she had known was no longer going to be the same.
Among her friends, family, coworkers and students, Amanda Lyons is known for her thirst for life, big smile and determination. She loves teaching students at Thomas Jefferson University where she serves as an assistant professor of Occupational Therapy. She’s always led an active and social lifestyle. Her innate drive has helped Amanda make many strides in her recovery less than a year since her spinal cord injury. However, that drive also caused Amanda to suffer a setback early on and she hopes other newly injured individuals can learn from her experience.
“It’s a physical and mental challenge that I am still navigating,” said Amanda.
Learning to Live in Her New Body Doctors at an acute care hospital performed surgery to fuse her spine. Amanda came to Magee for six weeks of inpatient physical rehabilitation for the next phase in her healing journey. The weight of the ordeal was emotionally crushing. Amanda coped by funneling that energy into her daily physical and occupational therapy sessions, which helped build her strength in her trunk and upper body and maximize her mobility. Learning how to live in her new body meant she now relied on her trunk, shoulders, arms and hands to do much more work than ever before and in ways they were not naturally intended.
“My goal is to get back to living the same life I was living before,” Amanda shared. “But I literally and figuratively pushed myself too hard.” In May 2021, a stray bullet robbed Amanda of the use of her legs. The 35 year-old Philadelphia woman had been hanging out with friends after a recreational kickball game when they
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