About Me

What’s up everybody!

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My name is Tom Knaus. I have a C7-T1 spinal cord injury and am paralyzed from the chest down. I am also an occupational therapist, a husband, a father of twins, a volunteer and an athlete. I was paralyzed from a fall in 2004 at age 18 from a fall from a deck during a party.

 

Learning to live life again after my spinal cord injury is the most difficult thing I have ever done. It has been over 20 years since my injury and I am still learning new things everyday. You never think that it will happen to you. Then it does and you are shocked. I thought my life was over. I thought I would need help from caregivers and rely on government assistance my whole life. I didn’t think anyone would ever love me. How would I get a job? go on dates? Have sex? Get married? Have Kids? Society tells us people in wheelchairs cannot do these things but am here to teach and show you how you can.

 

My first goal after I was injured was to move away from my parents. In rehab, I worked as hard as I could to become as independent as possible. I eventually became independent with all the things I needed to do to live alone. I was able to enroll in college and move out 9 months after my injury. I thought I had figured everything out, because I was young. I was able to live independently but there was still a lot I was struggling with both mentally and physically.

 

Luckily, I met the college’s wheelchair basketball coach randomly in the rec center parking garage. He invited me to come out to a practice and try out for the schools newly formed wheelchair basketball team. I struggled with the decision to go or not. I remember thinking to myself, wheelchair basketball can’t be that challenging, it’s not going to be anything like basketball was before. Luckily, I went to the practice because I ended up loving it. It was actually very challenging. I got my butt whipped, my teammates pushed circles around me, but I loved it. It was actually better for me than basketball was before because it slowly made me realize what I was capable of in the game and in life. I worked everyday to get better. I was also around other teammates who had lived with their disabilities their whole lives. I learned a lot from my OT and PT in therapy but my teammates are the ones who truly taught me how to live life after my disability. Learning from others with a disability, is the best way to learn to live after a disability. Who knows better than someone who has already been through similar experiences.

 

That started my lifelong love of adaptive sports. Now I spend much of my free time playing and planning adaptive sports events. I have found that being around others with disabilities is the best education I could ever have about living life with a disability. Being around others with disability, learning from them and competing against them has made me more comfortable with my own disability. To the point, I don’t really feel like I have a disability most of the time. When, in fact, I have no movement in my body from the chest down. Before I started playing adaptive sports all I could think about was how my disability negatively affected my life. After, I began to realize what I am capable of and how I can use my disability to my advantage.

 

I realize that sports aren’t for everyone. But I do want to stress, what I feel is the most important part about living with a disability. That is staying in shape. The stronger and more coordinated you get the muscles you have control of, the more independent you can be. Regular exercise can help prevent obesity and heart disease, which people have an increased chance of, after becoming paralyzed. The heavier you are the faster your shoulders are going to break down if you have to push yourself in a wheelchair or transfer yourself with your arms. The lighter you are the easier transfers are going to be. There are countless benefits of staying in shape after becoming paralyzed. Working out also helps with depression and leads to increased overall mental health and quality of life. FIND TIME TO WORKOUT! I would say it’s more important to stay in shape after becoming paralyzed than before.

 

If you want to learn to become more independent, find out more about adaptive sports or just want to know better ways to stay in shape. Book an appointment with me. Consultation is free. I am a person with a disability who is dedicated to helping others with similar challenges as myself and has proper training and experience to be a licensed health professional. I am an occupational therapist trained to help you do the things you want and need to do throughout your day. I will do everything I can to make you as independent as possible, but be ready to work