Personal Impact
Regardless of the cause, the result was that Roosevelt was totally and permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. Despite the lack of a cure for paralysis, for the rest of his life Roosevelt refused to accept that he was permanently paralyzed. He tried a wide range of therapies, but none had any effect. Nevertheless, he became convinced of the benefits of hydrotherapy, and in 1926 he bought a resort at Warm Springs, Georgia, where he founded a hydrotherapy center for the treatment of polio patients which still operates as the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, with an expanded mission.
Read more about this topic: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Paralytic Illness
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