amputees

30.11.09

So Do Prosthetic Limbs Give Sprinters an Advantage Or Not?

After a year-long study of the case of Oscar Pistorius, two starkly opposing scientific camps emerge on each side of the debate
By Clay Dillow Posted 20.11.2020 at 5:00 am 0 Comments

Oscar Pistorius:  via oscarpistorius.co.za
Using the same set of data--an analysis of double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius and his carbon fiber Cheetah prosthetic legs--two teams of researchers have come to very different conclusions on whether his prostheses give him an advantage over sprinters with both of their legs.

The future of modern prostheses' usage in sports hangs in the balance, and the fight is getting ugly.

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Study Proves That Specialized Prosthetic Legs Grant No Advantage In Sprinting

By Stuart Fox Posted 07.11.2020 at 1:32 am 0 Comments

In 2008, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned double amputee Oscar Pistorius from racing in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Later that same year, the ban was reversed. The back and forth centered on Pistorius' specially designed, spring-loaded, prosthetic legs. The IAAF argued that artificial legs designed especially for running gave Pistorius an unfair advantage against runners whose flesh-and-blood limbs didn't benefit from advanced engineering and space-age materials.

While an MIT study last year eventually led to the overturn of the original IAAF decision, no one had done a systematic study of amputee racers in general. Now, the MIT researchers that investigated Pistorius have released the results of a wider trial, and it turns out that specially designed prostheses don't actually help sprinters.

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