Letter to the Editor from Oscar Pistorius’ Prosthetist
Posted April 3rd, 2007 at 5:08 PM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, SoundOFF, Columns, Olympics
This morning I received a letter by Trevor Brauckmann, the prosthetisit for top amputee runner and Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius.
The letter, published below with Mr. Brauckmann’s permission, is in response to the controvery surrounding Oscar’s potential competition in the able-bodied Olympics and the IAAF’s recent ruling on “technical aids”.
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Open letter to the Editor:
I have been following with interest and dismay the furor around Oscar Pistorius qualifying for the able body Olympics. I am currently involved with the making of Oscar’s prosthesis’s and have been involved in the making of prosthetics since 1985.
It is my opinion that a lot is being made of the “advantage” that he has with his ”carbon fiber blades” and not enough is said about the disadvantages that he and other disabled athletes faces. I further believe that the world is not ready to face the fact that a disabled athlete can be competitive with able bodied athletes.
Over the course of the years I have made many prosthesis’s for patients with one amputation and for patients with two amputations. For anybody that has ever seen or experienced the difficulty that new amputees face just to learn to walk let alone run I don’t need to explain what an achievement this is. The process is generally slow and patients have to learn to balance and bear weight on areas of the skin and body that the human body was not designed to do. The difficulty of adapting to this new way of walking can be likened to a baby learning to walk for the first time. The later in life that this happens and the longer the period from amputation to fitting of a prosthesis are just two of the huge obstacles that patients face in rehabilitating to become “normal” again. This brings me back to the point of patients running and / or becoming athletes. This is an amazing feat in itself, as a very small percentage of patients achieve this goal.
I therefore find it truly incredible that people make comments that somebody like Oscar has an advantage over somebody with two legs. A lot is made of the “spring loaded blades” and how they assist him with running faster. The facts are that they are not spring loaded and that he has to physically force the feet to load and return energy. The nature of the material is such that what you put in is some of what you get back (between 10% and 60%). Factors such as gravity and compression of body tissue allows for loss in energy return. The feet can be likened to stilts that are springy or lively. The feet have no electronic or mechanical devices or for that manner any other form of powering themselves. Therefore if you walk flat footed you will not get any energy return and will therefore not move at any great pace. By the way, the feet have no heals and in a patient with two amputations this makes standing and walking in a “normal” fashion almost impossible. This is a great balancing act.
The “blades” is actually an incorrect name as they are actually feet and are named Cheetahs because they resemble the animal with that name’s back legs. These feet are manufactured by an Icelandic company called Ossur and are arguably the best sprinting feet in the world. There is a huge difference between prosthetic feet and the indications for their individual use. This can be likened to motor cars like 4×4 vehicles and sports cars. Each foot has a specific use and technical specification.
Each foot has to be specifically fitted to the individual patient and what is good and works for one patient is not necessarily good or comfortable for another patient. This is similar to a set of golf clubs. Just because they are made from a carbon fiber composite does not mean that you can hit a ball further or more accurately. You still have to be able to play golf and execute the stroke accurately and efficiently. Aligning of the prosthesises is critical and influences the manner in which an athlete runs. A slight miscalculation on alignment can have a huge negative impact on how the athlete runs and may lead to serious injuries or malfunction of components. It must be remembered that the athlete can not correct the feet like an able bodied athlete during his stride and will therefore make contact with the ground in the manner that the prosthesises are aligned. The athlete has no muscles and cartilage in his feet or ankles and this also has an impact with the shock absorption through his stumps into his knees, hips and back.
As an amputee athlete you have to train even harder than a normal athlete and you have to take in account a whole lot of extra factors like balance, stumps that hurt and bleed, size and volume changes in the stumps, legs falling off during a race, components breaking or coming loose and “wheel alignment” of the feet. Try to imagine what it would feel like running at full pace and stepping into a manhole. This is the affect of what happens when one of these feet break or come loose during a race. Many of the athletes bare scars to bear witness to this fact. Try to imagine driving a sports car at top speed with the wheel balance and alignment being totally wrong. It would be extremely difficult to keep the car on the road safely and still set a new quarter mile speed record.
What and how is the prosthesis suspended onto the patient? Do we fit the athlete with soft rubber like inner liners, or silicon or gel suspension liners? Do we use extra belts or knee guards to suspend the prostheses? How do we allow the athlete to flex and extend his knees in a normal manner? Must we stabilize or allow him more freedom in his range of motion? Does he have to train in a different manner because he can’t use the starting blocks in the normal manner? These are some of the questions and challenges that the disabled athlete faces.
The able athlete can go out and run his race and have none of these problems to face. The amputee athlete faces all the same factors as the able athlete but faces a mountain full of problems on top of those. The prosthetic feet do not have the ability to feel or have the muscles and arches of normal feet. There is a loss of muscles, skeletal stability, and problems with nerve endings, loss of sensation and many other physiological problems. In a case like Oscar’s where the amputation is of a congenital nature there is the absence of fibula bones. These bones are important in the stability of the lower limbs. There is also the factor that some of the muscles may not have developed equally on both legs and that the hip sockets and joints may not have developed equally. The net result is that other muscles must work harder to compensate and that he has to train that much harder than the able bodied athlete. Disabled athletes also face long hours in fitting and fine tuning of their prosthetics. This results in valuable time lost training and preparing for races.
On a psychological side the amputee athlete has to be extremely mentally strong to overcome the stares and comments made by an insensitive and ignorant general population. If the athlete wins a race he is accused of having an unfair advantage and if he runs against able bodied athletes and looses it is questioned on what he is trying to prove. Thus irrespectively he is on a hiding second to none.
Onto the sticky issue of whether a disabled athlete has an advantage over able bodied athletes and if they should be allowed to compete on an equal footing I would like to pose the following issues.
I would like to see a scientific test done on an equal amount of athletes, both, able bodied and disabled. The tests must be on male and female athletes of different ages, race groups and also on the top athletes and average athletes. The tests should include all aspects of training, diet, different muscle groups, fitness, joint mobility etc. If there is an allegation that the feet provide undue assistance then it must be proven by an unquestionable formula. The opposite in as far as the loss that the amputee suffers must also be calculated and advertised and debated as widely as the so called “advantages”. I believe that these tests should have been done shortly after the Athens Olympics, as it was evident then that a remarkable athlete had come to the forefront. I believe that it is unnecessary cruel towards athletes that harbor thoughts of competing against their able bodied compatriots, to deny them that opportunity at this late stage. I also think that the sooner this issue is investigated and the parameters are set on a well researched scientific basis, all the controversy could come to an end.
It is funny how people react when their safety zone is threatened. Take the example of the women golfer (Sorenson) who is beating her male counterparts or the likes of Billy-Jean King in her hay day. The outcry is phenomenal. Imagine the outcry if all forms of strapping and bracing are banned as illegal or presenting an unfair advantage or assistance to injured athletes. The use of special clothing that reduces wind resistance, specially designed spikes and training shoes, carbon fiber poles for pole vaulting and many more examples should also be reevaluated to stop all so called assistive devices.
Should we not be applauding athletes like Oscar for what they have achieved and are achieving and the hope that they give to other disabled athletes? If all the allegations of “the feet give him an advantage” are true then surely he should be running faster times than Powell and Warrener or is he threatening our comfort zone? The outcry is even more ridiculous as there is currently only one athlete (Oscar) that is threatening the top able bodied times and not all disabled athletes. Surely they (disabled athletes), should all run world beating times if they run on carbon fiber feet? Is this not a witch hunt against an incredibly gifted disabled athlete that trains very hard and lives life to the fullest? The only disability that he has is the lack of support from the powers that be!
I believe Bob Dylan said it best in the song “The times they are a changing” We should stop being patronizing and embrace the achievements of these amputee athletes.
Written by,
Trevor Brauckmann
Tel: 012-6641870
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Oscar, TFS’s February 2007 “Success Story”, was also featured in the March 2007 edition of Wired Magazine. The article, entitled “Blade Runner”, can be viewed online by clicking here
Want to learn more about Oscar? Then click here to play and/or download my exclusive audio interview with Oscar from last month where we discuss his life, historic achievements, the controversy, how he deals with the critics and the very real possibility of him redefining society’s concept of human potential.
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Tags: able bodied, IAAF, Oscar Pistorius, Paralympic, prosthetic, prosthetist, technical aids, Trevor Brauckmann
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The Final Sprint
Give this very gifted athlete credit! Let him run!
April 4th, 2007 at 2:37 amOscar sounds like an incredible athlete and runner. It seems like he has overcome great odd, and I believe that he deserves a chance to compete against able-bodied athletes!!!
April 4th, 2007 at 10:25 amAnd yesterday Oscar ran a 10.91 100 meter race. So there you have it. Able bodied are envious of what a double amputee can do. Oscar is an incredible human being. He should be encouraged more. IAAF Should let him run because eventualy they will have to give in. Oscar doesn’t give up that easily it is not in his nature. So please IAAF let this very talented runner with the natural ability run the socks of the able bodied please and not get embarrassed by the thought of Oscar beating them for he will do so eventually.
April 5th, 2007 at 8:14 amOscar is someone to admire,he has accomplished what able bodied people can’t. He should be allowed to compete in the Olympics! People like him are great role models for children and adults with or without dissabilities.
May 15th, 2007 at 1:21 pmRUN OSCAR, RUN!!!!!!
Oscar is an incredible athlete, but there is no doubt in my mind that his prosthetic limbs give him an advantage.
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:27 amIts sad, but I don’t give him credit for a regular amutee expierience…
I am NOT by any means questioning his painful memories but only that he cannot regret what he cannot remember.
A brilliant article - I am amazed by the histrionics, sheer ignorance and discrimination that surrounds this case. Oscar is a brilliant athlete and I hope the ruling goes in his favor.
We can look back at Jackie Robinson in baseball, Jack Johnson in boxing, Jane Couch in boxing…back then, it was acceptable to deny an athlete the right to participate in their sport because of their color or their gender. I see nothing different here other than the will to discriminate against an athlete because he is a double amputee. It’s sport that loses out in the end.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:51 amOscar should run. I am an amputee and i was training to run in the paralypic games until i injuried my knee. I have competed an done well in able bodied sports all my life. I had a congenital diablity and am missing my right foot. Never have i had a problem with walking running or any activiy. When i tried to run in a chetah foot it was the most difficult thing i ever tried. I had to work for monthes to learn to run. Trust me there is no advantage, and i wish an abled body runner could know how difficult it is to run in a prosthtic.
March 6th, 2008 at 1:04 am[…] Letter to the Editor from Oscar Pistorius’ Prosthetist […]
April 9th, 2008 at 5:07 pm4/22/08
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 amSaw the story Nightline did on Oscar and his situation tonight.
I can understand both his and the IAAF’s positions.
Since the results of the recent tests done on Oscar’s prosthetics in Germany concluded a “normal” human ankle returns 88% of it’s energy input while his prosthetics return 91%, perhaps Cheetah’s manufacturer could make up a set of new prosthetics for him that also only returned 88% of their input.
I would think the publicity this would generate for them could induce them to proceed with such a plan.
Since this would eliminate any possible mechanical advantage Oscar may currently have, perhaps then the IAAF and Oscar could come to an agreement which would let him continue to compete.
It was made to sound as if it’s now too late for Oscar to properly train for the upcoming Olympics, but if an agreement could be reached, it would allow him to continue competing at later meets and open the door for other athletes in similar situations.
I have no idea if Oscar will actually see this posting on your site, so if you have any way of contacting him directly, I would appreciate it if you would forward it to him directly so he can have the opportunity to consider my suggestion. Please let me know if you forward this on to him and feel free to give him my email address if you do.
In any case, I only wish the best for Oscar.
TZ