People have been having this debate ever since Oscar Pistorius began racing nondisabled sprinters in the early 2000s. In 2008 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAFF), which governs track and field competition worldwide, banned Pistorius from their events, citing scientific tests which showed that Flex-foot Cheetahs allowed amputees to run more efficiently than nondisabled athletes. That ruling was quickly overturned by an international court, and Pistorius continued to participate in standard track meets, including the 2011 World Championships (where he won a silver med ..read more

To celebrate Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month, we’re combing Amplitude’s print and digital archives for old articles about amputees who’ve raised awareness in unique ways. We’re calling them “Awareness Aces,” and we’ve chosen 24 of them for 2024. We’ll be highlighting the Awareness Aces throughout the month, with the disclaimer that these aren’t the only 24 people who deserve recognition. They are just a representative sample of the countless amputees who are helping to normalize limb difference and teach the Muggles what’s what. Our goal isn’t to name the “best” or “most imp ..read more

@la_fran_kite Frances Rivera never skied on two legs. Growing up in Puerto Rico, she didn’t have a lot of opportunity to take up snowsports, nor much interest. And when she lost her leg in 2011, the sport she turned to for fun and fitness was her lifelong passion: kiteboarding. “Kiteboarding is very similar to wakeboarding, but instead of getting pulled by a boat, you’re harnessing the wind,” Rivera explains. “You have a kite and four lines that connect to it, and that’s connected to a harness. I started in 2007, before I joined the military. I tried it out for a few hours and fell in love wi ..read more

Courtesy Phil Skiff We’d never heard of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) until late last year, when we discovered it by accident. Established in 1992, the CDMRP (quoting from its website) “fills research gaps by funding high-impact, high-risk and high-gain projects that other agencies may not venture to fund.” The goal is to support breakthrough innovations that have the potential to transform healthcare and solve longstanding problems. It’s heady stuff, but the federal government funds lots of big-brained science research. What sets the CDMRP apart is how thought ..read more

Your prosthetist has every right to fair compensation for his/her time, effort, and expertise. And you, the patient, have every right to a prosthetic solution that a) you can afford, and b) equips you for a healthy, happy life. Not many people would disagree with either of these statements. But the current system for buying and selling prosthetic devices seems designed to impede both objectives. As we described in Amplitude‘s recent look at the dysfunctional consumer market for prostheses (“Playing the Market,” in the March/April edition), it’s nearly impossible to parse the cost factors und ..read more

by Melissa Sterzick It was one of those days when, instead of rushing over to Trader Joe’s in my sweats, I had time to shower and brush my hair. After record-breaking rain, the sun was shining high above huge, fluffy clouds. I love grocery shopping and chatting with the cashiers at the store, if the lines aren’t long. My bags were full of all the veggies, meats, bread, and chocolate-covered caramels we like, and I was headed out to my car when a woman approached me breathlessly. “I know this is kind of weird,” she said, “but my husband and I are part of a charity that gives away prosthetic ar ..read more

This year’s para athletics national championships were unusually weighty. Held over the weekend at Mt. San Antonio College in southern California, the event was both a qualifier for the World Championships in May and a sneak preview of the US Paralympic Trials in July. The calendar isn’t usually this jam-packed with big meets, but international parasports agencies are still untangling the knots that the COVID pandemic tied into the schedule. Long story short, the Nationals were the first act in what promises to be an epic summer. No Paralympic roster spots were clinched, and plenty of drama ..read more

The US Paralympics Track & Field National Championships get underway Friday, kicking off a jam-packed 2024 calendar that includes three more pressure-packed meets—the World Para Athletics Championships in May, the Paralympic Trials in July, and the Paralympics in September—over the next six months. It’s the kind of grind that can wear an athlete down mentally, especially when things aren’t going well in training. But when you’re at the top of your game, a string of high-profile competitions provides a career-defining opportunity. Beatriz Hatz has seen it from both sides. Last year she ba ..read more

We haven’t received any pushback so far on our new article about the factors that drive sky-high prosthetic costs (“Playing the Market”). That’s a mild surprise, as healthcare costs are a complicated subject and often a sensitive one. Then again, it’s not any secret that prosthetic devices are distressingly expensive, and it’s not controversial to argue that lower prices are both desirable and possible. Quite the contrary: A consensus is forming that affordability is good not only for amputees but also for prosthetists, manufacturers, insurers, and the healthcare system overall. That’s why M ..read more

Nobody is suggesting that prosthetic research is broken. There’s too much progress taking place for that description to fit. Every year brings new breakthroughs in powered legs, dexterous hands, neuroprosthetics, smart sockets, and so forth. But there’s an obvious disconnect in translating those laboratory triumphs into widely shared wins for the limb-loss community. Innovations seemingly take forever to advance from the testing phase to the commercial market. And when they finally do get into general circulation, other barriers—including high costs, steep learning curves, bureaucratic obsta ..read more