Study Proves That Specialized Prosthetic Legs Grant No Advantage In Sprinting

By Stuart Fox Posted 11.06.2009 at 9:32 am 7 Comments

This Leg Is Not An Advantage via Science Now

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.

The researchers came to this conclusion by measuring the amount of force generated against the ground by these specially designed false limbs. In all the cases, the fake limbs produced less energy than a regular human leg. Hard to believe that it wouldn't be obvious that someone with no legs couldn't run as fast as someone with two of them.

However, this only holds true for the current generation of replacement limbs, and the MIT study doesn't preclude a future where cyborg athletes smoke the merely human, across a range of sports.

[Science Now]

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7 Comments

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sirknala

11/06/09 at 12:54 pm

It's different equipment no matter what.

Two boats, a motorboat and a rowboat can both come back with similar numbers. But put them in a public race and it won't be considered fair.

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tentacleTherapist

11/06/09 at 1:34 pm

^, whereas the motorboat in that analogy provides a distinct advantage, the point of this study was to prove that a prosthetic leg does not. and apparently it does not.

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woodsbd

11/06/09 at 3:29 pm

What about muscle fatigue?

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melatonin17

11/06/09 at 6:17 pm

That it does. I'm sure that it is still much lighter than an actual human lower leg.

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A_Rock

11/07/09 at 3:50 am

I knew a wrestler who was missing a whole leg. The friggin whole thing. and it gave him a nearly 30 pound weight difference that he took full advantage of. This guy was supposed to weigh 165 and instead weighed 135. You may be amazed at the difference a few pounds can make on a high level athlete. So if prosthetic limbs are no longer a hindrance, then any weight reduction is an advantage. But a legal one. That being said in ten to 20 I might just be swappin out some limbs for upgrades lol

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mifdeath

11/07/09 at 4:34 pm

I have a sure fire way of telling the difference. Put two athletes with differing prosthetics in a race and see if they complain about the others prosthetic being (lighter, smaller, better sprung or whatever). If they complain then we know there is a difference between the prosthetics themselves and thus we can infer that there absolutely is a difference in performance from a prosthetic to a meat. since all prosthetics are not created equal, but humans essentially are.
In reality though, a runner using a prosthetic trains and builds different enough muscle groups for the competition to be flawed. IMHO

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Oakspar77777

11/09/09 at 4:15 pm

High athletics is not just about work, it is also about genetic advantage.

A 5'6" person will loose in sprints to a 6'4" person, all other factors equal.

So, we are not testing work in athletics - they all work very hard to be there. We are testing genetics (like in horse racing).

That an amputee works just as hard does not make him fit for the challenge. If he cannot do it on his own two legs (or stubs), then he is inferior for that race.

Is that fair? It is just as fair as being born 5'6", only now more easily compensated for. You wouldn't let the 5'6" guy have a stride extender claiming for "fairness" with the 6'4" guy, would you?

The Greekss competed naked, and after seeing what the super suits did to swimming, I can see why. If athletics is going to have aesthetics and not become the cyborg games, then the super shoes, suits, bikes, trigger releases, and the rest need to go.

I feel compasion for stubby and hate it that he isn't qualified for olympic competition, but most people are not.