How Paralympic Wheelchairs and Prostheses Are Optimized for Speed and Performance

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 04:30:00 GMT
Scientific American - Technology

The engineering and designs vary widely from sport to sport and athlete to athlete

As audiences across the world tune in to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, they will see athletes using an impressive array of high-tech prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs and other assistive technology.

"We design sporting equipment to get the best possible performance based upon the constraints and needs of that sport," explains Bryce Dyer, a sports technologist at Bournemouth University in England, who develops prostheses for athletes with disabilities.

In wheelchair fencing, for example, the wheels are locked into place while athletes strike and dodge from set positions.

So fencing chairs are equipped with leg straps and sturdy handles that help the athlete stay solidly seated.

A third wheel in the front of such a device enables a low, elongated shape, which works optimally with the athlete's position: kneeling and leaning forward.

In addition to suiting a specific sport, a device must serve each athlete's unique needs.

"Most of the equipment is custom-made: it's designed to get the most out of that individual athlete's physical body," says Ian Brittain, an associate professor of disability and Paralympic sport at Coventry University's Research Center for Business in Society in England.

Among athletes who compete in wheelchairs, similar customization is necessary.

"You have to bear in mind the commercial market for elite athletes is incredibly small, and in many cases, those athletes are sponsored," Dyer says.

Plus, Dyer adds, the engineers and designers who work with Paralympic athletes will learn some techniques they can apply to other people with amputations.

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