Review
Carbon fibre prostheses and running in amputees: A review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fas.2008.05.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Amputee sport performance has greatly improved over the past 20 years along with the development of carbon fibre prostheses. As the margins between winning and losing become smaller, athletes increasingly rely on prosthetic limb technology to give them an edge over other competitors and break existing records. Originally, the aim of improving prostheses was to try to increase performance by reducing the functional disadvantage of the prosthetic foot compared to the human foot. However, claims have been made recently that not only have the functional disadvantages been redressed, but today's sprint prostheses may provide a mechanical advantage over the human limb. This review will present what is currently known about carbon fibre prostheses and their effect on the running technique of transtibial amputees.

Section snippets

The development of carbon fibre prostheses

After the invention of the SACH foot (Ohio Willow Wood, Ohio, USA) in the late 1950s, the design and material did not change much until a major development in the early 1980s. Two pieces of carbon fibre, a lightweight, flexible and strong material more commonly used in aeronautics at the time, were used to build a foot that more easily enabled sports participation (Fig. 1). Each time body weight moves over this flexible foot, it compresses and energy is stored. As body weight shifts off the

Power output and energy return

There are different ways of calculating mechanical energy, so one has to be careful when comparing results. Energy is the capacity to do work and these terms are often used interchangeably. If a carbon fibre foot is modeled as a simple spring, work done to compress the spring can be calculated by the integration of a force–displacement curve [2] (Fig. 3). No spring is 100% efficient as a result of friction and energy loss such as heat and noise; thus there will be a difference in the

Conclusions

What is known about the effect of carbon fibre prostheses on amputee running is limited by the number of studies, subjects and chosen running speeds. Current running prostheses do not match the human foot in terms of energy efficiency, and due to having to reduce loading on their residual limb, amputees cannot compensate enough at the hip to match the total energy generated in a human limb. Carbon fibre prostheses, although considerably lighter than a human limb, allow amputees to reach the

References (30)

  • Lechler K. Personal communication;...
  • M.D. Geil

    Energy storage and return in dynamic elastic response prosthetic feet

    Pediatric gait, 2000. A new millennium in clinical care and motion analysis technology

    (2000)
  • L. Nolan et al.

    Touch-down and take-off characteristics of the long jump performance of world level above- and below-knee amputee athletes

    Ergonomics

    (2000)
  • L. Nolan et al.

    A biomechanical analysis of the long-jump technique of elite female amputee athletes

    Med Sci Sport Exerc

    (2006)
  • Cited by (123)

    • Walking characteristics of runners with a transfemoral or knee-disarticulation prosthesis

      2020, Clinical Biomechanics
      Citation Excerpt :

      Running with a transfemoral prosthesis generally requires a tremendous personal effort and training in order to develop the necessary strength in both the amputated and intact lower limbs. Fortunately, the recent technological advances in prosthetic components have paved the way for more individuals with a transfemoral amputation to participate and engage themselves in running activity (Nolan, 2008). Walking characteristics have been widely analyzed in general population of individuals with transfemoral amputation.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text