For athletes who are new to limb loss, pursuing competitive sports with a prosthetic device can feel awkward and uncertain. You may be wondering if you’ll ever throw a baseball as well as you did before, or how you’ll manage to score a goal with your new prosthetic foot.
Thanks to today’s prosthetic limbs technology, you can still dominate the basketball court while wearing your prosthesis! Here are five athletes with prosthetic devices who are sure to ignite the competitive spirit inside of you.
#1: Jeremy Campbell
What do you do when you’re born without your right fibula? You set a new Paralympic world record for discus, that’s what.
Jeremy Campbell wanted to become the first disabled athlete to launch a discus 60 feet in an official competition, which he achieved. But it was his world record throw of 62.18 meters at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England, that really set him apart from other discus competitors. Now, Jeremy wants to compete not only in the Paralympics, but also against “able-bodied” athletes.
#2: Aimee Mullins
One of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World,” Aimee Mullins was born without fibula bones in both legs. She had her legs amputated below the knee on her first birthday, and learned to walk with prosthetic legs by her second birthday.
Aimee never let her prosthetic legs keep her from enjoying normal childhood activities! Whatever her friends were doing -- swimming, skiing, playing soccer -- Aimee was right there with them. Now, she’s a Paralympic athlete.
#3: Scott Schroeder
After a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan took both his legs and one arm, soldier Scott Schroeder refused to stop enjoying SCUBA diving.
He now wears two prosthetic legs and one prosthetic arm, and has special flippers attached to his legs so that he can explore underwater worlds. Scott Schroeder is proof that with today’s prosthetic limbs technology, losing a limb (or two, or four) doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun anymore!
#4: Hugh Herr
After a terrible climbing accident resulted in the loss of his legs as a teenager, Hugh Herr might have been justified in never climbing a cliff again -- but of course, that’s not his story. Even when one of his prosthetic legs fell off during a climb, he simply waited for it to be lifted up to him before continuing to the top.
Aside from running a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that makes bionic legs, Hugh Herr also insists that prosthetic limbs aren’t a disadvantage at all -- they’re actually an advantage.
#5: Bob Radocy
Not only does Bob Radocy wear a prosthetic hand, he also designs prosthetic devices that give athletes the ability to participate in multiple sports. After losing his hand in a car accident, Bob experimented with multiple prosthetic devices before becoming frustrated enough to just design his own.
Ultimately, Bob’s prosthetic hand design gave him the ability to not only enjoy any sport he wanted, but to be competitive with his two-handed friends, as well.
BioTech Is Your Expert on Prosthetic Limbs Technology for Athletes!
Ready to start writing your own inspirational athletic story? Contact BioTech today to recognize your possibilities as an athlete with a prosthetic device!