A lot of people will have no idea what I'm talking about here. Recently I made improvements to my outriggers, which I use for skiing, and so here is the explanation so other disabled skiers can get some ideas.
With outriggers, it's really tough to hike in deep powder, so backcountry skiing for me has basically been limited to what I can traverse to without hiking. A friend and I recently came up with a solution.
I use the very popular Superlite outriggers. I thought about starting from scratch and making new outriggers, but for now, I'm sticking with these. First of all, the ski on the bottom is too long for me. I cut off several inches from the tail-end of them.
If you look at the resulting cross-section of the back of the outrigger ski, it's T-shaped. Out of plastic (nylon?) which is basically the thickness and strength of a cutting board, we machined these:
The fit is tight--flawless.
Here you can see exactly where we cut the ski, notice the hole drilled in the rear of the ski:
And with the new basket attached:
To keep it in place, we put a steel .25" pin through the hole that was drilled.
These work surprisingly well. I've hiked in 8" or so of powder and they did great. I would have no problem with much deeper powder. I take these off to ski, and I keep them in the front pockets of my jacket. The pin gets really cold, and becomes really hard to pull out and put in. I might use something different to replace it.
The protruding ski out the bottom is helpful when hiking uphill, because it digs in really nicely to boot-packed holes or just hard snow. Fixed-ski outriggers are difficult when hiking uphill--you usually have to turn them 90 degrees to engage the edge (for grip) and it's really awkward for your arms.
My brother and I finally finished editing footage of me from last year's ski season. Skiing is absolutely my favorite thing to do. This video just shows a small part of one of the best ski seasons of my life.
Okay, I've gotten a few emails about this, so hopefully this can help anyone who is interested in trying this out.
When I met my first prosthetist about 30 months ago, the first thing I demanded was 'have you ever seen a hip disartic run?' he tentatively said 'yes, it can be done.' That was where I first had the idea planted in my head: I will run.
Well, after switching around to different equipment and eventually to the C-Leg, I kind of backed off from my goal of running. I had heard that a handful of people could do it, but it required some funky equipment, like a reversed knee joint used as a hip, or fat rubber bands bolted to the socket. I also heard that the running wasn't very practical. It was painful, and was more of a hop-skip type of run. After hearing all this, I decided I didn't care very much about running, and would focus on getting better at walking.
In July of 2008, I was fitted with the new Otto Bock Helix hip joint. This meant a new socket as well, so it was a big switch for me. This hip joint was a long overdue product in the prosthetics world. It had been over 20 years since any advancements with a hip joint had been made. It is my understanding that basically one guy in Europe decided to tackle this project, and he put in 8 years of work perfecting it. If that guy is reading this, thanks a bunch man, you changed my life. You can read about the Helix hip on Otto Bock's site. I might talk about it in a later post.
Basically, what's so good about the Helix, in conjunction with the C-Leg, is that it reacts on-the-fly to any speed of walking. Its hydraulic stride limiter shortens your steps so you can walk faster; you're not always waiting for the leg to swing back towards you before you can step. Its elastic bands stretch as your prosthesis is on the ground, and as you complete your step, those bands pull and help initiate your next step forward. I like these two features a lot, and I think they are what you immediately notice when you walk with this hip.
The switch from a normal hip to a helix hip was more significant for me than the switch from a basic hydraulic knee to the c-leg. That's saying a lot. This hip helped me progress so much and motivates me to use my leg whenever I can.
In Spring of 2009, my prosthetist said 'so, have you tried running yet?'
'what? I can run on this equipment?'
'yeah you should be able to, I think the leg can adapt to the speed pretty well.'
That night, I went back to my dorm, and started tinkering. What I figured out is that I didn't really have to change any settings of the leg. It just works.
Here's the video of my first successful night: (no audio)
It was sloppy, but it felt good, I can tell you that.
I do realize that it's hardly running, more of a jog, but both feet are getting off the ground, foot-over-foot, so that's technically running.
Here are my settings:
C-Leg Dynamic Factor: 8 Extension Dampening: as low as possible Angle Threshold: 36*[this probably will vary from person to person]
Helix Hip These are the same settings I use for everyday walking.
here's a video of some better running. Notice that I start slow, speed up and then break into a run, and then transition right back into walking. This equipment is incredible.
How I run: with the above settings, I start walking. I focus on what I'm about to do: I'm going to jump off my foot onto my prosthesis and it will hold up under me.
Trusting your prosthesis is vital. It's probably the toughest part to commit to making the jump into running. Once you're walking quickly, leap off of your sound leg onto your prosthesis, and just let your body swing through back to your sound leg. This was scary for me because a) I thought my prosthesis was going to break and b) I thought I was going to fall hard.
I did fall hard, many times. I actually got rug burns from the hallway floor, and I hurt my wrists from falling so hard, over and over . If anyone is considering trying this, I would recommend short grass (I ran down a fairway on a golf course the other day and it worked great) or a gymnastics tumbling floor. Wrist pads may sound stupid, but it's a good idea.
Once you get a rhythm down, It's safer. I run in parking lots now, and just about anywhere I want. It is physically exhausting, and I probably expend more energy than when sprinting able-bodied. Walking with a hip-level prosthesis has been measured as requiring up to 200% the energy of able-bodied walking, and is around 100x as difficult. I believe the 100x figure is less with the Helix+C-leg, because I know that the study was done before the Helix was available. However, I think that running like this definitely uses more than 200% the energy of able-bodied walking. It's extremely difficult to do, but very satisfying. Sometimes, just to remind myself that I can, I'll run to my car or in my apartment. It's just one of those little things that makes me happy.
Good luck to anyone who tries this. If anyone has questions, comment here, or message me on Facebook.
What's up, it's been a while. I just have been getting going with the school year at Brigham Young University, and haven't had time to post anything.
One of my intentions for this site was for it to be a source of information for other high-level amputees like myself. For those of you who don't know, my leg was amputated at the hip in 2006 after a boating accident. When I was in the hospital, my family scoured the internet for information, and found a great site: hphdhelp.org. Other than that site, there isn't much information out there.
As far as amputation classification goes, I am between a hip disarticulation and a hemipelvectomy. Part of my pelvis was cut out in my accident, but since I still have most of it remaining, for the purpose of this site, I am a hip disartic.
I have always had good balance, ever since I was a little kid. I was also fortunate enough to not have any terrible injuries from my accident (other than amputation) that really hinder me in my activities. These two facts contribute greatly to the success I've found, particularly with walking on a prosthesis. I know everyone's situation is different, so don't ever compare yourself to other amputees directly and feel inadequate because of it.
All the time I have random people come up to me and say something like "hey, my cousin lost his foot and he runs in marathons on that c-shaped blade leg! I bet you do too, right?" I don't fault these people for comments like this, because they are just relating what they know about prosthetics to me. What most people don't understand is that high-level amputations limit mobility so much because we have to control more artificial joints, lug around an extra 15 pounds or so, and there is always the possibility of falling flat on your face during any given step.
There are a few amputees that I really look up to, who do amazing things with prosthetic equipment. It has taken me over two intensive years to get to the walking skill level I'm at now, and I'm always inspired by the other guys that do so well. and by the people that learned to walk on equipment that is bulky, crude and unstable compared to what's available these days. I'm also always trying to get better, so if anyone has any good ideas that they want to share, I want to hear them.
As for equipment, I currently use a traditional hard socket with silicone lining, Otto Bock Helix 3D hip, Otto Bock C-leg and Otto Bock Trias foot. I also use a Ferrier Coupler and a rotator.
I haven't done anything with this site in forever, but I'm about to. I will be posting updates about my activities, accomplishments, experiments and experiences on this site.
My photography will be posted on chandlerbalkmanphotography.blogspot.com
If anyone has been checking this site periodically, sorry that it's dead for quite a while. That will change.
