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)
Hip Disartic Running from Chandler Balkman on Vimeo.
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.
Running II from Chandler Balkman on Vimeo.
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.
-Chandler
