Episode 4 - Life and Limb

For some people, a chance life event can change everything. Injury or disease may require amputation- the loss of a limb. But not necessarily a loss of your game. In this episode, you’ll hear the story of these special athletes, the coaches that inspire them, and the doctors and that heal them.

We begin at a basketball clinic held at the Mission Bay campus of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). As we walk in, there’s a heated scrimmage between members of the Golden State Warriors Coaching staff and members of a basketball team calledAMP1. AMP1 is a basketball team composed of players from all over the country, all of whom are amputees. They practice on their own, and then fly in to play games or run clinics, like those organized by the Amputee Comprehensive Training (ACT) Program at UCSF.

People of all ages and backgrounds came to participate in this clinic. We hear some of their stories and why they came to participate. The overriding theme is that the participants enjoyed meeting other people like themselves- other people with prosthetic legs. They really benefit from being in a supportive community that makes them feel safe trying new things- things they haven’t done in some time. It’s also nice to get some support from the local professional basketball team and to get a high-five from Warriors coach and former NBA player, Luke Walton.

After getting an experience of what it’s like to play high performance sports as an amputee, Alex takes us on a tour of the facility at UCSF where custom prosthetics are made. He’s tells us about the process of working together with patients, and helping them achieve their goals. They’re not just looking to walk again, but rather they want to play sports, go hiking, swimming, and/or many other activities that most of us take for granted.

Generating an artificial limb is not as straight-forward as you might think. A lot of people think you can just stand on the end of the limb, but when the bone is cut, it can be quite painful. This is because limbs normally have built in shock absorbers, such as joints that help absorb the pressure of impact of the body’s weight against the ground when walking or running. In the case of an amputee, the pressure of the body’s weight must be distributed somewhere else.

In this month’s episode, we learn about how prosthetics are personalized to the individual amputee. In doing so, we gain some insight into the personal connection between patient and prosthetic. Although there may be some parallels between prosthetics and mechanical things like bikes, Alex and his colleagues see each prosthetic as an extension of an individual.

To hear more about these stories, and about how modern technology combined with old school heart and desire are helping amputees stand-up and shoot for their dreams, tune in to this month’s episode of Bone Lab Radio.

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AMP1 Basketball is the only organized team of amputees playing stand-up (rather than wheelchair) basketball in the United States. They are coached by co-founder Tyler Hyatt. Tyler spoke to us about his experience as an amputee and player with AMP1 basketball.

Watch a video of them playing here.

Alex Hetherington graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Bioengineering. He has conducted medical device research in both industry and academia. At UCSF, Alex coordinates care and treatment plans for prosthetic prescriptions. A primary goal of his research is to define improved patient outcomes and novel prosthetic concepts. Alex is also the Director of the ACT Program within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCSF, where he organizes the basketball clinic and other activities for amputees.

Credits

Music: I am Running Down a Long Hallway - Chris Zabriskie, Along The Hwy - Alex Fitch, Viper - Ray Rude

Artwork: Michelle Woronowicz

Production: Jeannie Bailey, Jennifer Fish, Jenny Qi, Kate Woronowicz

Episode 4 - Life and Limb by The Bone Lab is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.