Sports-Specific Prostheses: An Overview

The goal of this manuscript is to provide an update and review new technologic advances in adaptive sports-specific prostheses. The review focused on how a sports-specific prosthesis may differ from a general, everyday prosthesis as well as how the modifications to the prosthesis improve performance in the given sport.

The majority of the new advances in sports-specific prosthesis occurred in the immediate time following the September 11th attack and the subsequent military conflicts leading to an increase in the number of persons with traumatic amputations. There was a spike in the number of younger, healthier individuals with amputations (compared to dysvascular amputations) who were seeking opportunities to continue with high-level physical activity despite limb loss. There have been advances in the designs of sports-specific prostheses in a wide variety of sports; however, from the literature review, the majority of the research is being performed on running prostheses. The research has studied the impact on patient satisfaction and quality of life as well as the metabolic cost of running for athletes with lower limb amputation compared to those without an amputation. Similar studies have been performed recently on the youth population with lower limb deficiency. Lastly, there has been literature on a proposed framework for development of high-performance prosthetic limbs for parasports.

Overall, the advances in sport-specific prostheses that are being designed and developed are outpacing the research on their impact. It is wonderful to see the scientific world embrace these opportunities for people with impairments to overcome their deficits and still participate in physical activity, recreational, and competitive sports. There needs to be more studies on adaptive and parasports and in particular the impact of these new advanced designs on sports performance.