Meet Jarryd Solomons, a kind, soft-spoken, active individual. He is a student, an athlete and an amputee.
mputees on the athletics field are not news any more. As exemplified by Samkelo Radebe, it’s quite obvious that amputees are able to compete in the athletics arena with times of some of the world’s best able-bodied runners. If it wasn’t for decades of research and development on the topic of blade running, I’m sure many amputees would never have achieved this type of performance.
But have you ever seen an amputee-athlete prancing around and going about normal daily life with their blades on? That’s because those blades weren’t made for walking. The human gait cycle is such a detailed process and it differs so immensely from a running cycle that developers have been unable to design a daily prosthetic foot that could take its user from walking to running in less than a second. That was until now…
Jarryd and the newly launched Otto Bock Challenger Foot are a match made in heaven. The name of the foot says it all – bring on the hurried lifestyles, flights of stairs and rough terrain – challenge accepted! The lightweight carbon spring foot offers the amputee the ease of use and flexibility to adapt to any of life’s physical challenges in a split second.
Factors like socket comfort and volume control play in the user’s favour now, because there is really no need to use different sockets or take off the prosthesis before taking part in more challenging activities, such as jogging, hiking or cycling. It also means that the standard prosthesis won’t hinder the user from walking faster or doing a light jog when they choose to do so.
Jarryd says that the Challenger Foot gives him the ability to run comfortably and powerfully with marked forward propulsion while allowing him literally to jump back into normal daily life with no effort.
Jarryd is a kind, soft-spoken, active individual who lost his leg when he was involved in a motorcycle accident in 2013. Before his accident, he could run 100 m in 11 seconds. So we are very excited to follow his progress!
In our eyes he is quite the hero and we are sure he will make it to the next Paralympic games in Tokyo!
Heinrich Grimsehl is a prosthetist in private practice and a member of the South African Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (SAOPA). email: info@hgprosthetics.co.za
