What Is Different About Athletic Prosthetics?
Researchers estimate that between 15,000 and 20,000 people who use prosthetics compete actively in sports. Nearly 5,000 athletes using prosthetics take part in organized competitive teams, and over 2,200 are Paralympians. Many patients also self-report that exercising helps them with stress and keeps them active.
With all those athlete patients, it’s no surprise there’s a market for athletic prosthetics. Here’s more information about how athletic prosthetics is made and why vital it is to find the right sports prosthetic for each athlete.
The most amazing part about athletic prosthetics is that it doesn’t matter if a patient has an above knee, a below knee, or an upper extremity prosthetic. There are athletic prosthetic designs to suit each athlete or competitor. Most patients have a leg prosthetic. This means there are many ways for athletes to adapt for their chosen sport with a prosthetic leg.
Central fabrication allows athletes to add or replace their prosthetic leg with different devices. For example, swimmers can use a mono fin advanced prosthetic for their competitions. Other limb prosthetics for athletes include BK sockets for running, Van Ness sockets for competitive running, custom rollerblades, and even carbon fiber blades for the fastest running possible.
Other Ways to Enjoy Sports With Prosthetic Legs
If you have patients who love to play baseball or softball, there are pinch hitter devices. These allow them to focus on hitting the ball rather than their stances. After they hit the ball, they can focus on running and base stealing.
What if your patients love basketball? Basketball is one of the easiest sports to play with a prosthetic limb. Patients can choose to play in a wheelchair if they prefer to play without a prosthesis. They can choose a carbon fiber prosthetic that may give them a great range of motion. In fact, prosthetic technologies have come so far, your athletic patients can play with both lower limb and upper limb prosthetics.
If you have an patient who loves to swim and scuba dive, there are specialized central fab monofins for swimming and snorkeling. Scuba fins can also be used to dive to the depths of the ocean without trouble.
No matter what kind of sport patients play, prosthetic fabrication makes it easier for them to enjoy the sports they love. Of course, patients don’t have to be serious competitors to enjoy more speed and flexibility.
What if you have patients who aren’t into sports, but they are sports fans? You might want to suggest they add their sports team logo, or a photo/painting of their favorite player right onto their prosthetic. You can even suggest they have their prosthetic painted in team colors. Spray skins can be added for prostheses to make them look more like a natural leg, but they can also be painted in team colors as well.
Grace Prosthetics is Here to Customize Athletic Prosthetics for Patients
When you have patients who need athletic prosthetics, you need to send them to us. Grace Prosthetic Fabrication has been at the forefront of prosthetic innovation for the last 30 years. We are the inventors of Grace Gauntlets and Grace Plates, which are patented innovative technologies that make prostheses work efficiently and no matter how hard patients play. Why not get in touch with us today, and let us help you find the perfect prosthetic device for your patients?
