As I lumber around my crappy life with the meat bricks attached to my ankles I know as feet, I look to the sky and scream “Isn’t there a better way!” Well it turns out that perhaps there is! Aimee Mullins is a prime example of how regular humans are just absolutely boring in every way.
Aimee was born without fibulae in both legs and as a result was assured she would be in a wheel chair for the rest of her life. To increase her mobility doctors amputated both legs below the knee before the age of one. By age two Aimee had learnt how to walk using prosthetic legs and now can beat you in a foot race and make you look like a chump in front of all your overweight friends. She then went on to be a part of the 1996 atlanta games where outfitted with woven carbon-fiber prostheses modeled after the hind legs of a cheetah, she went on to set World Records in the 100 meter, the 200 meter, and the long jump, creating a buzz over the radical design of her prototype sprinting legs. Including all the above which makes your life with two good legs look worse and worse. In addition to her philanthropy Aimee has gone on to be immortalized in magazines and museum’s all over the world.
Here comes the science
Can a person with steaks under their ankles be faster if said legs were amputated and replaced with a carbon fibre frame? Scientists are divided into two camps. some say that the amputated limbs can give a 400m sprinter upwards of 12 seconds of advantage over an athlete with meat clubs attached to their knees. Others say that it provides no advantage whatsoever.
In the case of Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee track runner, his fate has been flip flopping back and forth as scientists in whiny voices argue over which star trek captain was better and whether or not the prosthesis’ allow Oscar an advantage. Oscar was banned by the IAFF ( International Association of Athletics Federations) from competing in the 2008 summer olympics. However in 2009 an MIT study revealed that they believed there was no advantage from the limbs and the ban was lifted just in time to give Oscar Pistorius the considerably large proverbial shaft.
On the other hand, a counterpoint published in the Journal for Applied Physiology, Dr. Peter Weyand of Southern Methodist University and Dr. Matthew Bundle of the University of Wyoming claim from measuring physiological data that sprinters’ prosthetic legs can drop a runner’s 400 meter by up to 12 seconds.
Weyand and Bundle respond that “more erect limb posture” in leg-amputees, coupled with lower ground force “co-reduce the muscular forces required to attain the same sprint running speeds to less than half of intact-limb levels,” saying Pistorius needs half the strength to reach the same speeds as runners on biological legs.
The debate rages on however all involved no doubt recognize that one day the differences and gains that prosthesis’ will give will annhialate competition in competitive sports. Whether or not that day is today is still under question but a few facts remain Aimee Mullins has done more with no legs than you have done with two legs and is incredibly hot. Well I suppose that’s not a fact but all the same it’s hard to stay focused writing while I use my free hand to saw off these awful anchors I call legs.
sources via: Aimeemullins.com, Popsci.com
