Tom Whittaker's prosthesis - summary

Tom Whittaker's prosthesis - summary

Santosh Zachariah

6/11/1998

List-members,

here is a summary of responses to my earlier request
for details regarding Tom Whittaker's climbing prosthesis.

Thanks to
Ted A. Trower < <Email Address Redacted> >,
Jerry Nelson < <Email Address Redacted> >, and
Steve Childs < <Email Address Redacted> >
for their responses.

Mr Whittaker has a Syme amputation. The socket of his
prosthesis looks like a carbon-fibre single-piece socket.
The footpiece is a Flex-Foot Syme foot, with a crampon
directly integrated into it. [The Flex-Foot Syme mounts
on the posterior of the socket, and should not be confused
with the low-profile Flex-Foot.] The prosthesis weighs 2
pounds (just under 1 kilogram). Wayne Wilkerson, SCOPE,
San Diego, has made silicone liners for Mr. Whittaker, but
I do not know if they are part of his climbing prosthesis.
People Weekly magazine of May 11th 1998 has some
pictures of Mr. Whittaker with different models of his
prosthesis. It looks like the inner liner of the climbing
version covers the entire residual limb.

I initially asked my question because I was curious to
know what adaptations had been made for the extreme
cold of high-altitude mountaineering. Reduced circulation
to the extremities must be a problem, and I would think
this would increase the risk of skin breakdown, especially
on long climbing days such as summit day. I have not been
able to find any information addressing this in the public
domain. From various pictures, it would seem that the
inner liner provides sufficient insulation from the cold.

Sorry for the delay in this summary - it took me some time
to track down a copy of People Weekly.

If you have got this far, you may be interested in visiting
<URL Redacted>
Pete Rieke, a paraplegic, is attempting to reach the summit
of 14,411-foot Mt. Rainier on a hand-cranked snow-cat-like
vehicle. He is currently at about 11,000 feet, 5,500 feet into
his 9000-foot climb. He estimates that the next 3,500 feet
will take him another two to three days.

Congratulations to the practitioners and engineers who
make such feats possible.


Santosh Zachariah
Department of Bioengineering
University of Washington, Seattle.