Responses to Transfemoral Competitive Rowing Prosthesis

Responses to Transfemoral Competitive Rowing Prosthesis

Chuck Kramarczyk

7/15/2010

Hello,

I have received many responses on my post, so I have organized them for
everyone to see. Here is my original post followed by all the responses.

I have a patient that wants to start participating in competitive rowing.
He is interested in getting a prosthesis that will aid him in this sport. I
was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of a knee that has push back
after flexion and an ankle with free motion. I would also be interested in
any other componentry or suggestions for this type of prosthesis.

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I have been involved in rowing with below knee amputees so I can't give
you any advice on the knee, but for an ankle we have found the best
option to be an LA ankle put on backwards. The standard range of motion
from the LA ankle isn't sufficient for the full rowing cycle, but this
range of motion can be achieved by grinding the ankle slightly. Due to
this I would recommend that the prosthesis is used purely for rowing and
not for everyday walking etc.

We have also utilised a multiflex ball attached to the top of the foot
to stop the ankle moving into too much dorsiflexion and to give the
amputee something to push back off due to the obvious lack of calf
musculature to do this job. Our research has shown this makes the rowing
stroke much more efficient and reduces the force required from the sound
leg at the start of the rowing stroke. This adaptation requires a hole
being drilled through the foot to attach the multiflex ball so again
reinforces the need for the leg to be used exclusively for rowing.

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XT9 knee- <URL Redacted>
Motion Hydraulic ankle foot from Motion Control- adjustable rotary
hydraulics and 50 degrees of motion.
<URL Redacted>

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Look into the bartlet tendon knee from left side inc:
<URL Redacted>
Also, if there's enough clearance, you could use an active ankle from rampro
unlocked.
O/w, try a venture foot. It's possible you'll need to hollow out the
bumpers to make it softer.

I have set up a number of these for bicycling, snowboarding, skiing, in-line
skating, and using the rowing machine.


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Rampro activankle is designed for water sports- it has a button to allow the
user to choose free flexion, or locked for walking between the boathouse and
boat etc. I don't think it would be great for walking any long distances-
they'd need a specific rowing prothesis really.


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Other suggestions were using an adjustable heel height foot and leave it
unlocked so it has free motion.

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I looked at all of these, we selected the activeankle from Rampro. We used
an old socket so he would have a separate rowing leg. We attached the
activeankle to a SACH foot and the knee we used was from Otto Bock, the
3R90. The patient is doing great, he is able to row thousands of meters a
day, and he is participates in a rowing club and practices a couple times a
week while rowing with his teammates on the local river. He also rows at
home and has had very little issues.

I hope this helps and thanks to everyone for replying to my original post.

Chuck Kramarczyk
Prosthetic Resident
<Email Address Redacted>