In recent years there has been increasing attention paid to disabilities in athletics. As always, the attention is both positive and negative. One topic in particular is of much debate in competitions such as the Olympics. Through the participation of athletes with disabilities who have prosthetics in the Olympics, some have posed the physiological and ethical question if the athletes with the prosthetics have an advantage over the other athletes.
One man particularly sparked the controversy. Oscar Pistorius is a South African professional sprinter and at 11 months old, he had both of his feet amputated due to a congenital defect. He is a was not allowed to participate in the 2008 Olympics due to his prosthetics. The prevention was based on the research of German scientists that showed mechanical advantage (Gert-PeterBrüggemann et al., 2009). There was a lot of resistance to prevent him from participating based off of little research. An American group of scientists began research in an effort to find more data. The hope was to find unbiased data that could help athletes with disabilities. After the counter study found data that proved his artificial limbs were incredibly close to the"able-bodied" athletes he was allowed to participate in the next competition. He became the first double amputee to partake in the 400-meter dash in the Olympics in 2012 (Kwon, 2017).
Scientists subsequently conducted more studies on prosthetics after Pistorius’ win. The scientists continued to conduct research to collect more data about ethics of prosthetics in athletics. There are a surplus of ethical questions swirling around the highly controversial topic. Are prosthetics providing an upper hand? How dare someone try and bar someone from participating in a competition due to physical ability? Is this discrimination? Can someone alter their own prosthetic to have an advantage?
There are loads of studies, so I selected a couple in order to try and paint a better picture of the research going on for both sides of the discussion. A study conducted by University of Washington's Department of Rehabilitation medicine demonstrated that the stiffness of leg muscles
and the angle the foot hits a surface while running causes the leg muscle to adjust (Morgenroth, 2016). Prosthetics are incredibly specific to the physical activity being done. This means that the prosthetic cannot adapt like a non-prosthetic leg. The stiffness of the "blade"(prosthetic) cannot be adjusted. This finding provides evidence that a prosthetic is actually a disadvantage. The athlete with
prosthetics will have a harder time accelerating out of the beginning of the race due to the specificity of the prosthetic (Morgenroth, 2016). On the other hand, there was an advantage discovered in
the same study. The blades allow the athletes to accelerate to their top speed they can stay at it longer with less effort because the blades are not as heavy as flesh and blood limbs. While this may be a source of slight advantage most scientists believe that this advantage is so negligible that it does not greatly impact the overall performance (Morgenroth, 2016).
In combing through studies, I found that in the end they roughly say the same thing. There
are advantages and disadvantages. It comes down to the person on what they want to believe. With this in mind the popular opinion of scientists is when weighed against the other they about cancel each other out (Kwon, 2017). Someone may put more value on one con or one pro than someone else but there are so many people doing this then it again cancels out.
References
Brüggemann, G. , Arampatzis, A. , Emrich, F. and Potthast, W. (2008), Biomechanics of double
transtibial amputee sprinting using dedicated sprinting prostheses. Sports Technol., 1:
Greenemeier, L. (2019). Blade Runners: Do High-Tech Prostheses Give Runners an Unfair Advantage?.
Retrieved 2 October 2019, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/blade-runners-do-
high-tech-prostheses-give-runners-an-unfair-advantage/
Kwon, D. (2019). A Prosthetic Advantage?. Retrieved 2 October 2019, from https://www.the-s
cientist.com/notebook/a-prosthetic-advantage-30236
Leah, I found this post very interesting. Unfortunately, whenever we study the advantages and disadvantages of anything in respect to the most athletic population on the planet, it is hard to pinpoint exactly what is helping them/ hurting them. There is very little data on olympic athletes that are not associated with time based events (example: trap shooting, combat, and team based events) (Pyne et al. 2009). I personally think that when we are considering the competition of peak human performance, we should not be punishing those with disabilities even if theoretically it gives them a "slight advantage". It is important to continue research on the benefits, so that we may set limits, but not to exclude an athlete that has dedicated their entire life to his or her sport.
ReplyDeleteFor much of my life I have followed college/ olympic wrestling, and I remember in 2011 there was a lot of controversy over a wrestler by the name of Anthony Robles who was born with only one leg. He trained his entire life to become a collegiate wrestler. In 2011, he defied the odds and won a national championship. Almost immediately, critics were claiming that it was unfair because he was missing a leg he had the upper body strength of a wrestler in a higher weight class, and due to the physical nature of wrestling strength is a very important aspect. I personally found these comments disgusting and it was very difficult for me to understand why people needed to minimize his accomplishments. He had a very interesting quote following his national championship that I would like to share, “The missing leg didn’t seem like an advantage when I was getting pinned every other match in ninth grade”- Anthony Robles. In conclusion, I agree with your final statement that competition between individuals at peak human performance, it really boils down to the determination of the athlete. Thank you for your post, it was very thought provoking!
References:
Pyne, D., Mujika, I. and Reilly, T. (2009). Peaking for optimal performance: Research limitations and future directions. Journal of Sports Sciences, 27(3), pp.195-202.
https://www1.cbn.com/700club/disabled-wrestling-champ-unstoppable-god
This is a super interesting controversy in sports at the moment, due to the incredible potential of technology and prosthetics today. One of our dear family friends had been a runner for her entire life, until she suffered a terrible knee injury. After having surgery, it was discovered that she has scleroderma, a disease that results in excessive buildup of scar tissue, which made her knee almost completely immobile. Several surgeries and one severe infection later, she made the impossible decision to have her leg amputated above the knee. Two years after the amputation, she can finally just now walk without a cane. Her new leg is made of carbon fiber, is super lightweight, and has bluetooth capabilities that allow her to change the setting via her iPhone. It is incredible technology, to be sure. However, to this day she still walks with a very noticeable limp, despite years of physical therapy. To this day, my friend still has not been able to run. The strength it takes to even go through normal, everyday life with a prosthetic is so admirable, I can't imagine what it would take to be a professional athlete. It takes such strength to push through that adversity that athletes with prosthetics should be admired for the strength it would take to prevail given the hand they were dealt.
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