Amputee Life — Amputee News

Blake Leeper, one of the world's fastest bilateral amputee runners, needs to run on a shorter set of running-specific prosthetic legs if he wants to bid for a spot on the US Olympic team.

Sensory feedback in prosthetic limbs helps people move better. Researchers embedded sensors on a prosthetic leg, allowing users to feel when it flexes and contacts the ground. Regaining the ability to feel through their prosthetic limbs allowed users to walk quickly and confidently. It also decreased phantom limb pain.

A recent study found that more veterans are more likely to lose a limb to disease postservice than in conflict. The researchers perused data on 253,000 nonveterans and 78,000 veterans born between 1945 and 1995. The study is published in the BMJ Journals.

This April, we celebrate the 10th Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month (LLAM). It has been a decade since the Amputee Coalition first sought to raise awareness on limb loss through a 30-second video shown in a Times Square billboard. And a lot has happened that improved limb loss awareness in that decade.

More people can now enjoy Manhattan Beach in Southern California as officials from the Department of Beaches and Harbors installed a Mobi-Mat across the sand. It has made the beach more accessible to people who use prosthetic legs, canes, walkers, wheelchairs, and other assistive devices.