Dear Colleagues,
The following responses are plentiful and I am sorry quite lengthy. Out of
respect to the many writes, I have left them in their original composition.
>>
One of our Lecturers (Professors) had a client/patient that rode motorcycles.
The lecturer has now retired, and we don’t see this client now, but I remember
him telling me how he had his ‘bike modified so he could ride again. He is a
short left BE, and I think he used a supracondylar type suspension. Anyway he
said that he had all the hand controls on one side transferred to his sound
side – he had two levers, one for the clutch and one for the brake, as well as
the throttle all operated by his sound limb. I think the clutch and brake
levers were linked so they operated together. On the prosthetic side he had
some sort of receptacle to lock his TD onto the handle bar. He said that a
company that modified motorbikes for racing did the work. Of course he had to
do his riding test again to regain his license.
>>
Wow do I have a story for you…
Please forgive me for the length of this reply.
Would you believe this is exactly what led me to get into this profession
in the first place?
About 15 years ago I raced desert (motorcycles) in Las Vegas, NV. One of
the guys I raced with was a right trans humeral amputee. He wore a
standard socket made by his prosthetist with conventional harnessing (as I
recall.) Distal to the socket were custom pieces made by a machinist.
Here is a description as best as I can remember. Please bear in mind that
I knew absolutely nothing about prosthetics back then.
I don’t think he used any type of elbow. The forearm section was a
stainless steel rod about 1/2″ diameter. The terminal device was a
universal joint like that of a tie rod end on a car–and in fact it may
have been a tie rod end or steering damper rod of some kind. The female
end of this universal joint slid over the handle bars into the proper
location (about where the center of the hand grip would be.) On each
side of that was a small barrell that was tapped so a set screw could be
used to hold the barrells in place. These barrells, as I call them, were
firmly attached to the handle bar on each side of the universal joint–this
allowed the universal joint to move freely about the handle bar in a
circular fashion without sliding off.
I don’t recall exactly how he donned this set-up but as I recall this
prosthesis including the socket and harness were solely used for
riding/racing and therefore the handle bar attachment was somewhat
permanent. I do know that when he crashed he almost always broke the arm
or tore the harness on his exit from the bike. On occassion when the
prosthesis did not break, he remained attached to the bike and sometimes
suffered some shoulder strain as you might expect.
I guess I should mention, although it may be obvious, that the throttle,
clutch and front brake lever were all mounted on the sound side. Since we
were racing and only used the clutch to start, as opposed to shifting, the
brake lever was mounted in the standard position on the bar and the clutch
was rotated much lower.
I have not talked with this guy for many years but a couple of years ago I
did obtain a few photos of one of his newer set-ups. I could try and fax
them but not sure how they would turn out. Although I no longer live in
Vegas, I am confident I could make a few calls and contact the machinist
that has worked on his arm more recently if you might be interested in
contacting him directly.
By the way, I was not yet 20 years old when I met this guy and became
interested in his prosthesis purely from a mechanical stand point. For
almost ten years I would often think about it wondering if such a career
existed where people could really make something like this for a living.
Well, those thoughts caused me to research the field of prosthetics. Five
years later I had completed my undergrad in O&P and I am so thankful to my
old friend — although he has no idea I do this.
I would be happy to lend whatever help I may to you and your patient. If
you would like me to try and fax the pictures I have just e-mail your
number.
I do hope this helps.
Dan Selleck
work ph: 949-581-3890
>>
i dont know much about arm prosthesis, im a RAK who would like to ride
again…i lost my leg on a bike after hitting a tree at about 95 mph. i
heard of one guy, who lost an arm, who had a prosthesis made with a fake
hand that was molded so it fit around the grip on the handlebar. the hand
was used when he wanted to ride. i dont know if that will help….good luck
—–Original Message—–
>>
Pat, I fit a previously unsatisfied AE who wanted to mountain bike ride. I
fit him with a silicone suspension prosthesis with voluntary closing TRS-Grip.
TRS also had bicycle conponentry to adapt to the prosthesis (i.e.- gear shift
controller.) The patient was extremely satisfied. I know the situations are
not the same, but similar. My first step would be to call TRS. If anyone has
seen it or done it (sports uppers) they would probably know. Good luck.
Todd Norton, C.P.
>>
I know of a local street rider who is a Left BE (from a motorcycle rta) and
still rides a CBR900RR to the limit without a prosthesis. He had the clutch
control moved to the Right side with a thumb lever and had the left handle
bar completely removed; he also had the sleeve of his leathers altered to
protect his stump. There are also many racers who have limited use of their
limbs and have altered controls. For off-road use bilateral handle bars
would probably be needed.
Hope this helps once a rider always a rider. All the best, mind how you go.
Dan Nolan
Daniel A. Nolan, SSgt, USAF
>>
Pat–
By all means, YES! There are few reasons a BE could not use and benefit from
a prosthesis–even with complicating scars, etc. And riding a motorcycle is
no problem. One of our patients used to be the Harley Davidson dealer here in
Salt Lake City. He is an ABOVE ELBOW amp (lost his arm while riding…) and
still rides–including Motocross. In fact he had a crash last year (unrelated
to use of a prosthesis) that gave him a pretty good head injury that has taken
some time to get better–but, he’s back on the bike now!!!
We have developed, for him especially, a TD for use in riding the bikes with
limited modification to the bike.
As for his prosthesis, I would suggest trying a Toronto 3/4 socket, made froma
flexible material like American SemiFlex or Flexilene. If additional
protection is necessary use a Silipos sheath. I have not found that the use
of a silicone suction liner ala ICEROSS, Alpha, etc. is practicle for a
BE–too much motion and stretching, i.e., unstable.
If you are unfamiliar with the 3/4 design, Bill Sauter of the Hugh McMillan
Cetre in Toronto invented it and published a short article in ACPOC Journal in
about 1987. (I told him if he wasn’t going to, I would becasue it is such a
great idea–I use them almost exclusively for both myoelectric AND
conventional BE fittings).
Feel free to give me a call if you need more info–801-328-9728. I am a
vailable for consultation work as well if needed.
>>
Hey Pat, have you tried an alpha type liner with a pin system on this guy?
I’m a student at U of W in Seattle and still learning so if my suggestion
is way off base,,,,please take that into cosideration. Dave
>>
Pat,
When I first saw your message, I thought it sounded like one of my
current patients.
I have a young man in his early twenties who presented with a traumatic
L-BE, 4-5 inches, the skin was grafted and still had open sores due to
the crush injury that was the reason for the amputation. He wanted to
ride his motorcycle again and go bow hunting. For his first prosthesis, I
fit a conventional BE socket, fig. 9 harness, USMC quick disconnect
wrist, and a TRS VC terminal device. He could set the wrist in a locked
position for bow hunting and in free rotation for riding the bike. Six
months later I fit him with his new prosthesis due to shrinkage. He is
doing very well and I’m surprised that he is still alive because he has
talked about racing. What is interresting about this patient is that he
is freinds with a another long term patient of mine who is a L-BE, L-HD,
who as a kid raced bicycles and moved up to motorcycles. This kid used a
7LO hook and used to bring them in bent out of shape. I hope this is what
you were looking for and if you would like to discuss this and exchange
ideas, please call me.
Steve Childs, BOCP, C.Ped.
Pacific Orthotic Prosthetic Service
490 Murphy Road
Medford, OR 97504
(541) 776-4948
>>
Pat
if you know of a therapist who does deep tissue massage to mobilize his
grafts and suture lines, do that first. it will make anything you fit
work much better.
>>
I am a LBE who has been riding motorcycles for about 45 years. My first
bike was a 1952 Simplex Motorbike. Most of the bikes I have ridden/owned
have been in the100cc to 250cc range, although I have ridden Harleys &
Gold Wings. I participated in many competitions like timed enduros and
field trials. I was born with one arm, and have never used a prothesis
and I didn’t know I couldn’t race motorcycles. None of my cycles had
been modified in any way. Please let me know if I can answer any
specific questions you might have.
Gene
