PARALYMPIC sprinters wearing left-leg prostheses are slowed significantly more than athletes with right-leg amputations when running on a bend, reports a University of Colorado Boulder study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Left leg prostheses: present significant reduction in speed
According to Paolo Taboga, lead study author, it is a disadvantage that could cost them dearly in competition. In the study, Taboga found showed lower left-leg amputee athletes sprinting in the inside lane of an indoor track ran about 4% slower than athletes with right-leg amputations. That, he and his team from the Department of Integrative Physiology estimated, could mean a 0.2 second difference in an outdoor 200m race.