mobility

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Bespoke Limbs

Prosthetics Bespoke limbs

Sophie de Oliveira Barata works out of a bright white, semi-disheveled northwest London studio surrounded by feet and fingers, legs leaning against walls and hands that look real enough to shake. With a background in art and special-effects makeup, she worked for eight years for a prosthetics manufacturer before deciding to become a creator of bespoke limbs. “It meant I could use my creative skills and do something massively rewarding,” she said, dropping an oddly appealing man’s foot in my lap. “Making an alternative limb is like entering a child’s imagination and playing with their alter ego,” she said. “You’re trying to find the essence of the person.”

In 2011, Sophie de Oliveira Barata started the Alternative Limb Project and soon found interested clients. She created one leg with a stereo embedded in it, another with removable muscles and a third, among others, that housed minidrawers. Recently she began collaborating with artists skilled in animatronics, 3-D printing, metalwork and carbon fiber.

“After losing a limb, a person isn’t the same,” de Oliveira Barata said. “So this is a form of expression, an empowerment, a celebration. It’s their choice of how to complete their body — whether that means having a realistic match or something from an unexplored imagination.”

Quoting:    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/11/03/magazine/03limbs_in.html?_r=0

Photo: Ryan Seary – formerly an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician, US military

http://installationmag.com/alternative-limb-project-extreme-extremity/

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First Step in Prosthetic Construction

prosthetics construction sunnybrook hospital

Toronto’s Sunnybrook Centre for Independent Living (SCIL) has a 25-member team of prosthetists, technicians and other experts. SCIL helps complex trauma patients regain independence and mobility with customized prostheses and individualized rehabilitation.

Prostheses are made in the on-site lab. The first step in creating a new limb is to make a socket in the stump or residuum. The artificial body part attaches inside the socket. The prosthetist takes detailed measurements of the residuum and then creates a cast of it – similar to that for a broken limb. When that cast dries, plaster is poured into it to make a form of the limb. The form is then carefully smoothed down and filed until it becomes an exact replica of the residuum. The amputee is fitted with a test socket and a limb and learns to walk with this set before the definitive socket and limb are finalized.

Technician Paul Russell says there is “a bit of an artistic feel and flow,” as some amputees need their sockets to be very strong and others want them to be light. “You’re trying to walk the line between something that’s strong enough and something that is not too heavy.”

Patients often develop a strong, lifelong bond with their prosthetist. The more the experts get to know the amputees, the better they are able to create sockets that work for their lifestyle. Getting the artificial limb for the first time can be a life-changing experience.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/advsunnybrook/sunnybrookfeatures/prostheses—constructing-hope/article20223132/

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Dapper Dancers – Feet in the Air

feet in the air - dapper dancers

Two tuxedoed men seem to shatter the laws of physics, forcing time to slow and speed.  Their bodies curve in ways that would stagger Newton.  Theirs is a playful, gravity-defying dancing duet.

Virgil Gadson bounces and bends as though he has replaced every bone with licorice sticks. And, Julius Chisolm slips across the floor more smoothly than the slide on a trombone.

Improvisation is what they call “their natural science”.  Chisholm says, “Music takes control of me. I’ll be chilling, and a beat will come on. I understand life when I’m dancing.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/theater/virgil-gadson-and-julius-chisolm-in-after-midnight.html

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Standing Tall – Spencer West

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Spencer West redefines height – in his spirit, in the way he lives, and in the actions he takes to affect other people’s lives.

Now two-foot-seven, Spencer was born with a spinal defect and legs that didn’t function. He was five when his doctors felt they had no choice but to amputate them. They said he wouldn’t be able to sit up or move around by himself. Spencer defied that prediction by learning to use his arms to move. Prosthetics weren’t for him.

While most people would be hard pressed to use their feet to walk the 300-kilometre distance from Edmonton to Calgary, Spencer West recently made the journey almost entirely on his hands. His purpose was to raise funds and awareness for Me to We /Free The Children’s ‘We Walk 4 Water’ campaign. The donations will provide a permanent source of clean water for 100,000 people around the world.

Spencer West is a favorite motivational speaker at Me to We events. Stories of his feats inspire audiences of school children across Canada. For example, he climbed the 19,341 foot-high Mount Kilimanjaro, raising more than half a million dollars in a similar Me To We campaign. He urges others to go beyond their perceived limitations and to give of themselves.

Check out Spencer’s best-selling autobiography “Standing Tall: My Journey”.  Also, his experiences feature in the documentary “Redefine Possible: The Story of Spencer West” that was shown at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

But here is the next best way to learn more:     TOMORROW, JUNE 17, 2014

There will be a LIVE-STREAMING of SPENCER WEST SPEAKING from 10am to 11:30 am EST at: www.freethechildren.com/watch

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/06/spencer-west-edmonton-calgary-walk_n_3225627.html#slide=1323331

Photo source:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=spencer+west+image&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-iufU8y8K4HD8AHpu4HYAg&ved=0CBsQsAQ&biw=1228&bih=589

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Recognizing Ability: A Foot Artist

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Daniel Laflamme grabs a water bottle with his foot and bends over to take a sip. Then he adroitly places a paintbrush between his toes and begins to paint.  Deaf and mute, Laflamme, who has cerebral palsy, communicates through his painting. 

In 2006, the Quebec City artist was in Toronto to help publicize an exhibition by Canada’s Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.  The organization sells replicas of the painters’ works on greeting cards and calendars to help the artists live independent lives.

At the organization’s headquarters on St. Clair Avenue West, Laflamme showed off his prowess as an artist. Bent over like a pretzel on the floor, he painted with authority and skill as he worked on a still life of flowers and a fruit bowl.

Then he stopped to get more paint. He used one foot to bring the palette of paints closer to him.  Holding his paintbrush between his toes, he dipped his brush in the paint and then began once more to delicately apply color to his masterpiece.

 

Quoting: Debra Black, Toronto Star, July 7, 2006

Photo by: Rick Eglinton, Toronto Star, July 7, 2006. Photo Source: http://thestar.blogs.com/photoblog/2012/05/yonge-and-eglinton-no-longer-intersect.html

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Redefining Disability: On Track to Succeed

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Loretta Claiborne was born partially blind and could not walk or talk until she was four. Officials recommended that she be put into an institution—a common treatment for America’s “defectives” in the 1950s. Her mother refused.

Today Ms. Claiborne has 26 marathons and a black belt in karate to her name.  She travels the world to speak for people like herself. Her purpose is to exemplify and to usher in a fresh understanding of ‘disability’.  Definitions change over time: the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities calls disability an “evolving concept”.

 

Excerpts from:

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21591615-defining-disability-trickyand-measuring-it-even-harder-who-counts

Photo Source:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVx_0sodTrwYAv1tXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0MWoxNW52BHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1NNRTM5OV8x?_adv_prop=image&fr=mcafee&va=loretta+claiborne+image+running

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New Boots for Walking on Mars

 

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How will future space suits differ from the current ones? As space is explored, footwear for astronauts is keeping pace. NASA claims their new soft boots are designed for real walking.

Currently, astronauts don’t “walk” in space. They hover and float, or their feet are placed into foot restraints so they don’t drift away. Space suits are somewhat flexible; they can bend at the knees and rotate at the waist. But no nuanced space shuffles or relay races quite yet.

Ever ahead in their thinking, NASA envisions that astronauts will go to Mars one day. With that prospect, they need to be suited up to explore alien terrain on foot or in their vehicles. NASA’s soft boots will take them there.

 

http://nasaexplores.nasa.gov/show2_articlea.php?id=03-061

Photo source:  http://www.nasa.gov/missions/shuttle/f_boots.html

 

 

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“How to Bare Your Soles” – Advice from a Harvard Researcher

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If you want to make the switch to barefoot running, or simply to learn the technique but still run in a pair of shoes, here’s how to do it:

On your feet:

Nothing. “If you really want to learn good technique, don’t use any shoe, because you get all that feedback from your feet,” Harvard researcher Daniel Lieberman says.

Where:

“The best way to learn is to have somebody run barefoot on a smooth, hard surface. Not on a lawn, not on a beach,” Prof. Lieberman says. Try your street (if it’s paved) or a parking lot. “Because if it’s the beach or a lawn, it’s soft and you can do whatever you want. But if it’s pavement, you quickly learn good form, because you get the feedback.”

Key mechanics:

Stay straight at the hips. “Leaning is verboten,” he says. “And you should have a nice high cadence and land with short strides. Get up to 170, 180 steps a minute. Make sure you don’t over-stride.”

How much:

Whether you’re barefoot or in a minimal shoe, start by running no more than 1 km a week. From there, increase your distance by 10 per cent each week, says Prof. Ferber. “We really want people to reduce their mileage and build up very slowly,” he says.

Timeline:

Everyone is different, but give it time. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anybody who’s transitioned in less than three or four months,” Prof. Lieberman says.  (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~skeleton/danlhome.html)

 

Quoting:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/fitness/running/what-the-barefoot-running-craze-has-done-to-the-shoe-industry/article4186746/

 Photo Source:  

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F679463%2Fscientists-kick-off-debate-over-barefoot-running&tbnid=pXvdCCDXezAilM:&docid=qs6oDex2-aYWEM&h=275&w=543

 

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A London Marathoner’s Stellar Effort

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 Thirty-six thousand runners completed the 26.2 mile marathon course in London in 2012. So did Claire Lomas. 

The paralyzed 32-year-old conquered the course of uneven sidewalks using a bionic suit to control her legs. Her effort took around 40 hours, averaging between a mile and 2.5 miles spread over 17 days. Claire is a former chiropractor and competitive cross-country horse rider.  She broke her spine after being thrown from her horse five years earlier.

Claire’s is an overcomer. From strenuous athleticism to immobility; from a wheelchair to a pioneering bionic suit called ReWalk which gives her mobility through motion sensors, battery operated motors and an onboard computer system. She can stand, walk and climb stairs. When her daughter was learning to walk, Claire joined her – one for the first time, the other for the second time around.

She completed the race with her husband in tow.  Tourists, supporters and family clapped her along to a marathon success.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141302/Claire-Lomas-Paralysed-woman-completes-London-Marathon-bionic-suit.html

See also: http://www.amazon.ca/Finding-My-Feet-Claire-Lomas/dp/0992799015

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Urban Nomads Follow the Cloud

Today’s technology has spawned cyber-nomads. Like ancient nomads, they are mobile, social, tribal, and seek oases to supply what they cannot carry. Unlike the ancients, the moderns are in step with the future, not the past.

 Are you an urban nomad? Do you recognize yourself or others through these questions?

Do you work or study in a non-traditional Wi-Fi setting?

  • Bookstore
  • Café
  • Communal office
  • Distance / on-line education programs
  • Home office
  • Library
  • Shared desk

 How do you manage your social relations?

  • Seek places where other people are present
  • Maintain psychological distance from those present
  • Connect with colleagues, friends or family through brief messages
  • Check often for responses
  • Use various social media and technology to communicate (text, instant message, email, voice, photo, video)

 As you work or study, do you value?

  • Ad hoc decisions
  • Autonomy
  • Independence
  • Flexibility
  • Freedom
  • Instant communication
  • Light loads
  • Mobility
  • Multi-tasking
  • Staying connected
  • Virtual experiences

 “As in the desert, so in the city: nomadism promises the heaven of new freedom, but it also threatens the hell of constant surveillance by the tribe.”

 The Economist Magazine’s “special report on mobility” (April 12, 2008) needs updating.  It claims that “the underlying technologies of genuine and everyday nomadism did not exist even as recently as a decade ago”. Five or six years on, we have even smarter phones, more multi-purpose tablets and advancing Cloud technology.  Where will the future take us? And how will we move through life?  

http://www.economist.com/node/10950394

http://www.economist.com/node/11016402