Differences in spatiotemporal parameters during 200-m sprint between bilateral and unilateral transfemoral amputees.

Abstract

Although Paralympic T42 class Men's 200 m sprints are currently competed by athletes with bilateral and unilateral transfemoral amputations, there may be performance differences between the groups. This study aimed to compare the spatiotemporal parameters of a 200-m sprint between bilateral and unilateral transfemoral amputees wearing running-specific prostheses. We analyzed 29 races (nine sprinters) with bilateral or unilateral transfemoral amputations from publicly available Internet broadcasts. For each sprinter's race, the average speed, step frequency, and step length were calculated using the number of steps in conjunction with the official race time. Average speed of bilateral transfemoral amputees was 5.7% greater than in unilateral transfemoral amputees. Bilateral transfemoral amputees exhibited lower step frequency (-8.9%) but longer step length (16.3%) than unilateral transfemoral amputees. Therefore, even in the same Paralympic classification (T42), different spatiotemporal strategies exist between bilateral and unilateral transfemoral amputees wearing running-specific prostheses during 200-m sprints. Since different spatiotemporal strategies exist between bilateral and unilateral transfemoral amputees during 200-m sprints, our data supports recent revisions of classification rules (1st January, 2018), which each population was allocated into the different classification (T61 and T63, respectively).