Now I know those of you reading who have not had an above-knee amputation will think it's no big deal, it's easy right? You just hop on your bike and when you feel like it just get up off your saddle and let your legs do the work, pumping away and gaining speed.
Well for an above knee amputee without the correct prosthetic knee, which to be honest are few and far between it is pretty difficult if not impossible. When you lose a leg your whole body dynamics are changed, you no longer have a long lever as in bones, you lack muscles, ligaments and tendons. So in order to be able to ride as close to as "normal" as possible a specifically designed sporting prosthetic is required. This is where the Bartlett Tendon Knee (BTK) comes into its own.
Brian Bartlett the designer of the BTK has continued in his development and as time has gone on the knee has become more and more advanced and user friendly. Lots of research and development has gone into getting the prosthetic to the stage it is at now and Brian has worked tirelessly and I have to say not for profit but to offer people something that actually works.
Brian knows only to well the frustrations of being told "you can no longer do that" and for him, that was just not an option. So he set about on his mission all those years ago to design and have manufactured something that would enable both himself and end-users a product that would replicate as much as possible the natural physical movement of a human leg when used in various sports, cycling being one of those.
Going back to the lady who reached out to me. It was very difficult to write to someone and try to explain just what to do in order to be able to set about riding out of the saddle. I have over the years tried helping many people with technique and setup, however, unless you can actually do a one to one session and demonstrate like I say it's difficult to put down in words.
The basic setup of the knee, things like air pressure in the shock, rebound damping and compression can be explained. What settings to have cam's on etc, but as mentioned actually riding is something that has to be practised, felt and learnt.
Whilst chatting with the lady in question I learnt that she was using an older version of the Bartlett Tendon Knee. This was the version with the receivers placed onto the socket and the pinned Cam's. She explained that she could pedal comfortably and stand with flat pedals but couldn't stand and pedal, foot over foot.
Her setup was 2 soft tendons in the 2nd cam position, and about 70 or 80 psi in Rockshox RT3 shocker. She also mentioned she weighed about 130 pounds and that she had the Rebound all the way up.
After reading her message I knew I had to familiarise myself with the older version of the Bartlett Tendon, you see I have been using the newer BTK Crossover which is a completely different animal.
Anyhoo in order to get to grips with the older knee involved quite the adventure, you see Ern, my pops had decided to not only put my old knee up in our loft but also dismantle the whole thing. I had a very scary job of retrieving all the bits by climbing our skinny, wobbly loft ladder, harder than you think when wearing a prosthetic leg and not being able to feel where your foot is, plus making sure my knee was locked upon each step. Wor Kyle waited at the bottom of the steps to gather all the components. Once passed down another scary venture down the ladders.
I had to then assemble the BTK, and attach it to an old socket which I reckon I hadn't worn in like 2 years. Overall the job didn't take too long and I was really surprised that I pretty much got the alignment sorted on my first go.
I put all the settings of the knee to there basics, no air pressure in, no pins in the cams, soft tendons and I had a little tinker with the rebound deciding to try the knee on 5 clicks which is halfway. I then jumped on my road bike set up in my turbo Trainer and went for a little blast.
Wow, the older BTK felt so different to my Crossover, so much so at first, I thought I had set it up incorrectly. However, after a little spinning then selecting the correct gears on my bike I was soon up and standing out of my saddle and pedalling foot over foot. It didn't look pretty, this being down to not adjusting the whole prosthetic correctly. I had not measured my pylon for height, or adjusted toe in or out and aligned the socket to the knee perfectly, however, I was pretty happy that I could do a little demo of the technique used.
I used my GoPro set up on the end of my bed and shot a short video in 2 clips which I then edited together, added some music and hey presto something that hopefully was a lot more informative than writing a long message.
For anyone reading this you will see I titled it "Pay it forward". This is an important message as it relates to all those people and more that have helped support me over the years. Far too many to mention, however, you know who you are. To name but a few Brian Bartlett, Pace Rehabilitation, Arctic ONE and my dear old dad who has always supported me in my challenges, even though I can be quite challenging at times LoL...
Thank You
After reading her message I knew I had to familiarise myself with the older version of the Bartlett Tendon, you see I have been using the newer BTK Crossover which is a completely different animal.
Anyhoo in order to get to grips with the older knee involved quite the adventure, you see Ern, my pops had decided to not only put my old knee up in our loft but also dismantle the whole thing. I had a very scary job of retrieving all the bits by climbing our skinny, wobbly loft ladder, harder than you think when wearing a prosthetic leg and not being able to feel where your foot is, plus making sure my knee was locked upon each step. Wor Kyle waited at the bottom of the steps to gather all the components. Once passed down another scary venture down the ladders.
I had to then assemble the BTK, and attach it to an old socket which I reckon I hadn't worn in like 2 years. Overall the job didn't take too long and I was really surprised that I pretty much got the alignment sorted on my first go.
I put all the settings of the knee to there basics, no air pressure in, no pins in the cams, soft tendons and I had a little tinker with the rebound deciding to try the knee on 5 clicks which is halfway. I then jumped on my road bike set up in my turbo Trainer and went for a little blast.
Wow, the older BTK felt so different to my Crossover, so much so at first, I thought I had set it up incorrectly. However, after a little spinning then selecting the correct gears on my bike I was soon up and standing out of my saddle and pedalling foot over foot. It didn't look pretty, this being down to not adjusting the whole prosthetic correctly. I had not measured my pylon for height, or adjusted toe in or out and aligned the socket to the knee perfectly, however, I was pretty happy that I could do a little demo of the technique used.
I used my GoPro set up on the end of my bed and shot a short video in 2 clips which I then edited together, added some music and hey presto something that hopefully was a lot more informative than writing a long message.
For anyone reading this you will see I titled it "Pay it forward". This is an important message as it relates to all those people and more that have helped support me over the years. Far too many to mention, however, you know who you are. To name but a few Brian Bartlett, Pace Rehabilitation, Arctic ONE and my dear old dad who has always supported me in my challenges, even though I can be quite challenging at times LoL...
Thank You
