Why I designed the prosthetic running leg
The inventor of the Cheetah Foot on the accident that led him to revolutionise para-sport
Sporting Witness · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
When sports enthusiast Van Phillips lost his foot in a water-skiing accident, he decided to design a prosthetic leg that would allow him to keep running. He used carbon graphite which was light, flexible and strong. His invention would revolutionise para-sports. He tells Rebecca Kesby how he was determined to improve the clumsy prosthetic legs available in the 1980s, to allow amputees to feel the freedom of physical speed and strength again.
(Photo: The Flex-Foot Cheetah prosthetic running leg. Credit Össur)