The Role of Prosthetics in Athletic Competition

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD

Guest: Hugh Herr, PhD

The story of Oscar Pistorius, the South African double-amputee sprinter who earned the legal right to compete in the Olympics against able-bodied athletes, has served to focus our perspective on the role of biomedicine in elite athletic competition. What are the key issues of this discussion, now and for the future? Dr. Hugh Herr, associate professor in the MIT-Harvard Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and director of the MIT Biomechatronics Group, conducted independent analyses on the carbon-fiber blades worn by Mr. Pistorius during competition. A double-amputee himself, Dr. Herr shares his fascinating perspective on the challenges faced by athletes like Mr. Pistorius, who aim to shed the stereotypes associated with prosthetics that still exert measureable influence on today's sporting world.