Getting A Child Amputee Running

Amputee runners with blade feet

Enabling a child who is physically disabled to participate in a sport they love is the quickest way to restore their damaged self-esteem. For a child who has either lost a leg or who was born without one, running may be the key to such restoration. Since insurance only covers what is required for ambulation, it is up to the parents or other private sources to provide the adaptive equipment necessary for a child to have an opportunity to run.

Children become amputees through birth defects, cancer or accidents. The U.S. CDC estimates that 1 in every 2,100 babies born in the U.S.annually are born with a congenital limb difference. Usually, a “clean up” amputation is needed for comfort and to create a strong stump on which a prosthetic can be fitted. Annually, about 1,000 new cases of osteosarcoma are diagnosed in the United States, and about 200 children and teens are diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma in the U.S. each year. Typically, both of these bone cancers result in amputation or rotationplasty. From 1990 to 2002, 111,600 children with traumatic amputations were treated in U.S. emergency departments—an average of 9,300 per year.