Making the Rounds with Dr. Mitch Amish

When we think of wheelchairs, we probably don't often think of sports or of athletes. Well, a few students from the University of Illinois did. Ricky Biddle, Eric Larson and Ben Shao took it upon themselves to do something huge for disabled athletes who play basketball.

Wheelchair basketball can be a pretty dangerous sport. Think about it; collisions happen pretty frequently. Another issue that adds to the danger is that these athletes not only have to use their hands for dribbling, but also for controlling their wheelchair. Focusing on these dangers and the complexity of playing this sport, the three students teamed up with Austin Cliffe, another designer, and created a prototype Balance Sport Weelchair. Let me tell you, this chair is no joke. In fact, it is the gold winner of the 2008 International Design Excellence Award in the Medical & Scientific Concepts category.

Their design utilizes a braking system that is activated by the user's own movements. This chair acts in an intuitive way. Simply put, to turn, all a player has to do is lean in the desired direction. And, to stop, the player just leans back.

Obviously, each athlete is different from the next. Add a wheelchair to the equation and the inconsistencies multiply. On top of size differences and personal preferences, these unique athletes also have different injuries and mobility limitations. These challenges meant that the students had to create a design that would meet the needs of each and every disabled athlete.

Needless to say it took these boys lots of time, patience and effort to produce their award winning design. For example, an attempt to aid players with mobility from the shoulder up, the chair's left-to-right point of rotation was put in the middle of the back in prototypes. The designers told me that it quickly became apparent that this was not the ideal solution, it was too sensitive. You see, a very slight lean would cause the chair's brakes to engage suddenly, and players with limited control over their leaning would be shoved in a jerky motion. Taking that into consideration, and the results from athletes with greater control, led the boys to place two pivot points under the seats of these sporting wheelchairs. This furthered the adjustable resistance, accommodating all of the athletes.

In my opinion, the best thing about these chairs is that each athlete sets their own resistance, according to what works best for them. By doing that, they can play to the best of their abilities. I gotta say, these students really stepped up and took one for the team.