Limb Loss Awareness Month
UCLA: Ophelie Herve
As we come into our third week of April Limb Loss/Limb Difference Awareness month I am so excited to have a female voice in the engineering program from UCLA on our podcast today.
Ophelie was born in France and came with her family here to the United States at an early age. In high school she reflects on watching the news when the Boston Marathon was bombed and she saw peak athletes, within 24 hours, become wheelchair bound. As an athlete, herself, this event created a desire to help and gave her the direction she needed to jump into engineering and working in prosthetics for her undergraduate and Masters program at SMU.
Ophelie using an exoskeleton that is a power device used to help paralyzed individuals walk.
From there she turned her attention to injury prevention, and found interesting research on the female body and the how and when training can sabotage us by putting us at high risk for injury and when we will have a peak performance in the gym.
Using a robotic arm to replicate the knee joint in her studies on injury prevention.
This week I wanted to delve into the topic of how the female body is different and how as amputees we need to protect our sound limb for the long haul. We have always been so amazed by the newest prosthetics and bionics to come out into the world, and it is a very competitive field, but without research we don't have the information to make technology better for the human body
Her research is fascinating and goes deep. We joked about the rabbit holes she went down as she began this research, but it was her unique perspective as a female athlete (and one who has injured herself playing soccer), coupled with her research on our female bodies and cycles that we really dove into some extraordinary conversations about injury prevention, especially for women who are down to one sound limb. As a female amputee, I can tell you that I have thought about this often, and what would life look like if I injured my "good leg". That has also been a topic many times in my ladies' chat group.
Working out at the right times of the month help protect our sound limb.
How we workout, eat, and rest all help play a part in stabilizing our sound limb, and when different cycle changes throughout our lives make a difference in each of those aspects.
This was great to learn about as the world of sports and nutrition tend to clump us in the same workout and nutrition regiment as our male counterparts, without regards to our different hormones and biological differences.
I hope you enjoy hearing about Ophelie's cutting edge research and Master's project as she explains in greater detail some findings and how that will affect us as female amputees and athletes.
Please make sure you give her some love and Like, Share and Subscribe!
We have 2 more weeks of Limb Loss/ Limb Difference Awareness month, which means I have 2 more students who have dedicated their college journey to the betterment of the amputee community. You don't want to miss this!
Have a beautifully blessed week ahead,
And as always,
Be Healthy,
Be Happy,
Be YOU!!!
Much love,
Hiking with my pups keeps my sound leg strong and health for the long haul.
Keep moving!