SPEEAD project
SPEEAD (Sporting Prosthetics for Everyday and Elite Athletes with a Disability)
PORT-ER was delighted to be part of a successful group bid for grant funding which boosted the possibilities for people with lower limb deficiencies to be able to participate in sport. The project period PORT-ER was involved in was 2008-2009. The project then helped develop the skills of rehabilitation and sporting professionals in the United Kingdom and funds the development of specialist courses and a national conference on sporting prosthetics. The grant also sponsored a researcher who is investigating the use of high performance prosthetic feet in the amputee community. This project has been called SPEEAD (Sporting Prosthetics for Everyday and Elite Athletes with a Disability), the name being inspired by the inclusion of elite athletes with a disability in the Commonwealth Games, but aimed to enable all amputees to have access to disability sports aware clinicians and sports professionals. This exciting project was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and was hosted by the University of Strathclyde. SPEEAD Project Manager, Sarah Deans from the National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics at the University is looking forward to building a specialist network of people interested in sporting prosthetics.
The steering group for the SPEEAD project included Professor Nanette Mutrie, Professor of Exercise and Sport Psychology at The Department of Sport, Culture and the Arts within the Faculty of Education, University of Strathclyde. Penny Broomhead, Clinical Physiotherapy Specialist in amputee and prosthetic rehabilitation was also involved and has a keen interest in sports with a Paralympics specialisation. The following industry experts from five companies involved in prosthetic rehabilitation steered the direction of SPEEAD activities:
Alan Tanner & Adrian Stenson, Chas. A. Blatchford & Sons Ltd
Richard Hirons & Oliver Smith, Őssur UK Ltd
John Mortimer & Donna Fisher, Otto Bock Healthcare
Jamie Gillespie, PACE Rehabilitation Ltd
Shep (Robert Shepherd) & Gordon Wilson, Rehab Prosthetics www.rehabprosthetics.com
Current SPEEAD project activity:
Sarah Deans, Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, is the SPEEAD project manager and can be contacted at sarah.deans@strath.ac.uk. Sarah is planning another SPEEAD conference on 11.11.11. Visit the SPEEAD web pages at the University of Strathclyde to find out more.
SPEEAD project, NCPO, University of Strathclyde click HERE