Brian Bartlett: Creator of the Bartlett Tendon

Photo by Joe Gross

As more young people who have experienced amputations become determined to maintain an athletic lifestyle, the field of prosthetic development has followed a trend toward providing fluid and human-like movement to prosthetics, allowing for more freedom of movement and athletic capability. Prosthetic limbs have become lighter and more functional, enabling the wearer to participate in an ever-expanding array of athletic activities. However, the realm of prosthetics has only marginally crossed over into the area of “extreme sports”: those that, in addition to demanding a high level of control, mobility and flexibility, require an unprecedented degree of durability.

Brian Bartlett, Davis Wright Tremaine's Inventor in the Spotlight, is at the leading edge of this trend. Brian became an above-knee (AK) amputee following an accident in 1998 in which he was struck by a car. Prior to the accident, Brian enjoyed a career as a professional freeskier accustomed to an extremely active lifestyle. Freeskiing differs from traditional skiing in that, rather than following defined gates or jumps, the skiers choose their own path down the mountain and use natural features of the landscape such as cliffs and cornices for aerial tricks: jumps, flips and spins.

Following the accident and the intense rehabilitation that followed, Brian continued freeskiing on one leg and competed against both disabled and able-bodied skiers. Six months after the accident, he went to Colorado to train with the U.S. Ski Team as an AK amputee. That season, he qualified for the U.S. Disabled Ski Team and competed in slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom and downhill events. He trained and ski-raced with the Winter Park Disabled Ski Team and the U.S. Disabled Ski Team for a few years before returning to freeskiing.

Photo by Michael Caine

Brian says he was inspired by the support he received from the skiing community. However, the repeated pounding his body sustained from landing large jumps on one leg led him to seek options for prosthetic devices that would enable him―and other disabled athletes―to more comfortably participate in extreme sports.

It was not until Brian decided to include downhill mountain biking in his training regimen that he became focused on designing a prosthetic leg that would be suitable for extreme sports. Downhill mountain biking is a specialized activity, practiced by only a small percentage of mountain bikers. It is somewhat analogous to freeskiing, with an objective of going straight down a mountain as quickly as possible despite rocks, trees, cliffs and other obstacles that might be in the way. It differs from freeskiing in at least one significant aspect: the cushion of snow is missing.

Brian realized that conventional prosthetic legs lacked (among other things) light, dependable and efficient “muscles” to move his prosthesis from a bent to straightened knee through the pedal cycle. This need was relevant to other sports and activities, as well. Attempts at enabling the needed movement had produced prostheses with pneumatic knees, but they were too heavy and complicated to stand up to the dirt, mud, cold and wet of downhill mountains biking and other activities.

Photo by Michael Caine

This gap in prosthetic technology led Brian to develop new ideas for a prosthetic leg that would function well in extreme sports environments. He envisioned a prosthetic leg system having sturdy elastic “tendons” that would allow the prosthesis to recover from the bent knee position, and dubbed his concept the "Bartlett Tendon."

Designing and building a prosthetic leg suitable for mountain biking provided additional challenges because, in biking, the “platform” to which the prosthetic leg is attached is constantly moving. This differs from the pattern in other sports, such as wakeboarding or snowboarding, in which the platform remains in a fixed position. With those considerations in mind, Brian incorporated the Bartlett Tendon into a prosthetic leg prototype that provided the flexibility and support required for biking. His prototype was the first “dirty design” prosthetic leg: the first device capable of withstanding the physical pounding and the mud and dirt that are omnipresent with mountain biking.

Brian’s efforts have paid off. Based on his prosthetic leg design and rigorous training regime, he has won a place on an able-bodied downhill team that is currently ranked among the best in the world. In addition to frequent races in the United States, Brian has recently competed in Chile: with the Red Bull Contrapedal, which took place on the streets of Valparisio, and with the Radical Extreme cup, which was held in the Andes outside Santiago.

Photo by Michael Caine

While Brian’s device was initially developed for mountain biking, it may also be used for other sports that require substantial durability and resistance to environmental elements. To adapt to the demands of a particular activity, the tendons may be changed to accommodate the degree of resistance required. Brian has tested his device in connection with a number of other sports, including wakeboarding, surfing the wake behind inboard boats, and snowboarding, and hopes to conduct further testing with tow-in surfing and skiing. The leg design will also allow its users to surf, snowboard, ride horses, ride motocross and participate in many other events not normally accessible to AK amputees.

The designs for Brian’s prosthetic devices continue to evolve. In addition to enabling wearers to participate in an ever-expanding array of recreational and sporting activities, the prostheses can be modified for use in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Brian has teamed with John Ferguson at the Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas to use several of the prototypes for rehabilitation of amputees returning from the war in Iraq. Additionally, he is working with several Seattle companies to develop lower-cost versions of the prosthetic leg in order to allow more amputees to benefit from his design. It is Brian’s goal to continue to expand the physical capabilities of AK amputees, and he welcomes any support for these endeavors.

With the help of many talented and passionate individuals, Brian has made tremendous strides toward improving both his own mobility and that of others. He is now able to ride his downhill mountain bike on challenging terrain with confidence and skill, and he continues to strive toward his goal of creating prosthetic devices that function as well as―or even better than―normal human legs. Davis Wright Tremaine congratulates Brian on these tremendous accomplishments and wishes him continuing success.

Click here to visit Brian's website.

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