LimbPower - Life after limb loss

Our objectives are; to offer relief to the physically disabled by aiding rehabilitation and improving the quality of life through the medium of recreational and competitive sports and arts, for the locomotor disabled who: (a) are ambulant (with or without the use of walking aids) and don’t use a wheelchair for daily living and/or (b) require assistive technology including prostheses and wheelchairs for sport or (c) are eligible to compete at the discretion of the particular sports/arts associations.

We aim to achieve these objectives through the provision of useful and relevant information, access to facilities and opportunities for participation in sport and the arts.

How we do this:

• Through the provision of grassroots sporting and leisure opportunities.
• Through sign-posting and resource
• Through advocacy, advice and information
• We can act as umbrella or resource body
• Through peer participation

Rehabilitation

An amputees basic rehabilitation needs are provided through the Disablement Service Centres. These services include physiotherapy, occupational therapy and the provision of prosthetics and other rehabilitation equipment. However, our long-term physical, social and psychological health needs are not provided through this service.

A plethora of research has been conducted which highlights that participating in sport can play an immeasurable role in the emotional, social and psychological well-being of an individual: not just through the pursuit of enjoyment and excellence, but also through the social interaction and sense of camaraderie this environment can create. Participation in sport can give a child back their sense of belonging and self-worth that is otherwise lost through the disfigurement of disability and the loss of mobility and co-ordination; participation in sport promotes a sense of freedom and personal fulfilment.

Currently there are no coordinated grassroots opportunities for amputees to participate in sport; we find ourselves inundated with enquiries from individual’s and organisations asking how they can participate in sport. One of the major complaints regarding disability sport is that amputees fall into a no-mans-land; to participate in organised sports one has to either compete against able-bodied people or in a wheelchair. The majority of calls we receive are from individuals wanting to learn to run, cycle, swim or play football.

Charities like ourselves are needed to create these opportunities and pathways for amputees and other ambulant disabled people: currently the need for these sporting opportunities is not being fulfilled. With 2012 clearly on the horizon reminding us of our duty to provide equal opportunities to disabled people, we need to take this opportunity to create a legacy we can be proud of and provide the less able with opportunities afforded to their more able countrymen.

Amputee Games

The Amputee Games were created to utilise sport to aid the physical, social and psychological rehabilitation of amputees and other ambulant disabled people, specifically to give primary (new) amputees an opportunity to experience a wide variety of sports, taught by specialist from the individual sports governing bodies and associations, with the additional benefit of meeting other amputees in a conducive environment, where they can share ideas and experiences with each other and more experienced amputees.

Winter Games

The Winter Games is scheduled to launch in the winter of 2011. We have chosen Sheffield as our venue for the Winter Games for two reasons. Firstly we want to give all new amputees a chance to benefit from participation in sport and we felt that a venue in the North of England would give amputees who aren’t able to travel to the Amputee Games in Aylesbury an opportunity to take part. Secondly we wanted a venue, which would enable us to host some of the Paralympic Winter Sports as part of the Games Programme.

Junior Games

The Junior Games is scheduled to launch in the summer 2011. We are currently looking at two venues for the event. The new sports park at Surrey University and the Guttenman Centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium.

The Junior Games will be an annual event on the sports calendar and will from part of the pathway from grassroots participation in sports to sporting excellence and national representation. However the main focus of the junior Games will be to provide young ambulant disabled people with an opportunity to participate in sport in a safe and conducive environment, where they will be competing against their peers. Young people will receive instruction from qualified coaches and experienced athletes in a wide range of sports.

Primary games – 2012

The camp is a great way to introduce disabled children to a wide variety of sports in a safe, friendly and completely inclusive environment. Children aged 6-11.

Amputees Reach For The Sky

On 14th October 2010 a team of civilian amputees will embark on the challenge of a lifetime, as they overcome their own personal limitations and begin this expedition to reach the summit of the World’s tallest free standing mountain, Kilimanjaro, The Roof of Africa! Our team of amputees and healthcare professionals will push the boundaries in order to raise money to enable new amputees to participate in sport to aid their rehabilitation. Healthcare professionals including prosthetists, a physiotherapist, a doctor and a clinical scientist will support our team. This expedition sums up the ethos of LimbPower, which is amputees and other ambulant disabled people helping and inspiring newly disabled people to get back out into the world and see their disability as a challenge, not a barrier to life. Our team is an eclectic mix of individuals from different walks of life, with different levels of amputation and different experiences, but with one common goal to help other amputees on their journey to recovery.