
Name: Chris Johnson
Occupation: Engineering Director
Type of Amputation: BK
A train-pedestrian accident in fall of 1982 radically changed the course of my life. I was transformed
overnight from an athletic young man to a below-knee amputee. The poor initial surgery eventually bore fruit in multiple bone spurs and neuromas, requiring revision surgery, this time by a specialist. My prosthetic equipment was crude also,
being a hard socket with a SACH foot. Better prosthetic equipment was the next major ingredient after surgery toward full rehabilitation.
My engineering degree took me through several industries, from aerospace to surgical instruments. In 1995, I started consulting in prosthetics. This is when I met the good folks at College Park, and also encountered the next evolution and
revolution in my rehabilitation, the College Park TruStep foot. The TruStep became and continues to be my one and only choice, because it does everything I want. I test all the feet and to me, it is still tops, all things considered. The
TruStep allows me to have one foot, set up one way, for all my activities. I can now walk with confidence on glare ice or catwalk on floor joists while rough framing a house. Last year I was the #3 Observed Trials off-road motorcycle
competitor in Michigan and Ontario.
The light turned on for me in 1995 shortly after receiving my first TruStep. It was during a rock hopping
expedition to the huge granite boulders of Elk Mountain in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge of Southwest Oklahoma. It was the end of the day during a quiet sunset. I stopped to let the sweat dry and considered the day's activities. I
realized I had been the closest that day to what I was able to do before the loss of my foot. And I realized I had done it all without paying much attention to the foot. I was doing dangerous things and not worrying about it! I had been there
many times before with other types of feet and recalled expending much mental and physical energy to maintain precise control and not get pitched into a canyon.
The TruStep is unique among artificial feet in that it provides - via the polycentric design - more
anatomically correct motion, with reliability. Polycentric simply means "many centers" and is a way to describe complex motion. The human foot consists of a complex set of bones and joints that move in complex ways about many
centers of movement in multiple planes. The TruStep is polycentric in that it also consists of bones moving in complex ways about many centers of movement in multiple planes. The TruStep thus became a life-changing product for me.
Sounds corny, but it is true. I have returned the favor by spending years making it better, and better, and better by eliminating noises, increasing options, durability, range of motion, and dynamics. This is one of the most, if not the most
improved foot ever.
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