Paralympian, David Smith MBE, visits Profeet

David Smith arrives at Profeet reception with a broad smile on his face. He seems like he is poised and ready for anything, yet simultaneously relaxed and at ease with the world. Little did we know what lay behind that warm exterior…

As we sat down to discuss Profeet Custom Insoles and how – and if – they might help David’s activities, he turns on the broad smile and says “any improvement for me, even 0.1%, is a valuable improvement”.  Thus our assessment and conversations began, and as we worked towards a custom insole solution, so we also began to learn a little more about this extraordinary man.

Early sports activities

Born with a club foot that resulted in many operations as a young child, David overcame a condition that might well have dampened his enthusiasm for sports. Yet he took up Karate at age 7 and went on to achieve a black belt and was part of the British Squad for 6 years. As a natural athlete, it turns out he could turn his hand to many sports.

Next up…

Skiing followed Karate, but despite reaching competition level in slalom and giant slalom, the fused right ankle that resulted from his childhood surgeries began to inhibit his progress. In an attempt to overcome this limitation he joined an athletics club and fell in love with sprinting. Again he went far, very far, but ultimately came up against biomechanical issues. Yet not to be put off, he turned his attention to the Bobsleigh!  Again, he reached a very high level of ability, just skimming short of the opportunity to participate in the Winter Olympics in Turin. So close and yet so far. Once more it was the nuances of his limbs and gait that held him back.

Rowing to fruition

Fortunately, his dreams found their way to fruition via the British Paralympics Association (qualified by his congenital condition – the club foot). This time the sport was rowing, which just goes to show that if you have the coordination, the drive and the determination it is absolutely possible to achieve remarkable things. A successful rowing career followed culminating in the outstanding Olympic gold medal win in 2012.

Life challenges

However, it was also during this time that David was diagnosed with a spinal tumour in his neck. He was presented with a whole new challenge – one that he has been contending with ever since. It is all the more notable that he managed to attain Olympic Gold despite multiple surgeries and chemotherapy… and that he also later mastered cycling which was to be his vehicle for the 2016 Rio Olympic participation. Regrettably, his health put paid to that particular plan as he faced further surgery and cancer treatment.

Tweaking up performance

So it is with much respect and quite a bit of awe that we welcomed David to the Profeet Lab to see if might be able to find a way to tweak up his current performance. David is now largely paralysed down one side but still able to walk, cycle and more. Profeet’s senior consultant, Paul, took him through our Profeet assessment and analysis process to look at how his lower limbs were functioning.

Following a detailed assessment, Paul created custom insoles and fitted them to David’s running shoes and lower leg brace. The newly created orthotics provide support and guidance with close contact to the foot.

With David’s condition we were anticipating a relatively small benefit. But almost immediately David felt an improvement in support in ways that were hard to quantify. But then to everyone’s excitement we noticed the muscles being activated in the quadriceps area on the disabled side of his body. The additional contact and support of the insoles were having a visible effect.

‘any improvement, even 0.1% is valuable.’

It’s too early to know how much the insoles will help but we are very much looking forward to hearing more and seeing David again next month for a check-up – to see what more we can do to help.