Amputee Players

There are currently a number of amputee players who are playing in mainstream football. These are upper body amputees with arms or parts of arms amputated. For these players little or no adaptation is required to your coaching, however lower limb amputees will require specific action and organisation.

Some amputee players may use a prosthesis in everyday life. In amputee football, the outfield players are either above or below knee single leg amputees. In competition the outfield players remove their prosthesis during play and use aluminium wrist crutches. The reason for this removal is a Health and Safety concern so that they do not injure themselves or others when playing. Also to ensure that all players have similarly suited aids which do not favour some or disadvantage others.

The physical demands of playing football can be very high if players are using crutches, often these players will not use crutches in everyday life and often gloves will need to be worn to help prevent blistering of hands. This may necessitate frequent rest periods to allow for rehydration and recovery from activity.

There are a number of issues to be dealt with by the coach and these have to be addressed by opening good channels of communication with parents or carers :

• Can the amputee be safely integrated into your session - which limb or part of a limb is missing?
• Finding out if the amputation is congenital or acquired, recent loss of limb may still result in soreness apart from the psychological factors. Recent amputation may not have allowed the player sufficient time to cope with the new disability.
• What level of participation are they familiar with and what is their level of motivation
• The players awareness and comprehension of their own safety (and that of others), as well as their understanding of medical needs, has to be sought.
• Do they require any specific training or work on specific muscle groups in order to participate? 
• What warm-ups are appropriate?