Champion Snowborder

Like many young adults in her age group, Nicole Roundy, 21, loves the thrill of extreme sports. And after she learned it was possible to snowboard there was no stopping her. Nicole got her technique refined after attending the 2006 Camp Un-Limb-ited, Ski and Snowboard Camp at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, sponsored by Shriners Hospitals.

Nicole is an above-the-knee amputee and although she is an avid basketball and volleyball player, she was only introduced to snowboarding in 2005. Although she wanted to learn jumps and tricks, her prosthesis limited what she could do on the slopes. "I was restricted on speed, and I couldn't go over anything bumpy because I had no shock absorbers in my prosthesis," she says. "I essentially didn't have a knee. The leg was locked straight from the socket to the pylon, and I used my hip for flexibility."

That all changed when Nicole's SPOT practitioner, Craig Armstrong, CP, fitted her with the XT9© from Symbiotechs USA© – a specially designed prosthetic knee for extreme athletic use.

"The XT9 was developed by Jarem Fry, an extreme sports enthusiast who was always pushing the envelope and destroying his prosthesis," Craig says. "It's still a small niche market for the knee and Jarem makes each one individually. The key to its durability is a mountain bike shock for active quadriceps action. The XT9 allows the wearer to push into the knee and it compresses. It springs back which helps with the control. Prior to the XT9, Nicole was using an old socket with a straight pylon from socket to foot for snow sports."

After receiving the knee, Nicole said she "practiced, practiced, practiced. I was able to do jumps, something I could never do before."

Nicole landed a sponsorship from Adaptive Action Sports (AAS) to the 2006 United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA) National Championship at Northstar-at-Tahoe in Truckee, Calif. There, Nicole won a silver medal in the adaptive slopestyle snowboarding competition. Slopestyle encompasses a series of jumps and other obstacles on the way to the finish line.

For her regular activities, Craig has fitted Nicole with a Mauch® High Activity Knee, and Elation™ Flex-Foot with adjustable heel height, both from Ossur. "Nicole is very active and her job keeps her on her feet all day, so she is a good match for the Mauch knee," Craig said. The Flex-Foot offers flexibility and energy efficiency. It is also suitable for a variety of shoe styles including sandals.

Craig, who has fitted and fabricated legs for Nicole since she was 10 years old and a patient at Intermountain Shriners Hospital, is also an AK amputee, and attends Camp Un-limb-ited as a youth mentor. Craig moved to SPOT in 2004, and when Nicole graduated from the Shriners program, she chose SPOT to continue her treatment with Craig.

"Craig Armstrong is the reason I chose SPOT," says Nicole. "Craig is an amputee too, and since he's been building my legs for years, he knows what I like and don't like. I like that Craig understands when I'm trying to explain what is wrong with my prosthesis. He knows exactly what I'm talking about because he's experienced some of the same issues. In addition to Craig, everyone at SPOT is so personable and everyone knows you when you walk in the door."

Adaptive snowboarding is not yet an official competition of the Paralympics. But with the advances in prostheses and more adaptive snowboarders hitting the slopes, Nicole hopes that it will soon be recognized. And when it is, she will be ready to take part.

In the meantime, she intends to put the XT9 to use in wakeboarding and rock climbing. When she is not "boarding," Nicole works as a certified nursing assistant at LDS Hospital, and she has set her sights on becoming a biochemical engineer.

"Nicole is an outgoing young adult with an ‘I'll try anything the first time' attitude," Craig says. "She won't let much of anything stop her from achieving her goals."

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