A LOCAL Paralympian is expected to make a significant impact at the 2012 Olympic games having worked closely with Tharsus engineers to design a bespoke chair.

The professional athlete competes in many sporting fields including the javelin, hammer, discus and shot put, and was keen to develop a chair to suit his needs following a hip injury.

Stephen Miller, 31 years old from Cramlington, underwent specialist studies, organised by UK athletics to have some GAIT analysis – a method to study the way we move to highlight biomechanical abnormalities, which examined his technique and discovered his optimum throwing range required a 140 degree angle of release when throwing in athletic competitions, which showed his chair at the time, restricted him to an angle of 90 degrees.

Research also revealed that an angled back to the chair would help open up to the angle needed to produce the best results when throwing.

Stephen contacted us  to help develop the design of his chair enabling him to reach his full potential when representing Great Britain.

Tharsus design engineer John Kelso said: “Working on Stephen’s chair was one of the most unusual and bespoke projects I have ever done.

“Stephen’s original chair’s vertical back was restricting his movement, meaning he was unable to make a throw matching his true capabilities.

“Stephen has been the pinnacle driving force in the redesign, his ideas and focus on what he wanted to achieve made me passionate to create something that really worked for him and was specifically tailored to his needs.

“We took on board Stephen’s prior research which at the time had not been fully completed so we created a range of back support inserts at 120, 130, and 140 degree angles, which could be tested back at the lab to see which worked best for Stephen.

“Once 140 degrees was concluded as the optimum angle we created a fixed back at this angle. We then started to develop the footrest positioning as Stephen explained to me that his current chair was not comfortable for his natural position. We altered the design so that the feet could be positioned at different levels.

“The chair works by strapping Stephen into the chair by his thighs and the chair is static and fixed to the ground. Stephen can then use all his force to throw a javelin, shot put or discus with the free range of movement the new angled back provides.”

“Tharsus have helped me take one step closer to achieving more by creating a chair that is tailored to my needs, and I have already seen a vast improvement in my achievements.

“For instance in my old chair the greatest throwing distance I ever achieved was around 28 metres with the discus. In my bespoke Tharsus chair I have just recently competed and won in the National Championships  and managed a distance of 31.29 proving the design works well. 

“I’m glad I was able to work with Tharsus as they really listened to what I wanted to accomplish with the redesign and I always felt involved, they have done much more than I expected. It’s also great because they too are based in the North East so it’s nice to receive local support.”