Tech makes bike racing possible for those with spinal cord injury

Technological advancement has enabled Australian, Greg McClure to race a bike competitively in the world’s first Cybathlon, more than a decade after an accident injured his spinal cord

“The body is fragile…,” says paraplegic, Greg McClure. A motorbike accident in 1993 left McClure with a spinal cord injury. While some might feel the weight of the challenges ahead, the undeterred McClure chose to become involved in spinal injury research at the University of Sydney. In the 2016, he served as the Sydney, Australia team’s pilot during the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Bike Race in the world’s first Cybathlon.

The Cybathlon is a unique competition in which individuals with disabilities compete in a race of everyday life challenges using cutting-edge assistive technologies. One of the competition’s unique qualities is that teams are required to include disabled persons in the development process in order to accelerate the advancement of assistive tech, so that it better meets the real life needs of this segment of society. In McClure’s case the University of Sydney formed a multi-disciplinary collaboration between exercise science and biomedical engineering faculties, along with a technology provider, BerkelBike.

The FES Bike works by placing electrodes either on the skin or implanting them so that an electrical current applied to the muscles makes them contract. The electrodes enable a person with a spinal cord injury – one whose nerve signals from the brain to the leg muscles have been disconnected - to use an intelligent control device to initiate movements such as pressing down on a bike pedal. New types of electrodes and an exact control mechanism make it possible to maximize the pedal force with each rotation while avoiding early muscle fatigue.

In the lead up to the first Cybathlon, McClure gave an interview to ETH Zurich describing his life, his research, and how he prepared as a Cybathlon pilot. Following is an excerpt:

I live at the back of a beautiful park in Eastwood, Sydney, Australia. I had a motorcycle accident in 1993. I have volunteered and participated in Spinal injury research at a University for over 15 years now, and, in 2014, I received the Olijnyk award for my involvement in Functional Electrical Stimulation.
We (referring to the technology team) all knew each other before and we’re like friends, so getting involved was quite easy.

We all help each other, each (of us) bringing in our own skills to make a success of it. We started training as soon as we heard about (the Cybathlon) even before we registered, meeting up three times a week and more.
(I am looking forward to) the excitement of the competition and the challenges, to meet and see other people, to participate inside the Swiss Arena is an exciting atmosphere. I think these experiences build character and make you stronger for it.

The 2020 Cybathlon, scheduled for 2 – 3 May, will include an FES Bike Race that calls for even more efficiency, as the distance to be covered within a set timeframe has been increased. For more information about Cybathlon 2020 visit: https://cybathlon.ethz.ch/en/cybathlon-2020.html

In the meantime, watch this video below with Greg McClure, a 2016 Cybathlon pilot for team Sydney, Australia.