Fittings, running coaching, and football drills: Ottobock's first Atlanta adaptive clinic

People who use lower limb prostheses and can participate in dynamic running activity had a specific kind of day on September 19 in Norcross, Georgia. Ottobock, the German prosthetics manufacturer, brought a structured running clinic to the Atlanta area as the opening event of a new multi-year partnership with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. The clinic, called Adaptive Sports Day, is the first under the arrangement that names Ottobock the Falcons’ first-ever Official Adaptive Mobility Partner.

The day ran participants through a full progression: running prosthesis fittings and gait evaluation, running mechanics coaching from Ottobock’s clinical running team, and football drills alongside Falcons organization staff. Former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Michael Haynes co-led the event with Ottobock clinicians. The O&P EDGE reported the announcement.

Lucas Crisanti, a certified prosthetist-orthotist, Ottobock prosthetic clinical specialist, and global running clinic coach, served as head coach of Adaptive Sports Day. His framing of the event: “Movement and sport are fundamental human rights. Prosthetic users deserve the opportunity to participate, pursue their goals, and experience the physical, mental, and social benefits that sport provides.”

Who the clinic was for

The event was open to people with amputations “who have the ability to participate in dynamic running activities.” That qualifying clause is worth naming.

Running prostheses are a specialist category. They require a specific device type, a certain baseline of strength and balance, and typically some prior experience with dynamic movement. The clinic was designed for people who are already close to running, not for people beginning that path.

That’s not a criticism. A clinic built around running mechanics and coached movement can’t serve every mobility level, and trying to would serve no one well. But it is relevant information for anyone in Atlanta’s broader adaptive community: this event had a specific audience.

What fitting plus coaching actually offers

Running prosthetics fittings usually happen in a clinic, with the fitting driven by gait data and the prosthetist’s judgment. That part carried over here: Ottobock’s clinicians handled gait evaluation and fittings on the day.

The structured coaching from the clinical running team adds something. A fitting that immediately puts the device to use in coached movement gives the prosthetist information about how it performs in the actual activity the patient wants to do. Most O&P appointments don’t have a running track.

The football drills added a sport-specific layer: organized activity that involves cuts, acceleration, and lateral movement, not just a general physical test. Practicing those patterns with both clinical oversight and sport coaching in the same room is unusual. Whether that structure is worth more than a well-run clinical appointment with a follow-up session is not something a single day can settle, but the combination is different from the standard path.

What comes next

Ottobock describes Adaptive Sports Day as the first in a series of programs under the partnership. The announcement does not specify a calendar for future events, participant numbers, or reach beyond the Atlanta area.

One detail stands out as unusual: one participant from the September 19 event will travel with a guest to Madrid to represent Ottobock at the Falcons’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals. That is a specific commitment, the kind that requires an organization willing to spend on it in a visible way.

Crisanti framed the day’s purpose as demonstrating “how access to the right technology, support, and community can help make movement and sport accessible to all.” Whether ongoing programming builds toward people who are not already near the starting line will say more about the partnership’s scope than the launch event can.