Specially-abled woman's workout video wins internet, netizens call her 'inspiration'

‘Monday Motivation’ is an online concept that recently emerged to inspire millennials to get to work. At the start of every week, scores of people flood social media platforms with all kinds of motivational videos, pictures, quotes to ‘fuel the hustle and ‘keep others going’. Following the same trend, IAS officer Priyanka Shukla, on April 5, shared a short clip that featured an amputee woman lifting heavyweights. 

The clip which has now been viewed over two million times features a specially-abled woman lifting barbells topped with heavy weights as part of her everyday workout. As the clip progresses, the one-legged women could be seen doing several rounds of weighted squats. She then takes her workout to another high by lifting the barbell over her shoulder before dropping them back on the floor. 

The determination of the woman has now created a stir with the clip gathering over two thousand likes since shared. “अगर हौसला हो बुलंदियों को छूने की तो उसे कोई ताकत नहीं रोक सकती है,’ wrote a user. “These stars are light to the world and inspiration to many,’ added another. “Incredible’, read a third comment meanwhile. 

New Technology 

While this woman, solely with her hard work, courage and determination aced the seemingly impossible task, researchers have now invented a new type of amputation surgery that helps amputees to better control their residual muscles and sense where their "phantom limb" is in space. In most cases, amputees who have muscle pairs that control the affected joints are usually severed. The team of researchers have now found that reconnecting these muscle pairs and allowing them to retain their normal push-pull relationship, offer people much better sensory feedback.

During a conventional limb amputation, the muscles that control the limb movement are restricted. This cuts off the sensory feedback and makes it much harder for amputees to feel where their prosthetic limbs are in space. Srinivasan, a former member of the Biomechatronics group now one muscle contracts, the other one doesn't have its antagonist activity. Even with state-of-the-art prostheses, people are constantly visually following the prosthesis. 

Image Credits: PriyankaShukla/Twitter