Jim Al-Khalili

Returning to civilian life some years later, he was determined to go back to education.

He put himself through night school before earning a place to study prosthetics and orthotics at the University of Strathclyde.

Later, alongside clinical work at London's Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Jim completed a master's in neurorehabilitation and a PhD in health studies, driven by a fascination with how the human body adapts under pressure.

Then in 2020, while training for a triathlon, Jim was involved in a catastrophic cycling accident that nearly killed him and cost him an arm.

But he says the experience gave him an insight few clinicians ever get, profoundly changing the way he now supports patients through recovery.

Jim Ashworth-Beaumont, welcome to The Life Scientific.

Hello there.

Now, we're going to be talking a lot about the combined field of prosthetics and orthotics today, so maybe you can start by explaining exactly what that covers.

And prosthetics, I guess, is a word that, as you say, people are familiar with, but orthotics, less familiar.

My wife fractured her knee over the summer, so she was wearing a brace.

So that's orthotic.

But very few patients or specialists, I guess, can fully understand this field from all perspectives.

You do.

What's the most surprising thing your own experience has taught you about prosthetics and orthotics?

And we're going to talk about that journey a bit later.

But for now, can you just tell me briefly about the prosthetic you're wearing today?

It's a stump just below the shoulder.

So, you know, most of your arm was lost in the accident.

When you came into the studio, we shook hands and I shook hands with your prosthetic limb and it felt almost natural in terms of your grip and so on.

Well, Jim Ashworth-Burmont, you were born in 1966 in Edinburgh.