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AdaptX

Unified 5k

Next Stride Clinics

Free amputee running and mobility clinics in Unified 5k communities for people with limb difference.

Bring a Clinic to Your CommunityCheck Out Past Clinics

What is a Next Stride clinic?

Objectives and Outcomes

Next Stride clinics pair gait training with an introduction to adaptive fitness for people with limb loss. Prosthetists and physical therapists volunteer at the event to provide a comprehensive and collaborative coaching environment. Participants also have the opportunity to demo different running blades from our prosthetic vendors.

  • A coach with a prosthetic leg, arms raised, leading a clinic session in a gym as other athletes on prostheses watch

    Education

    Coaching to improve the confidence of amputees looking to improve their gait, their running, or to strength train. It is also a learning experience for the physical therapists, prosthetists and volunteers in the room, who see how adaptive fitness strategies apply to this population.

  • Clinic participants, coaches and volunteers in matching T-shirts posing for a group photo, one in a wheelchair

    Community

    Athletes, families and professionals learning together and growing together in the same room. Most people arrive not knowing anyone with the same limb difference. The relationships they form are the part they write to us about afterwards.

  • Three athletes wearing race medals at a sponsor backdrop, one on a forearm crutch and one with a prosthetic leg

    Opportunity

    Participants are fit for demo blades and get to run on new equipment, for many of them the first time. A team of prosthetists and physical therapists is on hand to make sure the fit is right and the athlete has success on it.

Past Clinics

Participant spotlight

Mike Mackin

Mike attended Next Stride Mechanicsburg in spring 2026. He is one of this year’s running blade recipients.

You’ve given me freedom, independence, new goals, and I just wanna pay that forward. And I just wanted to say thank you, for giving me everything.

Mike Mackin

Check Out Mike’s Story (opens in a new tab)

Sam Schaefer running on a road at sunrise on a running blade, a playing field behind him

Head coach

Sam Schaefer

Sam leads every Next Stride clinic. As a fitness professional, adaptive athlete, and amputee himself, he understands and appreciates the challenges that participants face when introducing or improving their running and fitness.

Hear Sam on the AdaptX Podcast

Episode 15, How Losing My Leg Helped Me Find My Purpose.

A young runner on a running blade, both arms raised, wearing a Unified 5k race bib on a tree-lined course

Running Blade Recipients

Partnership

Running blades, or activity prosthetics, are often not covered by insurance. As a result, there is a significant financial barrier to acquiring the necessary equipment to move more often and more confidently.

Through our partnership with Less Leg More Heart and various prosthetists, we identify a blade recipient in each race community and facilitate the proper selection and fitting of a blade based on their experience and goals.

Meet the Blade RecipientsApply for a Blade

Made possible by

Less Leg More Heart, Our Prosthetist and Physical Therapy Partners, and Our Host Venues

Want a clinic in your community? Inquire below.

Get in Touch