Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Device Helps Adjust Artificial Legs for More Natural Walking Gait

Filed under: Orthopedic Surgery , Rehab

The New York Times is profiling a novel leg prosthesis fitting technology that helps automate a process that is currently very much a manual affair. The Compas from Orthocare Innovations out of Oklahoma City is a wireless device that attaches to the prosthetic leg and constantly monitors its movement, sending data back to a computer for software analysis.

From NYT:

Doug Bourgoyne has been trying the Compas system for the last few months at the Raymond G. Murphy V.A. Medical Center in Albuquerque, where he is clinical supervisor of the orthotics and prosthetics laboratory. The metal plate looks like a standard metal plate used within a prosthesis, he said, “but it is smarter.”

The plate has silicon strain gauges to measure forces going through the prosthesis, said David Boone, the chief technology officer at Orthocare, and electronics to convert the information to digital form and memory so measurements can be stored.

The diagnostic module that is attached to the plate in the prosthesis during office visits contains a laser to project a line on the floor as the patient walks, and a gyroscope that measures the rotation of the limb, Dr. Boone said. Each module can be used with multiple patients.

Here's a fairly involved video demonstrating the use of the system:

Read on at the New York Times...

Product page: Compas...

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