Regresar

Towards customized medicine with open-source applications in developing countries: Foot drop and transtibial prosthesis

Abstract:

Alterations in the normal gait can be enhanced to improve patients’ quality of life. Although several devices improve these conditions, the technology to diagnose and create solutions is expensive. The present work focuses on developing a methodology to use free software and hardware to create solutions. The process starts gathering and analyzing the patient’s clinical data; then analyze the human motion kinematics of the patient, so it is possible to customize and manufacture either an orthotic or prosthetic device. With the aim of implementing the methodology, two cases of study are presented in this work. The patient with foot drop presented an angular difference between the ankle and the toe of 10.10◦ ± 4.76◦, which was corrected throughout the spring-like behavior of the material used for the 3D printing process. Further, the prosthetic device was a design with an ankle joint that allows the plantarflexion and dorsiflexion angles of 30° and 25°, respectively. Therefore, this methodology allows the diagnosing of the angular difference between joints during the normal gait and how to create either orthotic or prosthetic devices to reduce them. Hence, the present work aims to open doors towards the customization of medicine and rehabilitation, especially in developing countries.