Jamaican engineer designs low-cost prostheses

[Lazie]

Philip Hamilton, Gleaner Writer "Come, talk to me. I want to know what you're thinking," the man with the friendly face says to a younger man sitting in the chair just metres away from him.
The younger man, 30-year-old Omar Wilson, appears apprehensive. Fresh bandages cover the stub that was once his right arm, crushed in a freak accident at work just barely a month before.
He has come to the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre, St Andrew, to fit a prosthetic arm, but is not sure he is quite ready for it, the workplace accident still fresh in his mind. Additionally, he says the prosthesis does not fit well.
Affordability key
Alwyn Johnson, the older man, smiles, having handled cases similar to Owen's before. He reassures him that everything will be fine and promises to bring him a better-fitting prosthesis.
An engineer by training, 35-year-old Johnson is the chief technology officer and principal investigator of PhysioNetics, a United States firm in Colorado which designs affordable, upper-limb prostheses.
A former student of Campion College and the University of Technology, Johnson heads the team responsible for creating the low-cost upper-extremity prosthetic interface also called a "socket", which is significantly cheaper than other available prosthetic sockets.
The device, which costs US$350 (J$30,100) in comparison to similar mechanisms which can run as high as US$5,000 (J$430,000), makes possible the production of new, affordable prostheses for several hundred thousand upper-extremity amputees worldwide living in poor regions or lacking the financial means.
"We have two guys here using them. One is in Lionel Town and the other in Old Harbour," said Johnson.
He said the prostheses, which are available in three sizes, also come with a kit, which allows wearers to make adjustments to suit their comfort level according to the tasks they are performing.
Adjustability
"One of the things we saw with the guys here in Jamaica is when they are lifting heavy things, they adjusted it so it was tight on their arm. But if they're just using it to have a drink, they have it loose," said Johnson.
He says this feature, which is not available in traditional prosthetic limbs, has captured the attention of prosthetists and doctors overseas, many of whom were surprised that wearers were able to do their own adjustments.
A holder of two master's degrees in engineering, who could easily have had a lucrative career making medical devices, Johnson says he was inspired by the fact that few persons had successfully done something to assist those who were economically disadvantaged.
Johnson said the decision to name the upper-extremity prosthesis the international transradial adjustable limb, or ITAL for short, was deliberate, as he purposely sought to put "the Jamaican stamp" on the device so others would "catch the vibes".
Strenuous activity
Evaluations of the ITAL by amputees in Jamaica, Colombia, and Colorado have demonstrated the units' ability to endure strenuous activities, such as those associated with farming, ranching, and other occupations requiring physical strength and dexterity.
Thirty-three-year-old Steve Beckford, a mason from Manchester who lost his right arm three years ago when a building on which he was working collapsed, is eagerly looking forward to one of the new prosthetic limbs.
"Sometimes when I'm home, I feel as if the building coming down on me same way," said Beckford, who has not worked since the accident. "Right now, I can't get any job just through the one arm."
phillip.hamilton@gleanerjm.com

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...business1.html

[myYout]

watch yah, edimication start ah yard ah how dem seh it nuh good. Wi can stan up inna any arena. Ah suh wi stay. A nuff more likkah dis deh bout easy, give tanks fi let it off. Dem ago seh dis ah ongle one, watch it!!

[Me]

'Magic knee'- Poor nations to benefit from Jamaican prosthetic invention
Published: Monday | February 1, 2010


Philip Hamilton, Gleaner Writer


Although only 25 years old, Joel Sadler has pioneered a major development recognised by TIME magazine as being among its 50 best inventions of 2009.

Sadler, a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Stanford University in California, developed an artificial knee that is being used to help hundreds of amputees in India to walk again.

Known as the JaipurKnee, the device costs only US$20 (J$1,790) and was developed by Stanford University in collaboration with the Jaipur Foot Group, a charity that provides prostheses to Indian amputees.

High-end titanium knee joints, particularly those made in the United States, can cost anywhere from US$10,000 upwards.

Sadler, who developed the device along with American teammate Eric Thorsell, displayed the artificial knee to an extremely receptive audience during a presentation at the University of the West Indies Mona campus' research day last week.

Heart-warming reception

The former Wolmers' Preparatory student, who attended Campion College prior to pursuing an engineering degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told The Gleaner he was encouraged by the reception he received in Jamaica for his invention.

He said that at no time did he imagine that the story surrounding his invention would have spread so far.

It all started as a class project in January, 2008 when he and Thorsell were doing a course in biomedical device design as part of their masters degree programme.

"We chose to work on a prosthesis. We didn't know what we were going to work on at the time, but we knew somebody needed something, " said Sadler of the project that would later evolve into the JaipurKnee.

It was only when both young men went to India, for the first time to observe amputees in clinics being fitted with artificial limbs, that they began to understand what was needed.

It was there Sadler and Thorsell met 17-year-old Kamal, an amputee with whom they would work closely to improve the device over the next two years.

"He needed something that would enable him to function in his community, to earn money, walk around, look normal and feel normal. That was what really drove home the need to us," said Thorsell.

A rough prototype knee had been developed and taken to India for testing. Early prototypes were developed from paper and underwent testing during the two years it took from design to implementation.

Various testing cycles

Sadler said the device went through various testing cycles in the lab, mimicking real world environmental conditions in which the prosthesis would be used.

However, the project was not without its challenges.

Thorsell acknowledged the team had to contend with cultural and language differences, adding that at times it posed difficulty obtaining feedback vital for the prosthesis' design and construction.

"People were so grateful just to have anything that it was hard for them to say anything that could be construed as negative criticism. But that's what we really needed as designers."

Sadler would visit India twice, including during his summer vacation, as he fine-tuned designs for the prosthetic limb.

The end result was a stable, low-cost artificial knee containing just five high-performance plastic parts, and four nuts and bolts.

Sadler says the device has been fitted on over 600 persons, and is built to last for a minimum of three years with 'normal' use.

He says although the prosthesis continues to undergo trials in India, other countries such as the Phillippines, Bolivia, Cameroon and Vietnam have expressed interest in the device.

The team is already working on the next version of the Jaipur Knee. However, Sadler did not disclose details as to when the new version would be available.

Extending global

"Our intention is to make this technology available to everyone who needs it, " said Sadler.

"We're looking at other developing countries where there are people who may not be able to afford prostheses, and even in the developed world, in places like the US where some people can't pay for prostheses."

"I definitely see there's a great potential for an affordable prosthesis for people not just in Jamaica, but worldwide. I have been talking with orthopaedic surgeon Dr Rory Dixon at the Mona Rehab and I am confident we'll eventually see the technology evaluated, eventually, in a setting like Jamaica."

Sadler also encouraged young Jamaicans to seek out paths for exploration and creating innovations that mattered.

"It's within everyone's reach and that encouragement, the creative confidence, is what's going to really take Jamaica out of any complex problems that we have right now," he said.

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[myYout]

As Gamma always seh , ah weh di!! More fiyah fi di torch, mek mi bun dem. Ah now mi ready fi dem. Jamaica dis an Jamaica dat, Jamaica nuh good an rae rae. Mek wi si if dem ah guh gi credit weh it jew yah now.