Week 10: The Presentation

Back again! As these ten weeks come to a close, I wanted to thank you all for following me on this experience. I've attached my final presentation, which I will be presenting in May as a way of showing all that I have learned through my internship.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bKXeLtcUFQAzZ3TSWIk0blv_HkIphCn8NMDks7c9qZA/edit#slide=id.p6

Week 9: Carbon, Carbon, and more Carbon

This week has been insanely busy, all the while quite monotonous. I flew back from Boston late Monday night, only to start back working the following morning. This week has been hectic although in a different type of way. The actual patient work and fabrication was extremely slow, that is until one of Dean’s associates brought us 10 castings from the Clinic in Mexico which needed to be laminated by next week! And so it began, we had to make and fully assemble 10 prosthetics (8 lower limb, 2 upper limb) within the next two weeks while keeping up with normal fabrication duties. These however are not your normal prosthetics, we must take every precaution and attempt to foresee any problem (then fix it) before they leave to Mexico again. There is very little room for error or adjustment as after Dean leaves the leg with them, he will no longer see them for a few months. Another difference to how things are normally run is that all of these sockets are created using carbon fiber which is usually only used for a final socket (after several plastic test versions). The Carbon fiber process itself takes a significantly longer time to make the prosthetic than the plastic preliminary prosthetic.

I previously went into some detail about the process so I will not go too deeply into what you must do to transform the carbon fiber filament into a hardened shell. I thought it may be interesting to see a step by step version of how the socket is created using carbon fiber. Below are a series of pictures depicting the steps involved.

I wanted to update everyone on the 3D scanner as well as the Foot Scanner. Firstly the good news! The foot scans have been very clear and the products created are of very high quality. Since we talked last we have had several foot orthotics come in and all of which have been a success. On a more disappointing note, the software required that allows use of the 3D scanner must be downloaded yet none of the office computers are able to run it. 

Until next week!

Week 8: An Itchy Experience

This week had a few interesting experiences that I would love to share! I had my first real experience with carbon fiber sockets and I even got to work on an i-Limb device. This week began quite slow as the fabrication shop was caught up with orders, this was until we had to fabricate the final version of a patient’s socket (using the carbon fiber rather than plastic). I was closely super-vised yet allowed to cut and remove the carbon fiber after the resin hardened the microfilaments. I was definitely in for a surprise as I cut into the carbon fiber layer. Fun fact, when you cut into carbon fiber, small fibers fly into the air getting EVERYWHERE, they are also extremely itchy making the rest of the day quite uncomfortable. We had to wear masks and eye protection continuously using an industrial strength vacuum-cleaner suctioning above the cuts. Despite the precautions I was still very itchy after sawing it off of the plaster casting. I followed this specific patient through the whole process of the initial casting, to the filling, to the modifications, all the way to the final product which was amazing to see the difference from our first meeting to him walking out of the store.

Later in the week, we finally had the parts come in to fix that prosthetic arm I talked about several weeks ago. Thursday consisted of working with David, one of the lab technicians on calibrating and putting the device back together. You would think it’s quite simple enough to make a type of hinge elbow but it is actually very complex. Here are several pictures of that process, and an instruction manual picture of the joint itself. 

After fixing all of the missing parts we had to make adjustment after adjustment to allow for both flexion of the arm as well as the locking of the elbow to keep the arm in a certain position. Then comes setup of the myo-electrical system within the hollowed out arm that extends in this particular device to the shoulder. I was shocked at how much time goes into the setup of such a device!

Week 7: The 3D Alternative

For this blog post I would like to focus on the uses and practicality of 3D printing in the world of prosthetics. The development and commercialized use of 3D printing has been adapted to this extremely specified field. As the devices became more readily available, so did the accessibility for creators to make more specialized 3D prints.

The first 3D printed prosthetic hands came in a series of parts all combined together usually needing some construction to be used by the patient. Slowly but surely more and more progress has been made to make the hands both more functional and cheaper. A new type of blueprint no longer requires the assembly and makes such a device in a single part. This type of prosthetic can be created for approximately 400$ compared to the nearly 100,000$ price tag on an iLimb device. Using the nylon 3D material the hand is both much slimmer and lighter, also requiring no power it still allows him the ability to open and close his fingers with the movement of his wrist. With the increasing public designs out on the internet there are even adaptations for such a prosthetic which can allow different movements of the fingers allowing the user to adapt to hold specific types of tools (the ability to hold a guitar, a violin, a hammer etc.).

While less sleek and functional than the iLimb device they can have huge benefits for those who are unable to afford such an expensive device. In areas of the world unable to access high-tech medical equipment these hands are another amazing option. They have so many benefits especially with children. Firstly, children are growing and are highly adaptable allowing them to pick up and use the movements much more effectively. Secondly, as they grow they are going to need different sizes of prosthetics to fit their larger limbs. The cheapness of the 3D printed hand allows just for that, even going through 10 different 3D printed hands is a fraction of the cost of the iLimb. As in all business, it will inevitably come down to demand. How many people need the device and what is the most cost-efficient way of satisfying that demand. And because the market is so small it is unlikely that the most advanced prosthetics will significantly reduce in price, pushing consumers toward the 3D alternative.