Innovative In-Vivo Kinetic System to Facilitate Rehabilitation and Maintenance Residuum Health After Limb Loss
Abstract
Because the ability of individuals with lower-limb loss to walk with a prosthesis is paramount to their quality of life, prosthetic care providers make individualized clinical decisions intended to sustain the capacity of the residuum to be fitted with a prosthesis. Sadly, these efforts might be poorly rewarded when fitting a socket-suspended prosthesis, as the contact between the skin of the residuum and the socket could generate discomfort. Typically, these issues lead to early, temporary, and too often, regular prosthesis abandonment. Healthcare professionals use a range of physical examinations, medical tests, and images to assess various types of individual health issues affecting the residuum. Unfortunately, combining all this information to determine both the causes and the effects of these medical conditions is challenging. The diagnosis of these conditions is limited because there are few ways to capture how the stress imposed by the prosthesis affects the internal tissues of the residuum. Clearly, there is great need for an integrated, wearable, and non-invasive diagnostic tool capable of recording the effect of prosthetic loading on the internal tissues of the residuum, not only during clinical assessments, but also during daily activities. Initial development of such a diagnostic tool occurred during the first phase of funding for this project. This has led to the creation of a so-called In-vivo Kinetic system 1.0, capable of recording both prosthetic loading and tissue distributions within the residuum in real time. The purpose of the next phase of this project is to further develop the In-vivo Kinetic system 2.0. The objectives will be to collect all required information to demonstrate its safety for the end-users, as well as its medical efficacy and utility for care providers. These validations are required by the regulatory legislators, requiring a rigorous and validated research protocol involving researchers and physicians, as well as cohorts of end-users. In the short term, we anticipate that this innovative In-vivo Kinetic system 2.0 with provide the entire clinical management team with an improved non–invasive diagnostic tool. In return, their ability to perform personalized and real-time assessments of the residuum of Service Members and Veterans will help not only to prevent, but more importantly, to treat the most common medical and prosthetic issues. For example, the In-vivo Kinetic system 2.0 could play an essential role in early detection of osteoporosis, heterotopic bone formation, and soft tissues at risk of deep tissue injury and ulceration. This new tool could also guide personalized prescription for prosthetic fitting, including design of costly sockets and selection of expensive components. Altogether, this project will significantly contribute to an increase in functional outcome and quality of life of Service Members and Veterans with lower-limb loss suffering from typical and regular issues compromising residuum health. This means that the In-vivo Kinetic system 2.0 will contribute to the return of Service Members to pre-injury function that could, subsequently, provide an avenue for return to active duty. Finally, this diagnostic tool could increase the cost-effectiveness of prosthetic prescription, thereby reducing the lifetime financial burden associated with prosthetic use.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 05, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2110215
Entities
People
- Laurent A. Frossard
Organizations
- Griffith University
- United States Army