Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

Embracing additive manufacture: implications for foot and ankle orthosis design

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Javier Munguia ValenzuelaORCiD, Professor Kenneth Dalgarno

Downloads


Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

Background: The design of foot and ankle orthoses is currently limited by the methods used to fabricate the devices, particularly in terms of geometric freedom and potential to include innovative new features. Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, where objects are constructed via a series of sub-millimetre layers of a substrate material, may present the opportunity to overcome these limitations and allow novel devices to be produced that are highly personalised for the individual, both in terms of fit and functionality.Two novel devices, a foot orthosis (FO) designed to include adjustable elements to relieve pressure at the metatarsal heads, and an ankle foot orthosis (AFO) designed to have adjustable stiffness levels in the sagittal plane, were developed and fabricated using AM. The devices were then tested on a healthy participant to determine if the intended biomechanical modes of action were achieved.Results: The adjustable, pressure relieving FO was found to be able to significantly reduce pressure under the targeted metatarsal heads. The AFO was shown to have distinct effects on ankle kinematics which could be varied by adjusting the stiffness level of the device.Conclusions: The results presented here demonstrate the potential design freedom made available by AM, and suggest that it may allow novel personalised orthotic devices to be produced which are beyond the current state of the art.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Telfer S, Pallari J, Munguia J, Dalgarno K, McGeough M, Woodburn J

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Year: 2012

Volume: 13

Online publication date: 29/05/2012

Acceptance date: 29/05/2012

Date deposited: 09/12/2015

ISSN (electronic): 1471-2474

Publisher: BIOMED CENTRAL LTD

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-13-84

DOI: 10.1186/1471-2474-13-84

PubMed id: 22642941


Altmetrics

Altmetrics provided by Altmetric


Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
NMP2-SE-2009-228893European Commission Framework Seven Program as part of the AFOOTPRINT project

Share