Bionic Knee Orthotic for Patients with Muscular Spasticity

Sponsor

Carle Illinois College of Medicine: Dylan Mann, Shahnoor Amin

Student Team

Master of Engineering: Jasmine Thornhill, Zeyu Wu
Undergraduates: Nicole Johnson, Drashti Sikligar, Evan Ko
iMBA: Patrick Parkes

Description

Our objective is to develop a device that supplements knee flexion during leg swing with external mechanical force. The aim is to help provide a weak patient support in counteracting extensor hypertonia, which would result in a hemi or diplegic gait where the patient must abduct at the hip in order to compensate for a lack of knee flexion. By facilitating a more natural gait, the goal is to encourage the patient to be more mobile and more active throughout the day and reduce sedentary behavior. An increase of 30 minutes of physical activity daily is associated with a 24% lifetime risk reduction of death due to cardiovascular disease.

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