A modified shank for below knee prosthesis

Abstract

A below knee (BK) prosthesis is a device used to compensate for missing limb segments in patients with BK amputations as an aid for locomotive and other daily activities It consists of three main parts: socket, shank, and artificial foot. The shank is merely a shaft of a suitable length to serve as a frame structure to transfer biomechanical forces between the socket and foot. In traditional BK prostheses, the shank is made from rigid metallic or composite material tube (Teflon), while in the current work, a modified version is suggested with internal stiffness and damping characteristics to act as energy storage and shock absorber. A mathematical model was thus employed to analyse the impact behaviour from walking gait, and the main parameters studied were the effective mass of impact, loading rate, and knee pre-swing angular velocity. The modified prosthesis was tested with a BK amputation patient and compared with a traditional prosthesis in force platform and treadmill tests. The results showed some improvement in patient gait parameters; at stance phase, it smoothed the GRF curve; at heel strike, both the effective mass of impact and loading rate increased by 16% and 22%, indicating good impact reduction, and at pre swing, it increased the initial flexion angle and angular velocity by 13% and 15%, respectively, enhancing the swing phase.