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Post by stonecutter on Nov 30, 2012 17:37:38 GMT -7
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Post by allenuk on Dec 1, 2012 1:30:59 GMT -7
First thought. How MUCH? My guess would be $30,000 plus, based on C-leg prices in the UK.
Second thought. Great, can I have one! I do have an Echelon, which does some of the things that foot does, i.e. articulates etc., but only has a few miniature hydraulic rams built-in to accomplish it - no 'technology'.
Third thought. My brilliant Echelon is useless when my SOCKET is useless. A bad socket with a 30K foot will still make you walk like Ben Gun.
But overall, it's about time this sort of thinking was brought to bear on BKA feet. So when do you get yours, Stonecutter?
A
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Post by stonecutter on Dec 1, 2012 17:02:56 GMT -7
I have no idea on what it costs, but if I was to win the lottery - they'd certainly have a customer in me!
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Post by barclay on Dec 2, 2012 4:48:10 GMT -7
I could be wrong, but I have the feeling at least that I can do as much with my Ossur foot (I think this is the one I have www.ossur.com/?PageID=13458) (of course, I keep breaking them, but that could be an issue here too). I don't see the advantage with biking either as you ankle is still at about 90°. I hope I am not dashing hopes here, and maybe I only feel like I can do what shown already, but really can't. I will try to post a clip of the leg playing tennis and you all can decide if there is a significant difference. |
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Post by allenuk on Dec 2, 2012 7:25:02 GMT -7
There used to be a product video showing the Echelon doing similar things - walking up hill, cycling, all that guff - and it sold it to me. Not that I had to pay for it, but I was certainly chuffed to pieces when I got one about 2 and a half years back.
It is a great foot, but as I say above, if your SOCKET is rubbish, then it doesn't matter much what the foot can do.
I still prefer walking with my Echelon and the not-so-good socket, rather than walking with my bog-standard Ossur on my spare leg.
I think cycling is better with the Echelon, as it does articulate a bit back and forth, so it isn't always stuck at 90 degrees, but it doesn't make an enormous difference. I certainly can't stand up in the pedals!
A.
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Post by stonecutter on Dec 2, 2012 12:05:50 GMT -7
I could be wrong, but I have the feeling at least that I can do as much with my Ossur foot (I think this is the one I have www.ossur.com/?PageID=13458) (of course, I keep breaking them, but that could be an issue here too). I don't see the advantage with biking either as you ankle is still at about 90°. I don't know... I have a Reflex-Shock with Evo ( www.ossur.com/?pageid=16269 ) and these folks seem to have an easier time on ramps and slopes than I do. My prosthetist was the guy who told me about this. I guess the big thing is that it gives you the motion of your ankle back as can be seen by the guy jumping up and down. I'm always looking for energy return. When I'm tired after a long day of walking around the institute where I work, it sometimes feels like energy is being sucked out of my leg and into the ground. I need that spring back that you'd have with your calf / achilles / foot thrust. |
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Post by allenuk on Dec 2, 2012 13:13:19 GMT -7
Don't get my carping wrong - I would LOVE to have a go with one of these super-duper feet.
A
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Post by ann- on Dec 2, 2012 13:20:17 GMT -7
From a female perspective, the foot looks to me a bit masculine, bit heavy and cumbersome, so its not something I would probably be going for.
I wasn't sure if this was for b/k or a/k, but being as a bilateral b/k I have only ever worn a basic single axis foot, partly because years ago the feet were wooden and I just got used to using a very basic foot, partly also this might be because it gives me stability, though I am happy with this basic set up, and can and always have been able to walk up and down slopes, different terrains etc. etc., granted I can't jump up and down, or run or whatever, but walking-wise they let me walk, which is really all I am asking for.
Also to be honest, I am with Allen on the 'socket' bit, as he says if the "socket is rubbish then it doesn't matter what the foot can do", I've been walking on prosthetics for years but recently had a series of sockets that don't fit, the last caused swelling and blistering and I didn't walk at all for about five weeks ... so even the most advanced tech foot wouldn't have helped in that situation and my thoughts are that perhaps more research/investment etc should be spent on looking at socket fit because that seems where, today, the problems lie ....(am talking specifically from experiences in the UK).
I am talking to so many UK amps who are also having problems with their socket fit, many not walking etc., etc., yet when I think back to past decades when I first became an amp., the technology for feet or knees etc was pretty basic/mechanical, and the prosthetics were not cosmetically so great ... but more time was taken making the socket, measuring, casting etc., and the leather sockets that the majority of us used back then, were more flexible and easier to adjust, and often more comfortable the result being that most of us kept pretty mobile most of the time.
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Post by allenuk on Dec 2, 2012 13:31:38 GMT -7
Yes indeed Ann, couldn't agree more.
And contradicting what I said earlier, maybe all the tremendous amount of money and skill that went into producing this foot would have been better spent in producing a new SOCKET with all the bells and whistles, computerised bits, sensors, etc. Sockets as such must have been virtually the same for decades.
I'd like one that I saw on Star Trek a few years ago - it was like two halves of a shell, hinged. You closed it around your residual leg, and it shaped itself to your leg and stump, then popped a synthetic lower leg and foot on the end. Took about 20 seconds. (Bet that cost a few bob too).
A
(Oh, translation. Bob = dimes)
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Post by ann- on Dec 3, 2012 1:45:52 GMT -7
The Star Trek socket sounds good Allen.
I think most people would imagine that producing sockets are quite tec, and they're not, not here in the UK anyway (not sure how it is elsewhere though), I quite like your idea of sensors, sad thing is that really forty years or so ago my experience of socket fit was much better than it is today.
I'd really be interested to learn how sockets are produced outside the UK, here it seems we just get a bit of cling film wrapped around our stump which is plastered over, or a cast is taken from the existing socket. Years ago I remember much more care being taken, my whole leg outline being drawn around on paper, with measurements at different intervals (the entire length), as well as remember indelible markings being drawn on sock covering stump prior to casting, and though we got no check socket in those days, we did have two or three fittings before delivery and did not take delivery unless everyone was happy.
I wonder also about the materials used here for sockets, it seems most people either have a pelite insert with socks (or perhaps a liner) or a liner which is straight on to the hard shell. What a lot of people seem to be saying is they go 'deep' very quickly within a week or two of using the pelite liner, so not sure if this is down to the casting techniques or the materials used. I have a hubby who is an engineer who feels that there are more preferable materials that could be used, on the market.
So, not sure if everyone shares the same experiences in getting new sockets, but if others elsewhere know of different methods and materials, would be really interested to know.
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Post by stonecutter on Dec 3, 2012 8:30:55 GMT -7
I'd like one that I saw on Star Trek a few years ago - it was like two halves of a shell, hinged. You closed it around your residual leg, and it shaped itself to your leg and stump, then popped a synthetic lower leg and foot on the end... Been trying to find a youtube of that... I think it's hard to find because it's apparently from Deep Space Nine and no one (except Allan, apparently) ever watched Star Trek: DSN. |
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