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Development of Durable User-Specific 3D Printed Orthotics

“Foot drop” is a gait abnormality involving weakness and/or damage to the common fibular nerve, causing difficulty in lifting the front part of the foot. Typically, patients wear a special brace called an “ankle-foot orthosis” (AFO), which restricts the problematic limpness of the foot during walking, and holds the foot in the normal position to facilitate a more natural gait. However, the production of a custom orthosis is a lengthy, time-consuming process and typically requires significant manual labour, user skill through the casting and fitting procedure, a process with inherent variabliliy. Additionally, the entire procedure must be repeated from the beginning each time a re-fabrication is required.
– This project focuses on developing an alternative, faster, cheaper and more easily replicated manufacturing process with increased reproducibilty and an increased durability at the site(s) of typical mechanical failure. Furthermore, modern 3D surface scanning systems can accurately obtain individualized representations of the patient’s foot and leg dimensions, thus allowing for custom patient-specific AFO’s to be printed from multimaterials as required.