Develop an orthosis for Patrizia to walk more naturally!

About Patrizia

Patrizia came from Italy to visit her daughter in Zurich. Patrizia had polio when she was two years old, which affected her left lower limb. She is a construction engineer and has always dreamed of building a lower limb brace that would make her “run,” but she knows this is a dream, so now she is going concrete.

Challenge

With HackaHealth 2024, Patrizia would like a brace with a more functional knee joint than the current one. The constant reaching down to pull up the hoop that allows her to bend her knee often causes her back pain. Patrizia wonders if a smoother system could be done with an electronic switch or another way. The brace should be lighter overall, and the covering should be non-irritating to the ischial support.

Solution

We set out to improve Patrizia’s existing orthosis. After identifying key issues and potential enhancements, we combined the best features of her two orthoses—retaining the comfort of the old one while integrating the mechanism of the new one.

The prototype has been tested and refined based on Patrizia’s feedback to better suit her needs. She has been using the modified orthosis for an extended period, demonstrating its effectiveness. Since she receives a custom orthosis every two years, this prototype serves as a reference for her orthopedist in designing the next one.