Prosthesis (i.e. – artificial body members) – parts thereof – or ai – Leg – Adjustable shank or thigh
Patent
1992-10-01
1994-12-27
Willse, David H.
Prosthesis (i.e., artificial body members), parts thereof, or ai
Leg
Adjustable shank or thigh
623 47, 623 53, 602 27, A61F 262
Patent
active
053761332
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an orthopedic foot according to the preamble of claim 1.
It is well known that it is troublesome for people wearing a prosthetic foot to walk downhill. In those cases where the person wearing a foot prosthesis is not able to adjust the foot angle, it is only the heel which has contact with the road surface or like surface when walking down a steep slope. Over a given number of degrees of foot angle, it is difficult to hold back, or brace the body, so that the knee will not collapse (due to the absence of important muscle groups). Consequently, the wearer of the prosthesis will often choose to walk sideways down a slope.
Furthermore, the wearer of a prosthetic foot which lacks the possibility of adjustment in the height direction finds it problematic to change to a shoe of different heel height, and of quickly choosing to walk without shoes. Individual adjustment of the foot in a vertical or height direction also alleviates problems associated with back pains and worn hips.
An adjustable prosthetic foot is known, for instance, from the U.S. Pat. No. 2,749,557, although this prosthetic foot can only be adjusted in three different angular positions.
The Swedish Published Specification No. 456 134 teaches a prosthestic foot with which the angular positions thereof can be adjusted by means of a screw provided in the heel of the foot. In order to change the angular position of the foot, it is necessary for the wearer of the prosthesis to turn the screw an appropriate number of turns, which requires a certain amount of effort on the part of the wearer. The angle-changing principle taught by this publication has the serious drawback that the length of the leg remains changed, which means that in some positions, the wearer may limp on the right or the left leg.
One object of the present invention is to solve the aforesaid problems and to provide an adjustable resilient foot prosthesis which can be adjusted to an innumerable number of angular positions quickly and smoothly. Another object of the invention is to provide a foot prosthesis which is light in weight and which will thrust the foot forwards when a walking step is completed and which will also eliminate those drawbacks associated with earlier known techniques. The solution to these problems is set forth in the characterizing clause of claim 1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view through a hollow cylindrical body taken through the points at which the brace is attached to the cylindrical body. The threads of the screw and its associated balls are drawn in another section plane, in order to improve illustration.
FIG. 3 is a rear view of the foot.
The orthopedic foot illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 comprises a bar or foot blade 1, preferably made of carbon fibre material and intended to be attached to a bottom part (not shown in the drawings) which functions as a walking sole and which is manufactured from some kind of rubber material, for example. The foot blade preferably comprises two parts, namely a main blade 2 and a toe blade 3. The length of the toe blade is preferably smaller than half the length of the main blade. The forward part of the main blade 2 and the rearward part of the toe blade 3 are curved upwards such as to form therebetween a cup-shaped part 4. A spring device 5, preferably made of an elastic material, such as rubber, is fitted in said cup-shaped part.
Arranged approximately centrally on the main blade 2 in the direction of its longitudinal axis is an upper foot-part which includes a hollow cylindrical body 6 which is attached to the foot-blade through the intermediary of rubber spacing blocks 7, 13 so as to obtain relative movement between the foot-blade and the upper foot-part. The upper foot-part is intended for attachment to a lower leg-part or to some other prosthesis, in accordance with a conventional method. The cylindrical body 6 is provided with two mutually opposed slots which extend in the direction of the longitudinal axis of said body. A ball nut 9 i
REFERENCES:
patent: 35686 (1882-06-01), Jewett
patent: 1049862 (1913-01-01), Hodge et al.
patent: 3461464 (1969-08-01), Lindgren
patent: 4446580 (1984-05-01), Furuya et al.
patent: 4865611 (1989-09-01), Al-Turaiki
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