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Flex-Foot Cheetah

Flex-Foot Cheetah. By: Zachary Campo. Prosthetics are artificial limbs used to replace a no longer existing limb. The creation of prosthetics dates back to 2750 BC where the Egyptian Dynasty first put to use splints.

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Flex-Foot Cheetah

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  1. Flex-Foot Cheetah By: Zachary Campo

  2. Prosthetics are artificial limbs used to replace a no longer existing limb. • The creation of prosthetics dates back to 2750 BC where the Egyptian Dynasty first put to use splints. • It was not until 1946 that major advances were made in the attachment of prosthetics. Introduction

  3. As advances in technology were made, prosthetics began being designed for more strenuous tasks. • Lower leg amputees wanted the ability to run again. • Decided to stop mimicking how actual human leg works and go in new direction • Designed a “j” curve to allow for running • Now Flex-Foot Cheetah has allowed double leg amputee Oscar Pistorius to compete in Olympics vs. able bodied people Prosthetics in Track

  4. Van Phillips created the prosthetic in 1996 • Mimicking motions of the hind legs of a cheetah in mid stride, Phillips designed the Flex-Foot Cheetah. • Created by carbon fibers • High and low stress points vary in amount of fibers • Allows for compression and also return to normal state • Attaches externally to body Flex-Foot Cheetah Design

  5. After experiments were performed, results from Ossur company show that: • It takes 25% more energy to move a prosthetic over a human limb • 90% energy is returned from the Flex-Foot to the runner while 249% energy is returned by a human limb • Lightweight compared to other prosthetics • Hard to maneuver around track with lack of ankles • Comfortable for short periods of time Results

  6. Amputees could not compete with able-bodied runners because prosthetics were lacking in effectiveness • With development of Flex-Foot now amputees can compete alongside able-body runners • Oscar Pistorius proved this in the 2012 London Olympics Flex-Foot Changes Track

  7. People believe that the spring provided by the Flex-Foot plays an unfair advantage for the runner • Provided that the prosthetic does compress and return energy, people assume its more energy than a human leg would provide • Glancing back at the numbers from the results section, this is found to be incorrect Controversy

  8. Cost per unit is between $15,000-18,000 • Most often not covered by health insurance • Expensive but the ability to run again makes it worth it Price

  9. As technology advances so do the effectiveness of the prosthetics created • Prosthetics may be designed like shoes in the future, an amputee may have a different prosthetic for every activity • As springs are implemented into the design, they may act like muscles and return a higher amount of energy to the user • Very possible that having a prosthetic will be more beneficial than a human leg in the future Advances in Product

  10. http://2012currentevents2.wikispaces.com/file/view/images-4.jpeg/340822904/images-4.jpeg (3/24/13) • http://www.ossur.com/?pageid=13462 (3/23/13) • http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/abetterman80/media/ (3/32/13) olympicrunner_60689335_oscar_pistorius.jpg.html (3/23/13) • http://asset2.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2005/412runner500x572.jpg (3/23/13) • http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/08/no-advantage-to-being-an-amputee-a-defense-of-oscar-pistoriuss-prostheses/260878/ (3/23/13) Works Cited

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