A prosthetic knee provides security and stability, particularly to low activity users, household and limited community ambulators, single and/or slow speed ambulators, and those with little voluntary control, while also balancing walking (dynamic) performance for low activity users. The prosthetic knee includes a housing, parallel anterior links, a posterior link, and a chassis. The geometry of the links and their relationship to one another allow for low voluntary control, shortening of mid-swing, which reduces stumbling risk, and geometric stability in stance. The anterior links are particularly oriented, sized and located to provide for stability. The anterior links both extend above the posterior link and substantially below the posterior link. The prosthetic knee includes a locking mechanism arranged to arrest movement of the posterior link. The knee including a locking mechanism connected to the housing and arranged to block rotation of the posterior link. The locking mechanism is a spring loaded latch including a pair of elongate springs extending downwardly from the latch to the housing and being connected to the housing below the upper pivot point of the posterior link and to a pin engaging the forward end of the latch.

A prosthetic device includes an elongate support member of carbon filament material having a first surface, and an adapter. The adapter includes a compressible member, a base portion having a contact surface arranged to contact the first surface of the support member, a cavity sized to receive the compressible member, and a connector portion extending from the base portion and configured to releasably secure the prosthetic foot to a prosthesis, wherein application of a force to the connector portion compresses the compressible member to dampen movement of the base portion relative to the support member until the contact surface contacts the first surface.

A prosthetic or orthotic device includes a body configured to support at least a portion of a human limb of a user wearing the prosthetic or orthotic device. The device can also include a shock absorption member coupled to the body. The shock absorption member includes one or more magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) springs disposed between a first portion of the body and a second portion of the body. The one or more MRE springs are selectively actuatable to vary a stiffness of the shock absorption member via the application of a magnetic flux, thereby adjusting a stiffness of the body of the prosthetic or orthotic device to a level corresponding to an activity level of the user.

A lower limb prosthesis comprises a foot component and an ankle unit pivotally mounted to the foot component. The ankle unit comprises an ankle joint mechanism comprising a hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly for providing hydraulic damping whenever the ankle joint flexes, and a vacuum mechanism comprising a pneumatic piston and cylinder assembly for generating a vacuum. The hydraulic and pneumatic piston and cylinder assemblies are arranged such that the vacuum mechanism generates a vacuum during plantar-flexion of the ankle unit.

A body-powered articulated prosthetic hand where each of the segments of the digits, the palmer plate, the thumb pivot plate and the wrist are individually sizeable. This allows for both a proportionately scalable hand as well as individual customization of geometric configurations tailored to specific use patterns. The hand is crushable since it has flexible and pivotable connections between digits along the length and width of the hand. It has a hollow member construction that imparts a strong lightweight design. It is modular so individual parts can be replaced for quick repair. From an aesthetics point, it is visually pleasing and can be offered in different colors, and with custom digit sleeves for specific applications. Fingers can be operated individually or in groups via pairs of cables which allow operation in either voluntary open or voluntary closed modes of control. The flexible construction allows gripping of irregularly shaped objects and deforms before failing giving indication of overload prior to failure.

An artificial foot having a longitudinal axis extending from a heel area to a toe area, a length, a width and a height is provided. The artificial foot includes a connection to a lower leg part, an upper supporting structure in the direction of height, an elastic sole structure extending from the heel area to the toe area, an elastic connecting element arranged between the upper supporting structure and the sole structure, and a coupling system. The upper supporting structure is connected to the sole structure approximately in a middle of the foot with respect to its length by means of the coupling system. The coupling system allows a relative tilting motion between the upper supporting structure and the sole structure while keeping a distance between the upper supporting structure and the sole structure in a middle of the coupling system constant, at least while a patient places weight on it when standing.

A buffer mechanism of an artificial limb is provided, including a joint connecting base, an artificial limb connecting base, a first connecting rod connected to a front side of the joint connecting base, a second connecting rod connected to a rear side of the artificial limb connecting base, and a buffer cylinder disposed between the first connecting rod and the second connecting rod and having a sleeve, a cylinder plug and a spring. The cylinder plug is detachably disposed at one end of the sleeve, the side surface of the first connecting rod facing the second connecting rod is disposed with a roller arm, an end of the roller arm is pivotally connected with a roller, and the roller arm contacts the end face of the cylinder plug by the roller. The present disclosure can reduce the wear rate of the cylinder plug and decrease the friction force.

An improvement to a prosthetic device which provides a spring member between first and second structural members that are rotatably connected to one another, the spring member providing predictable resistance as it is compressed by the rotation of the first and second structural members with respect to each other. The known resistance of the spring is used as an input to a model controlling a motor control circuit to provide counter-torque as rotational torque is applied to compress the spring.

A hybrid artificial limb device is provided. A hybrid artificial limb device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises: a joint upper side connection member positioned at the upper side of a knee; a knee joint member connected to the joint upper side connection member; and a frame coupled to the knee joint member to be able to perform a pivot rotation, and forming a femoral part. The hybrid artificial limb device also comprises: a passive driving module which includes a hydraulic cylinder connected to the knee joint member, so as to transfer passive power to the knee joint member; and an active driving module which is coupled to the knee joint member so as to transfer active power to the knee joint member. When the frame performs a pivot rotation about the knee joint member, the passive power from the passive driving module and the active power from the active driving module may be selectively or simultaneously provided to the knee joint member.

A gap-adjustable/eliminable shock absorption structure includes a shock-absorbing ankle body having a thread adjustment portion. An elastic body and a driving piston are provided on a spring carrier pivotally mounted inside the shock-absorbing ankle body. The driving piston is connected, through screwing, to an inverted T-shaped connector. A cylinder extending from the driving piston is fit into a friction bushing, such that a surface of the cylinder is closely fit to an inside surface of the friction bushing. The friction bushing has an oblique outside surface that is closely fit to an internal wall of the shock-absorbing ankle body. The thread adjustment portion receives a fastening ring and an adjusting ring to screw thereto such that fine adjustment is achieved through displacement caused by rotation of the adjusting ring to set up tight engagement with the friction bushing as being closely fit to the surface of cylinder surface.