Method and system for brace designing. The method comprises the following steps: S1) fixing a subject requiring a brace; S2) acquiring skeletal image information of the subject; S3) determining an adjustment solution for implementing an adjustment with respect to the subject and a target state that is to be achieved ultimately; S4) adjusting the subject to alter the skeletal structure of the subject; S5) acquiring adjusted skeletal image information of the subject; S6) determining whether the skeleton of the subject has been adjusted to the target state; if yes, then terminating adjustment and entering step S7; if not, then returning to step S4; S7) acquiring the body surface three-dimensional shape of the subject having achieved the target state and recording information of the force applied by an adjusting head to the subject for use in manufacturing a corresponding brace; thus allowing the highly efficient designing of a brace.

Prosthesis devices can include sockets having adjustable features. In one example, a socket includes one or more panels that can move outwardly or inwardly relative to a receptacle portion of the socket. The panels can be moved by tightening a tensioning line.

A prosthetic appendage for attachment to an outer extremity of an amputated limb that is composed of modular elements fabricated by three-dimensional printing. In one embodiment the prosthetic appendage is a leg. The prosthetic leg includes a foot portion and a plurality of modular and three-dimensionally printed limb elements. One of the plurality of limb elements is pivotally coupled to the foot portion and another of the limb elements is configured at one end to receive the outer extremity of the amputated leg. In another embodiment of the present invention the prosthetic appendage is a hand. The prosthetic hand includes a wrist element with one end configured to receive the outer extremity of an amputated hand, a base portion attached to the wrist element and a plurality of modular and three-dimensionally printed finger elements selectively coupled to adjacent finger elements or the base to form prosthetic fingers.

A passive prosthetic foot enables a below-knee amputee to walk with near able-body walking motions. The prosthetic foot includes a resilient heel that enables the heel to strike a walking surface more softly than in the prior art and more accurately transition the leg from swing phase to stance phase. The prosthetic foot is modeled generally as a wide Bézier curve, and the foot is characterized according to a set of at least 12 variables, including h, C1d, C2x, C2y, C2d, C3x, C3y, C3d, C4x, C4d, C5d and C6d, where C3y is heel size, C4x is heel geometry and C6d is curve intersection location. The variables are optimized to minimize a difference between a normal lower leg trajectory during gait and a modeled trajectory that includes the prosthetic foot.

A method for manufacturing a custom wearable and/or implantable medical device, such as an orthosis (e.g., an ankle brace, etc.), a prosthesis or the like, includes use of scanning processes. A digital model of a surface may be applied to a digital device model to define a custom digital device model. The digital model and, thus, the custom digital device model may include one or more standard features. The custom digital device model may be used with an automated manufacturing process to make some or all of the custom wearable and/or implantable medical device. In some embodiments, additive manufacturing processes may be used to form a portion or all of the custom wearable and/or implantable medical device.

An external breast prosthesis (12) includes a main body made from a polymer, the body having an inner surface (13) for coinciding with an outer chest surface of a person wearing the breast prosthesis and an opposing outer surface (14), wherein the main body includes multiple elongated thermal conductors (15) that extend from a position adjacent the inner surface of the breast prosthesis to a position adjacent the outer surface of the breast prosthesis.

The invention relates to a method for creating manufacturing data for manufacturing an orthopedic product for a body part of a patient, the method comprising the following steps: providing a digital three-dimensional body part model of the relevant body part for which the orthopedic product is destined to an electronic data processing apparatus, the three-dimensional body part model being based on external body part data acquired from the body part of the patient; identifying at least one rigid body part region in the provided body part model by means of the electronic data processing apparatus, with the remaining region situated outside of the rigid body part region being identified as a yielding body part region on the basis of the identified rigid body part region; creating a reduced three-dimensional body part model by means of the electronic data processing apparatus on the basis of the provided three-dimensional body part model, the identified rigid body part regions and a reduction metric applied in the region of the yielding body part region; and producing manufacturing data for the orthopedic product on the basis of the reduced three-dimensional body part model by means of the electronic data processing apparatus.

The invention relates to a process of designing and manufacturing a tailored 3D printed or standard prosthetic socket for a residual limb with a 3D printed distal end, and a computer device for carrying out the process. The process includes obtaining a digital surface of the residual limb and information about the patient, possibly altering the digital surface of the residual limb, creating a shell of the prosthetic socket comprising the altered digital surface of the residual limb, virtually spatially arranging the prosthetic socket including virtual spatial translational or rotational movements of selected prosthetic parts and the prosthetic socket for optimal load transfer from a residual limb to the prosthesis, wherein the structural design of the prosthetic socket is based on the virtual axial adjustment of the prosthesis.

The present disclosure is related to systems and methods for orthosis design. The method includes obtaining a three-dimensional (3D) model associated with a subject. The method includes obtaining one or more reference images associated with the subject. The method includes determining, based on the 3D model and the one or more reference images, orthosis design data for the subject. The orthosis design data may be used to determine an orthosis for the subject.

A magnetorheological apparatus includes a flexible body formed of an elastomer material, a plurality of cell cavities defined by the flexible body, a magnetorheological (MR) fluid disposed within each cell cavity of the plurality of cell cavities, and a magnetic field inductor positioned adjacent to at least one of the cell cavities. Each cell cavity of the plurality of cell cavities is fluidly encapsulated within the flexible body. The magnetic field inductor is selectively operable to vary a magnetic field, and the MR fluid within the at least one cell cavity is configured to vary a stiffness of the at least one cell cavity in response to the magnetic field.