Knee Brace
Live project for Metafix Ortho
The brief was to identify problems with the current knee brace used to cure osteoarthritis and come up with a more user-friendly solution that caters to the user's needs.
Live project / 4 weeks / group
Topic
Osteoarthritis (OA) also called wear and tear arthritis is the most common chronic joint condition. The ends of these bones are covered with a protective tissue called cartilage. With OA, this cartilage breaks down, causing the bones within the joint to rub together. It is most common with people older than 65. Injuries that occur when playing sports or from an accident, can increase the risk of osteoarthritis. Obesity, genetics, bone deformities, and metabolic diseases are some other factors affecting OA.
Problems
The current brace is not very intuitive to wear as there are several velcro straps and loops for it, it is hard to understand which one goes where. Currently, two different braces need to be manufactured for knock knee and bow knee osteoarthritis only because of the change in direction of the condition although the parts remain the same. The need for using an allen key every time to adjust the angle is inconvenient and since there isn't any kind of indicator adjustment is always an approximation. This brace is mainly used by elderly or obese people both of which have sensitive skin and have often complained about the knee brace poking their skin.
Concepts
We tried to solve these pain points found out developed a few concepts around them. Our main idea was to reduce the cost of manufacturing by having a modular device for knock knee and bow legs. This would also let us introduce color options for users which they could wear on different occasions.
Solution
We have added a connector buckle for modularity, to be used by either leg and interchange patterns and colors, thereby reducing the cost of manufacturing separate devices for each leg. The brace can also be customized depending on the patient's choice where colors and patterns can be swapped on different occasions.
The strap mechanism is very easy to wear where no flimsy and confusing velcro attachments are present. It is inspired by ski shoe buckles and is detachable. In the previous locking process, a person had to tighten the strap 6 times, we have drastically reduced the steps and now a person has to tighten it only 2 times.
The adjuster dial shows the degree of pressure applied, which wasn't present before and was only possible via an allen key based on ones assumption. But now even the patient can change the degree depending on its needs and remember the number for different situations.
Variations
The color variations are made thinking about the usage scenarios and different occasions where a patient could wear the brace. A patient might wanna wear black on a formal occasion and something eye-catching at a party to something unnoticeable on a beach. All the colors are swappable making it easy to change depending on the need and occasion. Custom colors and patterns are also available depending on the requirement.
Prototype
A working prototype was developed to test the concept and understand any problems if faced. We made the strap mechanism from in-line roller blades, we 3d printed the pressure mechanism and the rotational hinge. We laser cut an acrylic sheet, heat bend it to the desired shape, applied foam padding behind it to make the upper and lower rings.
The design is in development stage with Metafix Ortho.
The project was a result of the group effort put in by Sahil and Rishikesh.