Albert Shih, project lead and professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan, said, “Eventually we envision that a patient could come in in the morning for an optical scan, and the clinician could design a high quality orthosis very quickly using the cloud-based software. By that afternoon, they could have a 3-D printed device that’s ready for final evaluation and use.”
The team is currently focused on one specific device: ankle foot orthoses, generally prescribed to help stroke patients regain the ability to walk independently. There are 700,000 stroke victims in the US each year, and over two-thirds of these need long-term rehabilitation, which can be helped with custom orthotics like the ones UM is working on. Children with myelomeningocele and cerebral palsy can also use these types of devices to regain stability while walking.
This is a “major departure from current methods” of creating assistive devices, according to Jeff Wensman, director of clinical and technical services at UMOPC. The current labor-intensive process, which usually takes about two weeks, needs a highly trained staff and large shop to complete all of the steps, which include:
- Wrapping fiberglass tapes around the patient’s limb, which will harden into a mold
- Filling the mold with plaster to make the model
- Vacuum forming heated plastic around the model to make the device
- Smoothing the edges by hand and attaching mechanical components, such as straps
The new process developed by UMOPC only needs three pieces of equipment on-site: a handheld optical scanner, a computer, and a 3D printer; as the Fortus 400mc is only about 4′ x 3′ x 6.5′, the lab or shop itself won’t even need to be that big. So in the future, even smaller clinics located in more rural or remote areas could better accommodate patients who need these types of custom devices.
Wensman said, “Traditional hand-made orthotics are solid plastic, and they need to be a certain thickness because they have to be wrapped around a physical model during the manufacturing process. 3-D printing eliminates that limitation. We can design devices that are solid in some places and hollow in others and vary the thickness much more precisely. It gives us a whole new set of tools to work with.”
Along with America Makes and Manufacturing USA, the project received funding from the National Science Foundation.
Shih said, “Without America Makes and Manufacturing USA, we would not be able to bring a state-of-the-art 3D printer to the prosthetics center with the traditional research project. Without the National Science Foundation’s Partnership for Innovation and cyber manufacturing grants, we would not be able to have PhD engineering students working at UMOPC to develop the system. I am very blessed to have all three projects funded and started at the same time to create this first-of-its-kind demonstration site at UMOPC for the Michigan Difference in advanced manufacturing and patient care.”
Check out the 3D Printed Orthotics video to learn more:
Discuss in the University of Michigan forum at 3DPB.com.
[Source/Images: University of Michigan]