A kneeless leg prothesis for the elderly amputee, advanced version

The work described in this paper is part of a development and evaluation program, the aim of which was to bring a telescopic kneeless leg prosthesis to a reliable, commercially viable, and easily manufacturable stage. It is considered that these aims have been almost achieved, as the prosthesis appears to improve the gait characteristics significantly, compared with its first prototypes and compared with the conventional National Health Service (N.H.S.) above-knee prostheses. The clinical evaluation was carried out with three patients and its results were found satisfactory. The specific advantages of this prosthesis compared with the conventional prostheses are: improved proprioception and stability, and improvements of certain kinematic characteristics. The paper describes briefly the modified version of the prosthesis an the investigations undertaken, and also discusses the results obtained.