Prosthetics | MassDevice

MedGadget's MedTech Monday: Artificial foot saves energy every step of the way

February 22, 2010 by MassDevice

University of Michigan engineers develop prosthetic foot technology that can intelligently transfer otherwise-lost energy into the next step; Kensey Nash's new bioscaffold wins EU approval for knee cartilage repair; Leveraged Freedom Chair brings smart mobility just about anywhere; and new nanogenerators that could power implantable devices.

MedGadget's MedTech Monday: Artificial foot saves energy every step of the way

Artificial foot saves energy every step of the way: At the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, engineers developed prosthetic foot technology that can intelligently transfer what would otherwise be lost energy into powering the foot's next step. Because more energy can be saved over currently available models, this technology could lead to smaller and lighter artificial legs: "In their energy-recycling foot, the engineers put the wasted walking energy to work enhancing the power of ankle push-off. The foot naturally captures the dissipated energy.

Hanger Orthopedic's Q4 sales rise, net income soars 52 percent

February 10, 2010 by MassDevice staff

Fourth-quarter sales for Hanger Orthopedic Group rose 11 percent and Q4 net income soared to nearly $12 million.

Hanger Orthopedic Group Inc. (NYSE:HGR) posted fourth-quarter sales of $205.1 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009, up 10.6 percent compared with $185.5 million during the same period in 2008. Net income rose 51.9 percent to $11.9 million, compared with $7.8 million during Q4 2008:

Press Release

Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc. Reports an Increase of 42.3% in Earnings Per Share, to $0.37 on a 10.6% Sales Increase, for the Fourth Quarter 2009

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MassDevice Q&A: Myomo CEO Steve Kelly

January 28, 2010 by Brad Perriello

Myomo Inc. CEO Steve Kelly on his company's portable, robotic device for stroke rehabilitation and the coming wave that will revolutionize the medical device industry as we know it.

Steve Kelly's spent three decades watching new technology that originated in consumer electronics wreak havoc on well-established industries. The CEO of Myomo Inc. bore witness as new technologies redefined the home computing market in the 1980s, the telecom space in the 1990s and the changes voice-over-IP technology brought to telephony in the last decade.

Kelly sees a similar wave heading for the shores of the medical device industry. MassDevice spoke with him to hear his take on where the sector is headed and why.

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WPI lands $1.6 million in federal cash to develop neuroprosthetics

January 6, 2010 by MassDevice staff

The U.S. Congress allocated $1.6 million to Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Center for Neuroprosthetics and BioMEMS to integrate prosthetic limbs with the body and nervous system.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is getting a $1.6 million shot in the arm thanks to the U.S. Congress, which allocated the money for WPI's program to develop advanced prosthetics that are integrated into the human body.

Part of the U.S. Defense Dept.'s 2010 budget will go toward developing technology to help the more than 1,200 soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who've returned from Iraq and Afghanistan missing limbs. WPI's Center for Neuroprosthetics and BioMEMS has 30 researchers across a variety of disciplines dedicated to developing lifelike artificial limbs that are directly linked to the nervous system.

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MedGadget's MedTech Monday: Thought-powered robotic hand unveiled

December 7, 2009 by MassDevice

A human subject used the first thought-power prosthetic for an entire month; computer simulation models stent drug behavior; famous amnesiac's brain put to the razor for science; and scientists grow skin in preclinical study.

MedGadget's MedTech Monday: Thought-powered robotic hand unveiled

Thought-powered robotic hand unveiled: LifeHand, a European project to develop an implanted, electrode-controlled prosthetic hand just showed off its first human subject, who used the device for an entire month. Unlike with many other prostheses, Pierpaolo Petruzziello was able to use pure thought to move the fingers of the hand and perform fairly advanced tasks.

Winning the arms race: The centuries-old quest to build a better prosthetic

November 25, 2009 by Alan Siegel

Advances have been few and far between since Ambroise Paré invented modern prosthetics in the 16th century. But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan might just change that.

Winning the arms race: The centuries-old quest to build a better prosthetic

JUNE 22, 2008 WAS A GORGEOUS EARLY SUMMER DAY, with partly cloudy skies and 80-degree temperatures.

Taking advantage of the weather, Greg Reynolds, a muscular 24-year-old veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, hopped on his yellow Suzuki TL1000R racing bike to spend the morning at Colt State Park in Bristol, R.I., a swath of land on Narragansett Bay some 17 miles south of his house in Dighton, Mass.

The TL1000R is not a motorcycle for the casual rider. Its 996C, 4-stroke engine is capable of 9,500 RPM — or zero to 60 miles per hour in about 3.6 seconds — giving the rider the feeling of being strapped onto the nose of a rocket.

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MedGadget MedTech Monday: Tactile sensors expand prosthetics

November 23, 2009 by MassDevice

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy are continuing development of the Smart Hand prosthesis; DermaStream CST for active wound management; turn your iPhone into a stethoscope; and an ultrafast lab-on-a-chip for disease biomarker detection.

MedGadget MedTech Monday: Tactile sensors expand prosthetics

Tactile sensors expand prosthetics: Researchers at Lund University in Sweden and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy are continuing development of the Smart Hand prosthesis that features sensors and a feedback mechanism to bring feeling to patients equipped with the device. The prosthesis uses severed nerves as a channel for controlling motion and for sending sensory information from fingertips back to the brain.

Category: Prosthetics

MedGadget's MedTech Monday: Artificial foot saves energy every step of the way

February 22, 2010 by MassDevice

Hanger Orthopedic's Q4 sales rise, net income soars 52 percent

February 10, 2010 by MassDevice staff

Press Release

Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc. Reports an Increase of 42.3% in Earnings Per Share, to $0.37 on a 10.6% Sales Increase, for the Fourth Quarter 2009

MassDevice Q&A: Myomo CEO Steve Kelly

January 28, 2010 by Brad Perriello

WPI lands $1.6 million in federal cash to develop neuroprosthetics

January 6, 2010 by MassDevice staff

MedGadget's MedTech Monday: Thought-powered robotic hand unveiled

December 7, 2009 by MassDevice

Winning the arms race: The centuries-old quest to build a better prosthetic

November 25, 2009 by Alan Siegel

MedGadget MedTech Monday: Tactile sensors expand prosthetics

November 23, 2009 by MassDevice

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