**When you have your leg complete Praise God, its Not easy and it Limiting but Good news …..
Women who get a prosthetic foot after losing a leg to disease or
injury have limited shoe options, but an invention by five Johns Hopkins
University students may change that. The university announced Wednesday
that the “Prominence” could be the first non-custom prosthetic foot to
adapt to high heels up to 4 inches high.
“High heels have become an integral part of the
female lifestyle in modern society, permeating through all aspects of
life— professional and social,” the mechanical engineering students
wrote in a report of their project. “For female veterans of the U.S.
armed services with lower limb amputations, that seemingly innocuous,
but so pervasive, and decidedly feminine part of their lives is gone.”
Creating the ideal prosthetic proved challenging for
the students, as the device needed to be easily adjustable for multiple
shoe types, maintain its position without slipping, support a person
weighing up to 250 pounds, weigh less than 3 pounds itself, and be
slender enough to accommodate a woman’s shoe.
Students
developed their project in two semesters by evaluating its function with
mathematical equations, as well as with tests by machines and people,
according to the release. After trying multiple options— including a
mousetrap spring and balloon— the team settled on a 28-layer carbon
fiber footplate to form the base of the foot as it best gave the foot
the spring it needed at the proper weight.
The final device also uses a heel adjustment
mechanism with two interlocking aluminum disks that opens and closes
using an attached lever at the ankle.
Alexandra Capellini, a Johns Hopkins University
junior studying public health, lost her right leg to bone cancer and was
one of seven participants for the prosthetic test, which involved four
types of women’s shoes.
“An adjustable ankle is useful in contexts even
beyond high heels,” Capellini said in the release. “Ballet flats,
sneakers, boots, and high heels especially, all vary in height, so an
adjustable ankle opens up opportunities to wear a variety of shoes.”
