Prosthetic foot with tunable performance
First Claim
1. A prosthetic foot comprising:
- a longitudinally extending foot keel having forefoot, midfoot and hindfoot portions;
a resilient, upstanding, monolithically formed shank having a lower end connected to the midfoot portion of the foot keel and posteriorly terminating in a free end, the shank extending upwardly from the foot keel to a middle portion of the shank by way of an initially downward and anterior facing continuous convexly curved surface to form an ankle joint area of the prosthetic foot and extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle joint area to a substantially vertically oriented upper end to form a lower, prosthetic part of a leg for connection with a supporting structure on a person'"'"'s leg stump, wherein the width of the resilient shank in the frontal plane of the prosthetic foot is greater than the thickness of the shank in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the shank such that both the ankle joint area and the prosthetic part of a leg formed by the shank are compressible and expandable in the longitudinal direction in response to the ground reaction force thereon during gait with the upper end of the shank moving posteriorly in plantarfiexion and anteriorly in dorsiflexion for storing and releasing energy to improve dynamic response of the prosthetic foot in gait; and
a device extending between and connected to the upper and lower ends of the shank to dampen the motion and limit the extent of the upper end of the shank in at least one of compression and expansion.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A prosthetic foot (70) incorporates a foot keel (77) and a calf shank (72) connected to the foot keel to form an ankle joint area of the prosthetic foot. The foot keel has forefoot and hindfoot portions and an upwardly arched midfoot portion extending between the forefoot and midfoot portions. The calf shank includes a downward convexly curved lower end which is adjustably attached at a portion thereof to the foot keel by way of a releasable fastener arrangement. The upper end of the calf shank is movable longitudinally of the foot keel in response to force loading and unloading the calf shank during use of the prosthetic foot. A device (71) connected between the ends of the calf shank limits the extent of the motion of the upper end of the calf shank relative to the lower end and foot keel. The upper end of the calf shank can include an alignment coupler device (92) thereon having adjustable slide mechanisms to adjust the medial/lateral and anterior/posterior position of the calf shank relative to a supporting structure on the leg of the person using the prosthetic foot.
135 Citations
68 Claims
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1. A prosthetic foot comprising:
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a longitudinally extending foot keel having forefoot, midfoot and hindfoot portions; a resilient, upstanding, monolithically formed shank having a lower end connected to the midfoot portion of the foot keel and posteriorly terminating in a free end, the shank extending upwardly from the foot keel to a middle portion of the shank by way of an initially downward and anterior facing continuous convexly curved surface to form an ankle joint area of the prosthetic foot and extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle joint area to a substantially vertically oriented upper end to form a lower, prosthetic part of a leg for connection with a supporting structure on a person'"'"'s leg stump, wherein the width of the resilient shank in the frontal plane of the prosthetic foot is greater than the thickness of the shank in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the shank such that both the ankle joint area and the prosthetic part of a leg formed by the shank are compressible and expandable in the longitudinal direction in response to the ground reaction force thereon during gait with the upper end of the shank moving posteriorly in plantarfiexion and anteriorly in dorsiflexion for storing and releasing energy to improve dynamic response of the prosthetic foot in gait; and a device extending between and connected to the upper and lower ends of the shank to dampen the motion and limit the extent of the upper end of the shank in at least one of compression and expansion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A shank for a prosthetic foot comprising:
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an elongated, semi-rigid, monolithically formed, resilient member having a lower end to connect with a longitudinally extending foot keel of the prosthetic foot with the lower end posteriorly terminating in a free end with the member extending upwardly from the foot keel by way of an initially downward and anterior facing continuous convexly curved surface to form an ankle joint area of the prosthetic foot and extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle joint area to a substantially vertically oriented upper end to form a lower prosthetic part of a leg for connection with a supporting structure on a person'"'"'s leg stump, wherein the member has a width in the frontal plane of the prosthetic foot which is greater than the thickness of the member in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the member such that when the one lower end is connected to the foot keel, the member can be flexed in compression and expansion in response to force loading and unloading of the shank during use of the prosthetic foot such that the upper end of the member moves longitudinally with respect to the foot keel; and a device extending between and connected to the upper and lower ends of the member for dampening the motion and limiting the extent of the motion of the upper end of the member in at least one of compression and expansion during use thereof in a prosthetic foot. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A prosthetic foot comprising:
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a longitudinally extending foot keel having forefoot, midfoot and hindfoot portions; a resilient, upstanding, monolithically formed shank having a lower end connected to the midfoot portion of the foot keel and posteriorly terminating in a free end, the shank extending upwardly from the foot keel to a middle portion of the shank by way of an initially downward and anterior facing continuous convexly curved surface to form an ankle joint area of the prosthetic foot and extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle joint area to a substantially vertically oriented upper end to form a lower, prosthetic part of a leg for connection with a supporting structure on a person'"'"'s leg stump, wherein the width of the resilient shank in the frontal plane of the prosthetic foot is greater than the thickness of the shank in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the shank such that both the ankle joint area and the prosthetic part of leg formed by the shank are compressible and expandable in the longitudinal direction in response to the ground reaction force thereon during gait with the upper end of the shank moving posteriorly in plantarfiexion and anteriorly in dorsiflexion for storing and releasing energy to improve dynamic response of the prosthetic foot in gait; and a device extending between and connected to the upper and lower ends of the shank which elastically resists anterior movement of the upper end of the calf shank with respect to the foot keel - View Dependent Claims (45)
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46. A shank for a prosthetic foot comprising:
- an elongated, semi-rigid, monolithically formal resilient member having one, lower end to connect with a longitudinally extending foot keel of the prosthetic foot, the lower end posteriorly terminating in a free end with the member extending upwardly from the lower end by way of an initially downward and anterior facing convexly curved surface to form an ankle joint area of the prosthetic foot and extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle joint area to a substantially vertically oriented upper end to form a lower prosthetic part of a leg for connection with a supporting structure on a person'"'"'s leg stump, wherein the member has a width in the frontal plane of the prosthetic foot which is greater than the thickness of the member in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the member, such that when the one, lower end is connected to the foot keel, the member can be flexed in response to force loading and unloading of the shank during use of the prosthetic foot such that the opposite, upper end of the member moves relative to the foot keel; and
a device extending between and connected to the upper and lower ends of the shank for elastically resisting anterior movement of the upper end of the shank with respect to the foot keel in the prosthetic foot. - View Dependent Claims (47)
- an elongated, semi-rigid, monolithically formal resilient member having one, lower end to connect with a longitudinally extending foot keel of the prosthetic foot, the lower end posteriorly terminating in a free end with the member extending upwardly from the lower end by way of an initially downward and anterior facing convexly curved surface to form an ankle joint area of the prosthetic foot and extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle joint area to a substantially vertically oriented upper end to form a lower prosthetic part of a leg for connection with a supporting structure on a person'"'"'s leg stump, wherein the member has a width in the frontal plane of the prosthetic foot which is greater than the thickness of the member in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the member, such that when the one, lower end is connected to the foot keel, the member can be flexed in response to force loading and unloading of the shank during use of the prosthetic foot such that the opposite, upper end of the member moves relative to the foot keel; and
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48. A method of generating kinetic power for propulsive force in a lower extremity prosthesis including a foot, an ankle and an elongated, upstanding shank above the ankle, the method comprising:
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providing a monolithically formed resilient member which forms the ankle and the shank in the prosthesis with the resilient member having a lower end posteriorly terminating in a free end and extending upwardly from the foot by way of an initially downward and anterior facing continuous convexly curved surface to form the ankle and in the area of the shank extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner to a substantially vertically oriented upper end connected with a supporting structure on a person'"'"'s leg stump, the resilient member of the ankle and the shank having a width in the frontal plane of the prosthesis which is greater than the thickness in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the member so as to be compressible and expandable in the longitudinal direction in response to the ground reaction force thereon during gait with the upper end moving posteriorly in plantarfiexion and anteriorly in dorsiflexion for storing and releasing energy to improve the dynamic response of the prosthesis in gait; and controlling the dynamic response capability of the resilient member for movement of the upper end of the member in the longitudinal direction with respect to the foot in force loading and unloading of the prosthesis in gait, posteriorly in plantarfiexion and anteriorly in dorsiflexion, for storing and releasing energy to improve dynamic response of the prosthesis in gait. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. A method of generating kinetic power for propulsive force in a prosthetic foot comprising:
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providing a prosthetic foot having a longitudinally extending foot keel attached to a resilient monolithically formed shank which forms an ankle and a lower prosthetic part of a leg for connection with a lower extremity prosthetic socket on a person'"'"'s leg stump, the shank including a lower end posteriorly terminating in a free end and extending upwardly from the foot keel by way of an initially downward and anterior facing convexly curved portion to form the ankle, a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear portion extending above the ankle to a substantially vertically oriented upper end forming the lower prosthetic part of a leg, wherein the shank has width in the frontal plane of the prosthetic foot which is greater than the thickness in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the shank such that the upper end during use of the prosthetic foot moves longitudinally with respect to the foot keel posteriorly in plantarfiexion and anteriorly in dorsiflexion for storing and releasing energy to improve dynamic response of the prosthetic foot in force loading and unloading of the prosthetic foot; and using a posterior calf device on the prosthetic foot to store energy during force loading of the prosthetic foot and return the stored energy during force unloading to increase the kinetic power generated for propulsive force by the prosthetic foot in gait. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60)
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61. A lower extremity prosthesis comprising:
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a longitudinally extending foot keel; a resilient, monolithically formed shank having a lower end connected to the foot keel and posteriorly terminating in a free end, an initially downward and anterior facing convexly curved portion of the shank extending upwardly from the foot keel to form an ankle joint area of the prosthesis, the shank extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle joint area to a substantially vertically oriented upper end to form a lower prosthetic part of a leg, to connect with a lower extremity prosthetic socket on a person'"'"'s leg stump, wherein the width of the shank in the frontal plane of the prosthesis is greater than the thickness of the shank in the sagittal throughout the entire length of the shank such that the upper end is moveable longitudinally of the foot keel in response to force loading and unloading of the shank during use of the prosthesis; and a device connected to an upper portion of the shank and a lower portion of the prosthesis to store energy during force loading of the prosthesis and return the stored energy during force unloading to increase the kinetic power generated for propulsive force by the prosthesis in gait. - View Dependent Claims (62)
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63. A lower extremity prosthesis comprising:
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a longitudinally extending foot keel; a resilient, monolithically formed shank having a lower end connected to the foot keel and posteriorly terminating in a free end, an initially downward and anterior facing convexly curved portion of the shank extending upwardly from the foot keel to form an ankle joint area of the prosthesis, the shank extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle joint area to a substantially vertical upper end above the ankle joint area to connect with a lower extremity prosthetic socket on a person'"'"'s leg stump, the width of the shank in the frontal plane of the prosthesis being greater than the thickness of the shank in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the shank such that the upper end is moveable longitudinally of the foot keel in response to force loading and unloading of the shank during use of the prosthesis; and a device connected to an upper portion of the shank and a lower portion of the prosthesis to control the extent of longitudinal motion of the upper end of the shank with respect to the foot keel during use of the prosthesis. - View Dependent Claims (64)
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65. A method of generating kinetic power for propulsive force in a resilient lower extremity prosthesis including an upwardly arched foot, and a monolithically formed resilient member having a lower end connected with the foot and posteriorly terminating in a free end, the member extending upwardly from the foot by way of an initially downward and anterior facing continuous convexly curved surface to form an ankle of the prosthesis and extending upwardly in a substantially anterior facing convexly curvilinear manner above the ankle to a substantially vertically oriented upper end forming a shank above the ankle, wherein the width of the resilient member in the frontal plane if the prosthesis is greater than the thickness of the member in the sagittal plane throughout the entire length of the member method comprising:
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expanding a plurality of foot and shank concavities of the resilient prosthesis during midstance to late midstance force loading of the prosthesis in the active propulsion phase of a person'"'"'s gait to store energy in the prosthesis; releasing said stored energy in the later stages of stance-phase of gait to add to the propulsion of a trailing limb and person'"'"'s body; wherein during said force loading of the prosthesis in the active propulsion phase of gait storing additional energy in a posterior calf device connected between upper and lower portions of the prosthesis, and in said later stages of stance-phase of gait, releasing said additional energy to further add to the propulsion of the person'"'"'s trailing limb and body. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68)
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Specification