Mock prostheses, KAFO’s and Khaida our furry amputee!
March 15, 2021
The past few weeks have been action packed here at IIOP as we’ve gone from learning the the ability to metal bend our own KAFO’s, “harnessing” the power of our body-powered mock prostheses, and taking on the challenge of casting, and fabricating a prosthetic puppy socket for our new furry patient, Khaida!
The KAFO’s were a labor of love over the course of several days but in total everyone did a great job staying calm and patient as the uprights came together with the proper contours. Sometimes feet can fall off molds (I learned the hard way) if not careful with plaster reductions/buildups.
The transradial mock prostheses allowed us to learn the fabrication process of transradial prosthetics without a transradial patient model. A figure 8 harness was used for voluntary opening of the hook and we had a lot of fun learning the intricacies of body powered operation.
Classmate Alex Miller ran into our newest IIOP patient, Khaida one day at his apartment dog park. Khaida is a 10 year old husky mix with a right transtibial amputation (congenital-umbilical related). Khaida is a sweet girl but struggled with the casting primary due to her not being comfortable with hoomans touching her residual limb. Alex did a great job casting and made it easy for myself to move forward with pouring and modifying the mole. I will be using Khaida as a subject for my clinical research assignment due in April, but I am excited to experiment with a few generations of sockets for her and will make sure the best one is delivered!
So far Khaida has been fit with her first socket and has been able to bare weight, walk, and even run for short distances on her first ever prosthesis! Updates to come, thanks for reading!
-BD
