City As Our Campus

City As Our Campus

We plan to meet with Mr. Nye to see if it is possible to schedule a meeting with a physical therapist to talk about our project.

As of December 3rd, 2015, we are planning on meeting with a physical therapist on December 15th named Steve Karas, a professor at Chatham University. His Bio is located at the following link. https://www.chatham.edu/academics/programs/graduate/pt/faculty_get.cfm?FacultyID=151

Our meeting with Mr. Karas went very well. We covered a lot of information and got great feedback and ideas to help us move forward. Originally we were planning on making our brace be able to lock at 180º, 90º, and 45º, but we have decided that it is only essential to be able to lock the brace at a 180º angle, when your leg is straight. Our min point of focus was being up to bend the knee as much as you can tolerate and being able to hold it in that position for anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours. Mr Karas thought that the most important thing is being able to bend your knee causing low level stress. We had the idea of a rubber band until we decide what to actually use, but the idea is to be able to pull the brace back to stretch the knee for a long period of time. You should do this up to three times per day during your recovery. We talked about a chair feature and being able to hold your knee in the bending position by sitting in a chair and attaching the "rubber band" to the chair to hold your knee back. We talked about the material that the brace would be made out of. He thought that the softer bendier plastic would be ideal for the straps because that is what is pushing on your leg when you bend it. When we talked about the heating application, he agreed that this is the most important thing in the recovery process. It loosens the tissue in the knee. He suggested ultrasound and said that it is often used for fractures. He thought that the heating should be applied all the way around the knee rather than each brace made specifically for a patient depending on where his/her injury was. He said that the heat is important all around and not just on the small injured spot. He thought that the brace would be mostly for adults ages 35+, who are less agile than young adults. He loved the the idea that our brace would be light weight unlike the current braces out there, and the fact that we are going to be able to make you heat without a machine. He said is looking forward to seeing where this information takes us and can't wait to see the final brace. This meeting was very successful and helpful to us and we will use his ideas to help guide us along the way.

Our second meeting with Steve Karas went exquisitely. We covered many topics. First off we talked about the "rubber band" method and he suggested that we look at optp.com for a product that we thing will work well. We then talked about having different sized braces, such as making three different models set at a size for someone who is 5'0", 5'6", and 6'0". He then recommended making the straps bigger and also adding heat to the straps as well because an important muscle is located in your thing where the strap would be touching. The straps also will be made out of a more flexible plastic or rubber padding on the inside. We then talked about putting velcro on the straps in order to lock the brace together rather than the screws we are currently using. Next related to the pegs he suggested that we make the handle much smaller. because it sticks out too far. Although he did like the handle because many patients have arthritis in their hands and this would be easy for them to do. Next we talked about something a little bit more difficult to apply. He suggested if possible we make the handle twist, so you can lock the brace and unlock by twisting the handle and locking it into place. Lastly we discussed the color of the brace and decided that we could have them custom made in different colors for specific patients based on their preference. Overall we got a lot of feedback and the meeting was very successful.