Session: CIE-07-02 - CAPPD: Computer-Aided Product and Process Development

Paper Number: 97888

97888 - Dynamic Self-Offloading Footwear Using Compliant Pinned-Pinned Arches 

One of the most common complications of long-term uncontrolled diabetes is peripheral neuropathy. It causes loss of sensation, pain, and numbness of the plantar area of the foot due to damage of the nerves. The lack of sensation ultimately leads to ulceration which, if left untreated, necessitates foot amputation. This can be prevented at the early stage of neuropathy by offloading the regions of high plantar pressure. Static offloading technique, in which the practitioners prescribe a soft insole which is carved out at the high-pressure regions and humped up in other regions to support some other part of the sole of the foot, is widely used today. It gives relief for a brief period by redistributing the high-pressure to other areas of the foot. However, such footwear needs frequent replacement as the high-pressure points change with time. Hence dynamic offloading is preferred. In our earlier work, we introduced a novel dynamic offloading by using an array of compliant fixed-fixed shallow arches to make an insole. These arches snap down to offload a region when the pressure on them exceeds the threshold value for which they are designed. It helped reduce the maximum plantar pressure by about 57% at MTH1 while keeping the pressure below 200 kPa everywhere. However, as the arches do not flip up, there is no provision for humping up as in the static offloading technique. It was also noticed that dynamic redistribution of pressure with bilaterally flipping arches could improve our design further. Towards this, we now propose a technique by using an array of interconnected compliant pinned-pinned arches. This method of offloading not only keeps the maximum plantar pressure below the threshold value but also automatically re-distributes the bodyweight even out the plantar pressure. Thus, it has the combined advantage of both the static and the dynamic offloading techniques.

Presenting Author: Priyabrata Maharana Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Presenting Author Biography: Mr. Priyabrata Maharana is currently in his 5th year of his Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He received his Master's degree from IIT Guwahati in the year 2017. His main research area is compliant mechanism, instability analysis, optimization, and nonlinear dynamics.

Authors:

Priyabrata Maharana Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
G. K. Ananthasuresh Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru