Date of Award

5-8-2023

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

Crutches are commonly used across the world to provide assistance in mobility for people that have suffered leg injuries. Athletes are a great portion of the population that use crutches. In order for a leg injury to heal properly over time, there should not be any pressure going into the leg that has the injury. The process behind using crutches involves lacing your armpit on the top of the crutch and grabbing the handle that is connected across each upright. To walk, the user lifts the injured leg and applies pressure to the top of the crutch and grip handle. Then the user lifts the crutches and plants them out in front of their body, and takes a step through with the other non-injured leg. The pressure applied from the ground travels through the crutches and into the user’s armpits, wrists, and forearms. The objective for the project is to redesign the crutch to relieve the pressure that is exerted from the crutch into the user’s joints, and ultimately create a more comfortable crutch for people who have suffered from leg injuries. A prototype and final design report were created to further understand the task at hand and analyze the steps to be taken to achieve this goal of redesigning the modern crutch. This goal was achieved by adding large amounts of padding in the armpit support and handle to relieve pressure in the user’s armpit, wrists, and forearms, and also by replacing the bottom tip of the crutch with an attachable prosthetic blade that will act as a spring to alleviate pressure on the joints.

Comments

Team Name: Gait Keepers (Team 14)

Company Sponsor: Department of Corrections

Sponsor Representative: Chris Ratcliffe

Document Reference: URI-MCE-CAP-PDR-2022-14

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