117: Hanger Clinic (Multidisciplinary Team)

Patients with below-the-knee amputations who use prosthetic legs often have issues with the fit of the prosthetic leg due to the changing volume of the residual limb throughout the day. To date, there is no compact, affordable device available to the general amputee community that easily and accurately measures volume change throughout the day, alerting the patient that changes need to be made with the amount of prosthetic socks worn, or alerting a device inside the prosthetic to automatically adjust for them. Such devices are in development, such as self-adjusting prosthetics and heat sensors. However, these products are widely available, entirely accurate or affordable for the general amputee community. We created a device to measure volume control using a pressure sensor that changes the resistance in a circuit, displaying an output change in voltage. The resistance change can be directly related to a change in volume and can be calculated through transform functions relating resistance and voltage. We hope to then connect this device to either an inflatable bladder or a user interface where a signal is sent from the device indicating the allotted threshold has been exceeded. If we are successful, the amputee community will have a new device to help them use their prosthetic without suffering from injury or frustration.