Why crutches may soon be relics of the past
The Freedom Leg is 2.5 pounds.
(Credit: Forward Mobility)Anyone who's ever worn crutches knows they are a pain at best. It's bad enough trying to walk, let alone surviving stairs, and we haven't even gotten to the underarm chafing.
Forward Mobility to the rescue. The Edmonds, Wash.-based company, which got its start manufacturing bicycles in the 1990s, is now designing and manufacturing a slew of medical mobility products, from a collapsible wheelchair to a seated scooter for foot and leg injuries. The Freedom Leg, released at MedTrade in October, functions like a hands-free brace. In the company's words:
Go beyond the limitations of crutches, wheelchairs, or scooters. It is truly an off-loading prosthetic that allows the user to fully integrate the device into their lives, giving them complete mobility. The user has the ability to accomplish all their normal day-to-day tasks without assistance, while at the same time keeping the strength in upper muscles of the injured leg.
According to "Emma" in the video, who broke her foot, the Freedom Leg transfers the weight of her step to her upper leg, enabling her to continue to use the muscles in her leg as she moves around without compromising the progress of her mending foot, which remains in a cast.
Forward Mobility is a finalist for $100,000 in grants from business magazine Inc. The company is among 13 entrepreneurs featured in a reader election that runs through Friday on Inc.'s Web site.
Part of Forward Mobility's popularity is not just its inventions, but its philosophy. The founders work with an organization in Vietnam, Kids First Enterprise, to manufacture its devices; 20 percent of the organization's workforce has disabilities, and all profits go to projects that support the disabled and disadvantaged.
When I talked to Bill Borders, VP of sales, by phone Thursday, he told me the device retails for about $350. "It's hard to compare it to a regular knee brace," he adds. "There's nothing like it that allows people to 100 percent off-load, hands-free. In that sense it's pretty revolutionary. And because you are putting some weight-bearing load on your injured leg, it really reduces the muscle atrophy in that leg."
We'll have to wait and see whether this invention takes off, and even though it looks like the underarm chafing issue of crutches has merely migrated down to the thigh, I'd take the hands-free device over crutches any day.
Elizabeth Armstrong Moore is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Ore. She has contributed to Wired magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and public radio. Her semi-obscure hobbies include unicycling, slacklining, hula-hooping, scuba diving, billiards, Sudoku, Magic the Gathering, and classical piano. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
Right now, hospitals, people with disabilities etc are bound to go for the crutches option because 1, its proven and 2, its very cheap.
I understand when they start making bulk orders for these products, the price will eventually come down, but if they are serious about making this product take off, they need to look at their pricing.
I myself have a disability that confines me to my wheelchair all of the time... you just need to learn to smile at strangers and then ask them to take your picture because it lasts longer! It's a Kodak moment!
Do you overreact much? The OP referred to "'scooting' along" which suggests something other/more than walking with crutches. It suggests something odd, if not funny. The OP even said it "is so dorky." Thus, those laughing were merely reacting to the oddity or humor in what seems a perfectly normal way.
Your reference to a story about a woman dying in an ER with no one stopping to check on her sounds unfortunate, but having no details, I can't comment on the specifics. However, those working in ERs are usually hard working, caring people. If they were too busy to notice the woman, or assumed that she was asleep, etc., they can't be called losers.
Finally, calling former President Bush and those who voted for him losers is ridiculous. I can infer that you voted for President Obama and, as much as I disagree with your decision and his policies, that hardly makes you horrible people or losers. I can think of you as misguided, misinformed, etc., but those don't make you "losers."
You needn't belittle those that disagree with you or have a different way of looking at things. Furthermore, you need to think a little more critically about what you read and what others say before jumping to conclusions.
The question is; how do we get these to everyone world wide who needs them, land mine victims are more numerous than you can imagine. Unfortunately the majority are in third world countries and the cost is for most more than a year's pay. It's also unthinkable that a veteran not have access to this technology, IUD's are responsible for a lot of amputees coming out of the middle east right now.
This looks like a great improvement over crutches but I"m sure they too have some drawbacks. I wish this company well as they sound like they are very interested in helping people overcome serious disabilities.
That's the market for this device... People with more money than brains.
- by Stormspace November 6, 2009 6:55 AM PST
- My grandfather had prosthetic legs that worked very much like this, except the knee was hinged. The legs placed all the weight on the upper thigh and knee instead of the missing bits below the knee. He paid thousands of dollars for his two legs so I hope this thing is cheaper. The construction certainly looks cheaper than what he had.
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