Toward a Digitally Informed Knitted Prosthetic Interface With Graded Stiffness to Enhance Comfort in Transtibial Amputees: Proof-of-Concept Case Study.
Trevor Binedell, Pei Zhi Chia, Ying Yi Tan and 1 others
A knitted prosthetic liner made from skin-strain data was lighter, allowed more knee flexion, and kept skin cooler and drier in heat.
But the one user walked slower and felt distal sinking. This is a single-person proof of concept, not evidence it works.
Key findings
1CNC knitting with thermal-reactive and spandex yarns produced three distinct stiffness tiers (38-288 N/m, 1224-2978 N/m, 12,886-110,337 N/m), giving a design palette for placing support and compliance in specific zones of the interface.
2With the knitted interface and LoNE-aligned socket, total knee ROM was 98° versus 80° with the conventional silicone liner and socket, driven by increased flexion (118° vs 100°) while the 20° extension deficit was unchanged in both.
3In a 34°C outdoor setting, skin temperature rose 1.95°C with the knitted interface versus 2.88°C with silicone, and the knitted interface left skin dry on removal while silicone trapped visible sweat.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Single user for all functional testing; no statistical analysis was possible and results reflect one person's experience, not a population effect The outdoor thermal test used a different (healthy, younger) participant, not the amputee, so the thermal comparison is not a like-for-like test Short familiarization period; gait and comfort results likely include early adaptation effects that would change with longer use The prototype combined a novel knitted liner with a bespoke rigid socket that was not fully optimized, so the combined system's behavior cannot be attributed to the liner alone No instrumented in-socket pressure or motion data; the distal sinking interpretation rests on user report and a static elongation test with ±1 mm resolution No durability, laundering, or long-term skin response data; the paper does not address what happens after repeated wear and washing
Declared interests
Funded by the National Healthcare Group Centre for Medical Technologies & Innovations and National Health Innovation Centre Singapore Joint MedTech Grant (CMTiNHIC3-21-01-04). One author (TB) reports a relationship with Tan Tock Seng Hospital including funding and grants. Other authors declare no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 18° ROM improvement or the 26.1% weight reduction as evidence this liner improves function. The same user walked 10.5% less distance, took 8.3% longer on the 10-meter walk, and reported distal sinking. This is one person's first experience with a prototype, not a treatment effect.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →