[ ABOVE: Image provided by MTip ]
Despite the leaps and bounds of modern healthcare technology, Clemson MBAe student Devin DeAngelis says some things don’t get enough attention. Like crutches. Not only can they wear out in two weeks, but they’re incredibly inefficient in terms of motion and energy, he says.
With the right design, “You can make the weight work for you,” he says. And that’s what he and business partner Ismet Handzic think they can build a business around.
In contrast to traditional flat-bottomed crutch tips, Handzic developed MTip, an enhanced medical device that reduces the energy required to move forward. The design uses spiral-like patterns that actually general a passive force and motion, he said, which boosts walking efficiency and stability.
“If you step on a spiral it automatically wants to roll,” he said. “The equation that I came up with can predict what the spiral is in relation to the motion … Why not attach that kind of spiral shape onto a crutch?”
Handzic – a Ph.D candidate at the University of Florida, Tampa – originally used the design in shoes that aided stroke victim rehabilitation. Stroke patients can develop asymmetric walking patterns when parts of the body don’t respond correctly, he said. While patients typically use treadmills to correct it, using shoes means they can work on recovery more frequently.
DeAngelis and Handzic have conducted trials through eight product iterations, and plan to target chronic crutch users to start. Up until now, funding has been limited to small grants, but they hope to begin fundraising and using local resources as they ramp up production. The first pre-orders will ship in this month.
“This is really going to help people,” said DeAngelis, who said one option down the line could be user-specific models. “This could be a company that’s a Nike for crutches.”
