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Automatic Prosthetic Foot Stiffness Modulation to Improve Balance in the Real World
Sponsor: Seattle Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Research
Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to determine if automatic stiffness modulation improves balance control in ambulatory individuals with below-knee amputations in real-world conditions. The main question this clinical trial will answer is: • Can a user-specific automatic stiffness prosthesis improve balance control compared to user's fixed stiffness prosthesis that was clinically prescribed? Participants will perform free-ranging ambulatory activities outside the laboratory that include nine ambulatory activities of daily living (walking at different speeds, turning, ramp ascent/descent, while carrying a load, and while walking on uneven terrain) while wearing, in random order, 1) a fixed stiffness prosthesis that was clinically prescribed and 2) an automatic stiffness prosthesis that uses an open source ankle configured to implement a user- and activity-specific automatic stiffness modulation control scheme intended to improve balance control.
Official title: Automatic Activity-Dependent and Phase-Varying Prosthetic Foot Stiffness Modulation to Improve Balance Control in Individuals With Lower-Limb Amputations in the Real World
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 79 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
20
Start Date
2026-11
Completion Date
2028-11
Last Updated
2026-08-28
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
Fixed stiffness prosthesis
The participant's clinically prescribed prosthesis whose stiffness category is determined by the person's body weight and activity level (standard clinical practice).
Automatic stiffness prosthesis
A novel prosthesis whose user-specific and activity-specific stiffness profile is automatically modulated based on their ambulatory activity.
Locations (1)
VA Puget Sound Healthcare System
Seattle, Washington, United States