June 26, 2007

'Thinking' leg

New high-tech prosthetic limbs bring hope to area amputees

By JIM HAUG
Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- David Willett lost his left leg 10 years ago and gave up walking because the prosthesis was so uncomfortable.

But a new computer-controlled leg has "literally given him his life back," said his wife, Geri Willett.

Terry Brown, 47, of Ormond Beach gets an adjustment after trying the C-Leg. After walking around the room, he said, "I haven't walked fast for a year and a half. I'm walking normal." Brown lost his leg in a motorcycle accident in 2005.

Willett is walking again on a leg programmed to match his normal cadence. Its vacuum-attachment technology distributes the weight so it doesn't feel heavy to wear.

In other models, Willett felt the full weight of the prosthesis "cutting against the groin."

With a C-Leg, the computerized prosthesis, "I'm free and clear of the family jewels, so to speak," said Willett, 58, a resident of Ormond-by-the-Sea.

The C-Leg, demonstrated Tuesday at American Ortho Tech, a prosthesis company on Mason Avenue, is part of the new wave in prosthetic technology. Scientists are experimenting with artificial limbs that can be controlled by the brain, using lightweight materials such as titanium and placing hydraulic cylinders in joints. The goal, of course, is to help amputees lead active and full lives.

Like Willett, Terry "Pee Wee" Brown also lost his leg to a motorcycle accident.

Because a traditional prosthetic leg limited his mobility, Brown used a wheelchair whenever his family went to "Wal-Mart or Disney World."

Brown tried out a C-Leg during a demonstration Tuesday at American Ortho-Tech.

"You can walk without having to think through every step," Brown said. "The knee is actually doing the thinking."

The leg has sensors and microprocessors to anticipate and adapt to the walker's movement, giving the knee stability as it is needed, said officials with Otto Bock, the German-based manufacturer.

Otto Bock officials said C-Leg users should be able to walk up or down stairs and ramps without fear of falling.

A hand-held remote control, which looks like a remote control key for a car, shifts the leg into the three different modes for walking, standing still and all activities in between that need some flexibility or limited mobility, such as cooking or bicycling.

Otto Bock, an early manufacturer of prosthetic devices for soldiers injured from World War I and now for U.S. soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, introduced the C-Leg in the United States in 1999.

Competitors in Iceland and the United Kingdom have also marketed versions of computerized prosthetic limbs. The technology is so new that insurers have just begun to help pay for the $50,000 cost, amputees and prosthetic fitters said.

"They called it a luxury," said Brown, who hopes to get a C-Leg by the end of the summer.

John Jump, a prosthetist at American Ortho-Tech, said insurers are realizing the benefits of computer-controlled legs because the limbs are designed to take stress off the hip and the back.

"Hopefully, it will save them (the insurers) some costs down the road," Jump said. "Like knee replacement or back surgery."

Probably because of the high cost, there are only four to five amputees in Flagler and Volusia counties with the C-Legs, Jump said.

Brown, who has a tattoo of clasped hands in prayer on his neck, said there are psychological as well as financial barriers to the technology. It's hard getting used to a leg run by a computer program.

"It's not what it won't do," he said. "It's what I'm not allowing it to do."

jim.haug@news-jrnl.com

I just found this forum and was surprised to see this. I have been wearing the C-Leg since last Dec 06. It has indeed changed my life. So much so that I went out and bought a new bike three days ago. I haven't ridden in about four years (the worst years in my life). I have been a bike my entire life and not riding and enjoying to open road was driving me nuts.