Moisture Reducing Prosthetic Liner
Novel prosthetic liner solution for moisture mitigation
Medical Need:
People with limb amputations that use a prosthesis typically have their residual limbs covered by materials that can create a warm, moist environment. The trapped heat and perspiration may lead to potential skin issues of the residual limb and compromised socket suspension.
Living with limb amputation affects both civilians and military personnel. With the continued improvements in body armor, and the disturbing increase in explosive attacks in modern combat, more of our wounded warfighters are surviving their injuries, marking a considerable increase in the military amputee population. Limb loss affects approximately 1.7 million people in the United States, a vast majority of these (86%) being lower limb amputations. A significant portion of both civilians and military personnel who undergo amputation are now being fitted with state-of-the-art prosthetic devices.
Due to the improved functionality of these prostheses, some warfighters with limb amputations are opting to return to active duty after an intensive rehabilitation process (8.8%). However, improvements in the prosthetic limb function have outpaced improvements to the fit and comfort of the devices, and so concerns remain with respect to interfacing with the residual limb and the resulting physical demands on the amputee. The residual limb is typically covered by non-breathable and non-thermally conductive materials that can create a warm, moist environment. The trapped heat and perspiration may lead to potential skin issues of the residual limb that have been well documented for decades. These issues include folliculitis, friction blisters and bacterial growth.
Vivonics, Inc. has partnered with Liberating Technologies, Inc. to develop a novel Moisture Reducing Prosthetic Liner technology to mitigate the effects that heat, and perspiration have on skin health, comfort, and subsequent prosthesis donning. This advancement in prosthetics seeks to promote heat transfer to the socket wall through thermally conductive elastomeric materials and reduce sweat exposure through novel microchannels, integrating both into a commercially viable socket liner solution. An uncomfortable or non-performing socket/residual limb interface decreases prosthesis use among amputees who want to remain active in their civilian and military lives. The parallel development of the Intrasocket Cooling Element combines with this Moisture Reducing Prosthetic Liner, to provide a two-product solution that will promote the health and comfort required to lead such an active life.
Disclaimer: This work was supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, through the Peer Reviewed Orthopedic Research Program, under Award No. W81XWH1810745. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense. The U.S Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office.
(Award W81XWH1810745 is titled: “Development of Moisture Management Liner for Improving Residual Limb Skin Care”)
Product under development, not yet FDA approved
