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Show 13 college of engineering Fractures of the tibia are common and life-altering injuries with prolonged recovery times. A current thera-peutic treatment prescribed by clinicians is partial weight bearing (PWB). PWB requires patients to limit the amount of body weight placed on the impaired limb while gradually increasing it over time to achieve quicker recoveries with fewer complications. However, this approach is based on limited clinical and ex-perimental data with past studies indicating poor fracture healing may occur in up to 50% of all cases. Our eventual goal is to develop a durable, low cost sensor able to accurately record normal loads on a patient's tibia continuously for extended periods of time. Subsequently, our device will provide clinicians with a tool to better understand PWB and improve upon current treatments. This project's aim was to increase the load capture of our group's previous tibial load sensor while maintaining accuracy and stability. Some modifications made to the design were increased loading area, isolated contact to central part of calca-neus, reduced material dampening, and encasement in a silicone heel orthotic. Performances of three new designs were investigated through patient treadmill and static drift stability tests. New sensors captured 88% of subjects' weight during single static measurements. During ambulation in a lower-leg immobilizer, recordings taken from an updated design increased by an average peak-value of 7%. This same design exhibited an average full-scale drift under 3% throughout 14 hours of continual stability testing. These re-sults suggest an improved sensor design, while further studies will ensure peak under-foot loading is being captured throughout patients' gait, and test sensor durability by cyclic stressing. OPTIMIZATION OF A TIBIAL LOAD SENSOR FOR IMPROVING FRACTURE TREATMENTS Nathaniel Masson (Kylee North, Robert Hitchcock) Department of Bioengineering University of Utah UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS Robert Hitchcock Nathaniel Masson |
