Welcome to the Blount's Disease KAFO Blog!

Welcome to our research science blog! We are Karen and Min, and we are currently enrolled in a research science class. Through our research, we find out that the traditional way of making a knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs) for Blount’s disease(pathologic bow-leggedness), is really time consuming and not cost-efficient. In addition, a traditional KAFO normally cost from $3000 to $5000. Therefore, our goal is to build a functional prototype from a 3D leg scan to reduce the cost of the KAFO, improve the patient's compliance, and more importantly, collect quantitative data by adding an arduino micro-controller. To achieve this purpose, we will come up with a design that not only ensures stability but also enables a more natural gait using lightweight and low-cost materials such as plastic and carbon fiber. You can see our progress and explore more in this blog.